Memorial Service set to Honor Lost USS Lagarto Crew

Navy NewsStand ^ | Chief Journalist (SW/AW) David Rush, Commander

[SandRat]

PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii (NNS) -- Families of crew members serving on the ill-fated World War II submarine USS Lagarto (SS 371) will gather May 6 in Manitowoc, Wis., to honor the men whose submarine went missing six decades ago and was only recently located by divers.

Rear Adm. Jeffrey B. Cassias, commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet's submarine force, will serve as the keynote speaker at the ceremony held at the Wisconsin Maritime Museum in Manitowoc, where Lagarto was built. Jamie MacLeod, a British wreck diver who located the Lagarto wreck in the Gulf of Thailand last year, will also be on hand.

For 60 years, crew members' families did not know the exact circumstances surrounding the 86 submariners who perished. Lagarto was last heard from May 3, 1945, as it was preparing to attack a Japanese convoy under heavy escort. Japanese war records later revealed that the minelayer Hatsutaka reported sinking a U.S. submarine at roughly the same time and location.

In May 2005, MacLeod and a group of commercial divers found Lagarto in the Gulf of Thailand sitting upright in 225 feet of water. A large rupture in the port side bow area confirmed that Lagarto had apparently been struck by a depth charge.

But there was something else that MacLeod's team noticed that caught their attention: an open torpedo tube door, with an empty torpedo tube. It seemed to suggest that Lagarto had gone down fighting.

62-year old Arthur H. Keeney III of Engelhard, N.C., said the discovery of Lagarto has given him a new connection to a father he never knew.

“It has made my father's high school and Academy yearbooks and other family memorabilia more alive and personal," said Keeney. "Moreover, I'm pleased for my mother, who, now 84, can reflect on the earlier stages of her life when Bud was part of it.”

Keeney said he’s looking forward to meeting with other Lagarto family members at the upcoming ceremony.

“I will truly enjoy meeting other people, particularly the children, who are kin to other Sailors who knew my father and who also gave their lives in service to our country," he said.

Sailors from the staff of Submarine Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet, have flown U.S. flags over the World War II Submarine Memorial at Pearl Harbor for this event. Cassias will present the flags to family members at the May 6 ceremony.

"We owe a great debt to these men, and to all of the World War II submariners," said Cassias. "In the world's darkest hour, they faced the greatest risks and demonstrated the most noble courage to preserve the freedom of our nation."

Last May, Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle signed a proclamation making May 3, the day the submarine was presumed sunk, as USS Lagarto Remembrance Day in perpetuity. Museum personnel are making plans to record oral histories of veterans and the surviving family members.

Lagarto was one of 52 submarines lost on patrol during World War II.

For related news, visit the Commander, Submarine Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet Navy NewsStand page at www.news.navy.mil/local/subpac/.

[SandRat]

Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (April 25, 2006) - Sailors assigned to Submarine Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet raise U.S. flags over the World War II Submarine Memorial at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Commander Submarine Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet Rear Adm. Jeffrey B. Cassias, will present the flags to family members of the crew of USS Lagarto during a memorial service at the Wisconsin Maritime Museum in Manitowoc, Wisconsin. The submarine, which was built in Manitowoc, was lost in World War II just months before the end of the war. U.S. photo by Chief Journalist David Rush (RELEASED)

[SandRat]

Honoring those Submariners on Eternal Patrol

[bondjamesbond]

USS Lagarto (SS 371)

[Tennessee_Bob]

The Flag still flies on the USS Lagarto -

[Tennessee_Bob]

Sorry - didn't think to size it.

[Lady Jag]

[BykrBayb]

Could you do your world famous ping thingy?

[Snickersnee]

A submarine built in Wisconsin! What a country!

[Doohickey]

Chicks dig that pingy thingy, don't they? :)

[Doohickey]

Eternal Patrol ping to the Steely-Eyed killers of the deep.

[Nuc1]

Pride Runs Deep, a saying from the sixties. Seems to apply here.

[BykrBayb]

J

[SmithL]

[Protect the Bill of Rights]

For real?
Awesome!!!

[BIGLOOK]

USS Largato was lost but now is found......still on patrol in the Gulf of Siam.

Salute to the Captain and Crew of Largato and peace to their families.

If it's any consolation, the Japanese minelayer Hatsutaka was sunk by USS Hawksbill 12 days later.

[Kathy in Alaska]

TAPS

RIP USS Lagarto Crew

Eternal Father

[Tennessee_Bob]

I probably would have been better off just posting the link to the website about it -



http://www.thaiwreckdiver.com/lagarto.htm

[E.G.C.]

BTTT

[PogySailor]

Rest your oars shipmates.