NOT many Sardines in One Metal Can

Truth can still be stranger than fiction and I have proof to present, to prove this statement still holds water. Actually it involves a metal can that stays mostly underwater. Like another sayings about a fish out of water, a submarine is most vulnerable when it is out of the water as well.

I speak from experience, since I served on submarines for almost six years. My last submarine of three, was the USS Scorpion SSN589 with a home port of Norfolk, Va., but it was rarely there, but most often under the water poking around the Atlantic Ocean and beyond.

Now to get a can opener and see why I said earlier that truth is stranger than fiction. With the top peeled back, we can now see inside the submarine, to see it has about a hundred man crew and of these, three men served as the cooks and bakers for the crew. They provided excellent meals every four hours, seven days a week, often for three months at a time. I was one of those who had the honor to serve these men the best meals we were able to make.

I left what we called "The Boat" in 1964 to get on with my life in other pursuits. As it has turned out, "The Boat" has come back into my life again this year. First in the form of a newly written book called "Scorpion Down," published after forty years of research by the author, now proving that the Russians sank the Scorpion in 1968 causing the loss of life of all hands at sea and how our government, as well as the Russians, covered it all up. At the end of the book is a list of all the crew members. On that list is the father of one of the members of the band called "Red, White and Blues," that will be playing at our "Saluting Our Military - BASH 2010" on the last day of the three day event, Sunday August 29th.

My Lady Robin and I were trying to pick a band for that last day because the other bands are going up to the Veterans Home in Marquette that day, to put on a special show for everybody there. We were trying to pick from three groups that all looked very promising.

One band however leaped out based on the bio info we got from them. The Red, White and Blues Band has an active National Guard member, a Vietnam veteran and the member of the band that contacted us, had never seen his father who was killed serving on a submarine, when he was just two months old. Chills ran up our spines, because this had to be the Scorpion, based on the time frame. YES, we were told, and I asked if he knew what his father did for his duty on the submarine. When he responded that his dad was a cook, Robin and I were both unable to speak for a minute.

If I have to tell you which of the three bands we picked, then you do not understand the depth of camaraderie. Then again, maybe you have never been packed in a metal can with a bunch of guys that after a month can smell like sardines. For us, it became a no brainer . . .