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My father Harold L. Akins was a submariner for the
United States Navy during all of WW2.
He was enlisted even before the Pearl Harbor
attack.
His submarine the SS269 Rasher was confirmed as the
number 2 submarine in tonnage
sunk in the entire pacific theatre. She was a fleet
class sub.
He also served on the Hado and the Trumpetfish subs
and
trained on O and S boats as well. His unit won the
presidential unit citation 3 times along
with various other medals and commendations. Once,
while in Japanese and shark infested
waters, while on the surface, my father saw another
crewman fall off the conning tower and hit
his head against the hull and then bounce off into
the water. Dad was on the high school swimming
team before enlisting and was a strong swimmer. He
jumped in, coffee cup, shoes, uniform and all and
after several dives under, he finally saw the
crewmans head just below him and grabbed him by the hair
and brought him up. Although his scalp was peeled
back and the sub corpsman had to sew his scalp back
together, the man lived. Dad received a special
commendation for his actions that day. I remember numerous
stories Dad told me of the hair raising experiences
they had. The down the throat shot seen in the movie U571
where they blew the bow off the German destroyer,
was based on my father's sub's action against a Japanese
destroyer. They had surfaced to periscope depth and
the captain was traversing the periscope when without marking
or aiming of any kind he yelled "Fire all stern
torpedos! Take her down!" By unhappy circumstance they had surfaced directly in
front of a
Japanese destroyer coming straight at their stern.
The Jap destroyer must have tried to turn (which is the hope in a down
the throat shot so they will be hit) and while
underwater they heard the explosions and the captain knew they had a successful
hit.
The captain brought
her up again to periscope depth and saw the bow was gone off the destroyer and
she was dead in the water without forward motion.
I asked Dad if she sunk for sure, and he told me
"Son, we didn't stick around to find out, might have been another one close
bye".
Surrounded by his family, Dad passed away last
night at 3:37 a.m. after a heart attack a day earlier and undergoing emergency
cardiac surgery.
He was 82. He is survived by his wife, myself, my sister, 3 grandsons and 1 greatgranddaughter. His
contribution to the pacific war effort was considerable. He was
also a fine man and a much better one than I. He
never had a bad word to say about anyone and he was a Christian man also. The
entire
family is deeply saddened and in mourning over his
loss, but we know he is in heaven now. A large piece of my soul and spirit died
with him.
We will miss him for the rest of our lives. Dad was
not a flashy man and was actually a very peaceful and almost passive
personality. You would
never know what he went thru or what a hero he
actually was by just meeting him. He had an inner strength that did not require
bravado or egotism.
I feel like I am in a nightmare and unreal dream. I
and the entire family will never fully recover or be the same without him. He
will be buried with full
military honors in the veterans cemetary in
Bushnell Florida on Wed. He was not only a quiet man and a true war hero,
but a great man
loved by everyone who knew him and he was a
submariner's submariner. I know everyone here sympathizes with this and it is
not necessary
and I would prefer there to be no replies to
this e mail. I just wanted to mention his passing to the group. He symbolizes
the end of an era.
They don't make them like my Dad
anymore.
Bill Akins.
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