Fifty-two World War II submarines sank and each state was assigned one in hopes the citizens would memorialize those who enlisted for a military service with such high death rates. |
Mississippi was assigned the USS Tullibee, sunk March 1944 in the Pacific when a torpedo fired by her own crew did a circular run. Only one of the 80-man crew survived.
Years passed and Mississippi didn't dedicate a monument, even though Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula built 13 subs. The memorial became reality when the "younger" veterans of Tullibee Base Mississippi (state chapter of the U.S. Submarine Veterans) worked with the few remaining Mississippi WWII sub vets.
In August 2003 the lone and aging Tullibee survivor was in Ocean Springs for dedication of the Mississippi Submarine Memorial.
"What sets this apart is its dedication to all who served on submarines," said Al Hammond of Gautier. "Anyone who has followed submarines knows that the Cold War deterrent was 41 fleet ballistic missile submarines, called the Forty-One for Freedom. Hammond, who served on one of them, was fighting cancer when he spearheaded the design of the new memorial, three granite stones engraved with the names of the Tullibee crew, and all subs lost in U.S. history.
The memorial stood about 300 feet south of the Mississippi Vietnam War Veterans' Memorial on U.S. 90. That monument survived Katrina, but the submariners' memorial was shattered.
"The angle of the granite created too much of a 'sail' area and caught the wind," said Hammond, who had been declared cancer-free just days before the hurricane.
"We've already raised about half of the $9,000 we need. As before, most comes from submariners from all over the country."
Hammond went into redesign mode but had to take a break for heart surgery. The submarine memorial group - which has a Web site, http://www.datasync.com/~edabear/Welcome.html - is amazed by his tenacity.
"Al is remarkable," said Herb Edmonds, a Tullibee Base officer. "As soon as he saw the memorial in pieces, he talked about rebuilding." - KAT BERGERON