RE: [PSUBS-MAILIST] A submariner's eulogy.

Bill,

My deepest sympathies to you and your family on your loss. May you take some comfort in the thought that your family had him for 82 years.

Thank him for me for his service.

Joe Perkel

From: "Akins" <lakins1@tampabay.rr.com>
Reply-To: personal_submersibles@psubs.org
To: <personal_submersibles@psubs.org>
Subject: [PSUBS-MAILIST] A submariner's eulogy.
Date: Sat, 26 Nov 2005 15:02:33 -0500

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.