USS HalfbeakA Family Reunion |
From American Submariner Magazine |
by Jim TerrelI like to tell everyone that I had a great submarine career. I served on a couple of diesel boats with their great crews, rode a nuke fast attack with their exciting missions, and made FBM patrols where I was able to catch up on my reading. Looking back I had great shipmates and experiences on all of them, but in my mind one boat stands out above the others. That boat is USS Halfbeak SS352. Halfbeak had no war record for all of us to rally around. She was not commissioned until 1946. When I served aboard her in 1963 she was a Guppy II. Nothing about her was extraordinary except the spirit of the crew. When I joined USSVI and again enjoyed the company of submariners, I began to reflect back on the Halfbeak guys and wondered what had happened to them. I made a few attempts to find “ Cannonball”, whom I had visited in the mid eighties. He had moved on and I could find no trace of him. At our monthly Dallas Base meetings I would share some of my memories with my new shipmates and in doing so more and more of my former life resurfaced. I thought back on the tragedy that occurred in March of 1964 that threw a chill over this group of brothers on the Halfbeak. That event was the death of Ronnie Harrison. Anyone who ever suffered through a battery charge in mid winter in New London knows how cold those boats can be. In Squadron Ten, operating from the Fulton at State Pier, there were no barracks for single men to escape the frigid conditions, so we would divide into compatible groups and rent a “ snake ranch “ for the winter. The shoreline of Connecticut was a summer time Mecca but during the winter was somewhat deserted. This made a lot of choice properties available. Cannonball, Ozzie, Charlie Hall and I rented a beautiful home over looking Rogers Lake near Old Lyme. Ronnie and his family lived just below us, on the shoreline of the lake. When Ronnie’s wife was busy with their two young children, he would slip out and sneak up the hill. Seemed Ronnie would just open a cold beer when the phone would ring and following a few “yes dear’s” Ronnie would start back down the hill to a chorus of laughter. Those were great days. One day Ronnie and the guys placed a target on one of the many trees in the front of the ranch and commenced a shooting competition using a small handgun. Ronnie hit a perfect bulls eye and while turning to accept the accolades of the others, spun the gun on his finger. The gun discharged and the bullet went through Ronnie’s heart, killing him instantly. Charlie Hall, Cannonball and I escorted him to Arlington where he is buried. Ronnie was twenty-three and his wife was pregnant with their third child.
Through the internet, I made contact with our former Yeoman, Billy Joe Reeves. Billy and I shared our memories of Ronnie and the Halfbeak. It was our common friendship with Ronnie Harrison that had bought us together again. After a few months of visiting via internet, we determined to see if there may be interest in a reunion of the Halfbeak’s crew. We posted notices and waited for response. Soon a trickle of communication started coming in, and that increased every day. We decided to hold a reunion along with the convention in Atlantic City. Billy and I recruited shipmate “Sniffer” Wright, who lives in the area , to help us plan the event. Billy did all of the work communicating with our shipmates and Sniffer found us a great site for dinner. As the date approached I became re-energized in my search for my mates from the snake ranch. Finally, I found Cannonball and a few weeks latter, Ozzie, but never found Charlie Hall. They couldn’t make this reunion, which was a disappointment. Still, I became more and more excited about meeting with the others and it was with much anticipation that I headed for Atlantic City. |
