Chapomatic

This little video clip from the house organ of SubPac shows the USS Bowfin memorial in Pearl Harbor, and some guys in interesting outfits, and some objects that might not look like much.

That wooden thing that looks a little like the badge on a Star Trek uniform was a table. That table, for 38 years, was at the end of the wardroom on the submarine USS Kamehameha. I spent a lot of time sitting at that table.

It’s nice to see that it didn’t wind up in some submarine groupie’s trophy room, like some other objects I know, or in the trash pile.

Why do I say we did it right? See that Medal of Honor winner, now a distinguished senior Senator, speaking? He helped President Kennedy name that boat. See the ceremonies over those objects you don’t recognize? That’s the keepers of the old Hawaiian ways and religion, folks, and they and others kept with us through the entire life of the submarine, even when (like now) it wasn’t fashionable to admit liking anything military in Hawaii. They wouldn’t have taken the effort to stay connected if we on that ship hadn’t reached out and connected with them and learned the history of Kamehameha and his people. Our salaries, our ships, our equipment are provided by the people of the country we serve, and we must not forget that or stop that reaching out to others.

I’m proud I got to help in a tiny part of that long history.