Bruce mbabele@999info.net
Received this note from Kazuo today: Chiyo was 101 in February.
Dear friends,
My mother, Chiyo, has been gone in peace today.
Thanks for your favor during in her lifetime.
Best Regards
Kazuo
As we mark the anniversary of the loss of USS Grunion (SS-216) on July 30, 2011, let us pause to remember our 70 brave and valiant men who paid the ultimate price 69 years ago.
We Remember Them
(By Sylvia Kamens and Jack Riemer)
In the rising of the sun and in its going down,
We remember them.
In the blowing of the wind and in the chill of winter
We remember them.
In the opening of the buds and in the rebirth of spring,
We remember them.
In the blueness of the sky and in the warmth of summer,
We remember them.
In the rustling of the leaves and in the beauty of autumn,
We remember them.
In the beginning of the year and when it ends,
We remember them.
When we are weary and in need of strength,
We remember them.
When we are lost and sick at heart,
We remember them.
When we have joys we yearn to share,
We remember them.
So long as we live, they too shall live,
For they are now a part of us,
As we remember them.
On February 16th Chiyo was 100. She received a number cards and gifts from the Grunion Family. This is her son’s Kazuo’s reply.
Dear Bruce John and Susan Abele, Mary and Dick Bentz and each of the family of USS Grunion,
Thank you for your wonderful presents on my mother’s 100th birthday.
She is deeply very moved to receive blessing from a lot of people, because the tradition of sending the birthday card like this is few in Japan, though the New Year’s card is sent.
She becomes physically handicapped recently, spends the life indebted to an around person, and is leaking it to husband’s place to pass away early. She often spends in the special nursing home for the aged.
However, meals are taken regularly though it is few. She sometimes reads newspapers and books. It is happy time when she spends with six-year-old great-grandchild “Aiko”, kindergarten girl. She helps for her great-grandma to move in the room. (See photo.)
I think that the family of the fourth generation is comfortable for her.
The hearty birthday congratulation was unexpectedly received at such time, and her mind became very satisfiable. She says that she wants to dedicate the
mind of the sorrow to the bereaved family of the same circumstances as her from 26 postcards .
The congratulation on 100 years old will be brought from the city office on February 16, and a TV Producer will come to cover. I hear Yutaka will visit to bless.
My sister, brother and I, our three couples will welcome them.
It prays for the good luck of everybody.
Sincerely yours,
Kazuo Shinoda for my mother, Chiyo
(Please forgive my poor English. )
———-
Chiyo and Granddaughter
Also please see:
Torn apart by war, united by gifts of flowers
KISKA PETALS- “I send flowers of this place to you with my heart.”
Bruce abele@999info.net
Per United States Army regulations, the Purple Heart is awarded in the name of the President of the United States to any member of the Armed Forces of the United States who, while serving under competent authority in any capacity with one of the U.S. Armed Services after April 5, 1917, has been wounded or killed, or who has died after being wounded. Accordingly, every member of the crew of the USS Grunion should have received a Purple Heart.
They did not.
Back in December 2009 Dick and Mary Bentz spent a week at the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis getting copies of the personnel records of the Grunion crew. That’s when they discovered that although the enlisted crew had received that medal, the officers had not. The Abele family had thought that their Purple Heart had been somehow misplaced and there had been an ongoing search for a number of years.
Almost immediately Mary notified the appropriate authority and was assured that the situation would be corrected.
In March 2010 nothing had happened so Mary went up one step in the hierarchy and this time was informed that even though she had provided them with proof, it would take three months to reprove that Purple Hearts had not been received by any of the officers. After that there would be a six-month wait while they determine whether the officers deserved Purple Heart even though all enlisted men on the Grunion had received them.
Next step, while at the Purple Heart Hall of Honor Mary discovered that in these types of situations you contact the Chief of Naval Operations. On her suggestion I wrote a letter to that individual. Within about three weeks we had the Purple Hearts.
It seems to me that when we ask our young men to fight and possibly die for our country, our country has an obligation and duty not to forget. Presenting the Purple Heart 68 years later turns out to be a form of that remembering. Unfortunately there are some people in responsible govermental positions who do not understand nor care about that responsibility
Mary Bentz
Sixty eight years ago today the USS Grunion left us forever. Her memory remains with us and we continue to remember and honor those 70 men who paid the ultimate price that day.
Taking place this afternoon at the Veterans Cemetery in Jacksonville, Missouri there is a memorial service for USS Grunion’s Electrician’s Mate Third Class, Ernest Glenn Hellensmith from Moberly Missouri, arranged by his niece, Becky Franke. Just a few weeks ago, one of the finest tributes to this Grunion crew member and the USS Grunion, appeared in the Moberly Monitor by Ben Herrold, and can be found at Lost Found and Remembered.
During the past year, my main focus has been honoring each of our crew, at many military web sites, including those listed below. This labor of love continues. We encourage you to visit the following sites regularly.
Created and managed by Charles Hinman at the USS Bowfin Museum in Honolulu, the site continues to be updated and enhanced. Just this year he has completed personal memorial pages for each of the over 4,000 men lost while serving in the U.S. Submarine Force since 1900. He is also heavily involved with the five lost submarine discoveries in the last five years.
This monumental task began a few months ago. I have had the distinct honor and pleasure to be working with Ms. Nan McComber and her team in the Navy Log Department at the Navy Memorial in Washington, D.C. All 70 crew members’ logs already existed on the Navy Log., but during the past several weeks I have worked with Nan to update the crew information acquired from each of the crew member’s Service Records.
Her excellent work, her outstanding ethics and devotion to the men and women who have paid the ultimate price, is commendable. She and others in her department have worked long days, into the evenings and weekends to reach this goal. Completed just today are these updated logs for each of the crew to include Photos and Significant Duty Stations.
When the Navy Log site appears, insert USS GRUNION in the duty station and click on “Find it.”
Find your loved one’s name on the list and click on “view log” If you want to look at other crew member’s logs, use your “Back” to take you back to the complete list of crew members.
At the bottom of the page there is a reference to “Memories”. This is another part of the Navy memorial Log that I will be working on with Nan in the near future. If you have special memories that you would like for me to include, please email me at ca.par@hotmail.com and I will do my best to accommodate your wishes.
This website also presents a “Ship’s Tribute” site which provide tributes to all of the ships that served in the Pacific. Grunion’s site was just completed this week:
United States Navy Memorial
The Purple Heart Hall of Honor
The National Purple Heart Hall of Honor commemorates the extraordinary sacrifices of America’s servicemen and servicewomen who were killed or wounded in combat. The mission of the Hall of Honor is to collect and preserve the stories of Purple Heart recipients from all branches of service and across generations to ensure that all recipients are represented.
Working with Alison Manges and Bobby Montarro is a very pleasant experience and all of our men, with the exception of the officers of Grunion are now enrolled here. Grunion’s officers who as a group are not only unlisted on ABMC as Purple Heart recipients, but who were, it seems, never “put in” for the medal. We are continuing to work with Navy Casualty to have these medals awarded and forwarded to the officers’ next of kin. We will also continue to work with Navy Causality to correct all errors that we find.
The Purple Heart Hall of Honor is located at 374 Temple Hill Road, Vails Gate, New York. If you are in the area please consider a visit to this Hall of Honor in your plans. It is a wonderful place to learn about history of our brave veterans. Their displays tell a story that needs to be heard by all Americans. This facility provides a wonderful history and a memorial to those who gave of themselves.
The Roll of Honor is accessed by http://www.thepurpleheart.com/recipient/. Follow the prompts to reach the Roll of Honor.
If you know of any other Purple Heart recipients, check with Alison Manges alison.manges@oprhp.state.ny.us to verify their enrollment in the Purple Heart Hall of Honor. She will be happy to help.
In the January 28, 2010 Grunion Blog Update we talked about the WWII Registry. Let me review what is available there:
The Registry is a wonderful tool that combines four distinct databases that can be searched for names of those whose service and sacrifice helped win the Second World War. Those listed are on official War and Navy Department Killed in Service rosters now held by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). Also there is an opportunity for the public to enroll any and as many Registry of Remembrances as desired. Note that:
• For each of the USS Grunion crew, there is a tribute and a photograph from “The Families of the Grunion”.
• The United States Submarine Veterans, Inc. has permitted me to update each of the Grunion crew files. That was completed early spring this year.
One of the four databases in the WWII Registry, ABMC Tablets of the Missing has a link for each of our men. There is also a link on their own website. Many others and I have found it to be riddled with errors, and began contacting them last December. I have been trying to have the worst of the errors corrected, but there are a number of corrections that have not been taken care of. In seeking assistance from the Navy POW/MIA/KIA Casualty Assistance Branch in Millington, TN, and forwarding evidence to support our claims, we were able to get some relief. But errors are still there and I have no idea when to expect updates.
ACKNOWLEGEMENTS
With the exception of the eye witness accounts and other documentation that came from historians in Japan, most of the historical information we have about the USS Grunion has been obtained with the able assistance and guidance of personnel at the offices the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in both Washington, DC and College Park, MD, and at the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis, MO. The Personnel Records, Purple Heart Cards, Muster Rolls and Change Reports, Deck Logs, Log Books, and War Diaries provided by these facilities have made it possible to follow the Grunion’s keel-laying, her construction, her commissioning, her journey and experiences on the way to Pearl Harbor, her training in the Pacific, her first and only war patrol to the Aleutian Islands, and the background of the valiant crew of 70 sailors who were lost when the Grunion went down.
The following are to be commended for their eagerness and dedication to remembering, honoring and respecting all of our fallen Americans. The focus and goal here is to make this history accurate for not only those who want to remember now, but in coming years as new generations reach out to learn about and remember these heroes. Research matters.
National Archives and Records Administration:
• Steve Riordan, McCaffery Associates
• Pat Osborn and Nate Patch - NARA, College Park, MD
• Whitney Mahar and Christopher Secrest, National Personnel Records Center, St. Louis, MO
• Paul W. Wittmer, WWII submarine veteran and dedicated volunteer researcher in St. Louis, MO
Kenneth Terry and Rudy Gonzales of the POW/MIA/KIA Branch of the Navy Personnel Command, Casualty Assistance Division in Millington, TN are working toward having the corrections made at ABMC. They are also working to have Purple Hearts awarded to the seven of Grunion’s crew (6 officers and one enlisted man) who did not receive them.
Thank you all for making this possible.
If you have any questions, or find any errors or discrepancies in the links, please don’t hesitate to contact me.
On this day of remembrance, I would like to share this poem which was sung on the 50th anniversary of the Liberation of the Camps. Dick and I were honored to be a part of the choir that sang it at Auschwitz that day.
We Remember Them
In the rising of the sun and in its going down,
We remember them.
In the blowing of the wind and in the chill of winter
We remember them.
In the opening of the buds and in the rebirth of spring,
We remember them.
In the blueness of the sky and in the warmth of summer,
We remember them.
In the rustling of the leaves and in the beauty of autumn,
We remember them.
In the beginning of the year and when it ends,
We remember them.
When we are weary and in need of strength,
We remember them.
When we are lost and sick at heart,
We remember them.
When we have joys we yearn to share,
We remember them.
So long as we live, they too shall live,
For they are now a part of us,
As we remember them.