WHETSTONE — June 9, 1944, is a day Bob Strosser remembers well. The submarine he was serving on was on war patrol off Truk Island, retrieving Army Air Force crew members from aircraft that might have been downed by Japanese gunfire. Strosser, now 80, was one of three lookouts on the surfaced USS Snapper. The former torpedoman put that day’s harrowing experience succinctly. “We got strafed,” he said, as he talked about that day more than 61 years ago. A lookout and torpedoman named McKee was killed, and Strosser and the other sailor were wounded. Strosser was hit by shrapnel...