Military Officer - November 2007 - (Page 79)

pagesofhistory Mystery Solved Relatives of the USS Grunion’s 70 crewmembers never learned their loved ones’ ﬁnal fates after the ship was lost at sea. Now, with the believed discovery of the ship, they might ﬁnd closure. T he USS Grunion (SS-216), a World War II submarine with a crew of 70 that was lost 65 years ago in the Bering Sea, is believed to have been found. The discovery comes after a ﬁve-year search led by the sons of the Grunion’s commander, Navy Lt. Cmdr. Jim Abele. A search team hired by the Abeles used sonar equipment and a remote-controlled underwater camera to locate a submarine on an underwater slope north of the Aleutian Island of Kiska. The search team said the submarine lies severely damaged some 1,000 feet from the surface. The hull had imploded, so bunks and a dive wheel can be seen, but no identifying markings are visible. On July 30, 1942, the Grunion was patrolling Alaska’s Aleutian Islands when it exchanged ﬁre with an armed Japanese freighter. The submarine radioed headquarters about the attack, but it was never heard from again. rial in Arlington, Va. Maj. Gen. Gale S. Pollock, acting surgeon general of the Army and chief of the Army Nurse Corps, presented the star to Mary Jane Bolles Reed, a daughter of Leckrone. Leckrone was authorized the Citation Star for her gallantry while tending to wounded during artillery bombardment at Hospital No. 127, Chateau-Thierry, France, July 19, 1918. In 1932, the Silver Star was created to replace the Citation Star. Following World War I, Leckrone married Ralph Bolles, and they raised four daughters. Leckrone died in 1989 at age 96. Pearl Harbor Sailor Identified Silver Star for Army Nurse A World War I Army nurse has been awarded the Silver Star for valor. Linnie Leckrone was honored at a July 31 ceremony at the Women in Military Service for America MemoTHIS MONTH IN HISTORY ■ On Nov. 8, 1942, U.S. and British forces in- A vaded Nazi-held North Africa in Operation Torch. The Russians had pressed the U.S. and Britain to open a second front, and the Allied victory in North Africa marked a turn in the war. PHOTO: USN PHOTO COURTESY JOHN CROUSE, ST. MARY’S SUB MUSEUM sailor who was killed at Pearl Harbor and placed in an unknown grave has been identiﬁed. Fireman 3rd Class Alfred Eugene Livingston served aboard the USS Oklahoma and died the morning of Dec. 7, 1941, when Japanese planes bombed the U.S. Paciﬁc Fleet. Livingston’s remains recently were identiﬁed through dental records and research and were transferred to his family in Indiana for a full military funeral. Livingston is the fourth servicemember identiﬁed by Ray Emory, a World War II historian and Pearl Harbor survivor, since he began researching Pearl Harbor deaths ﬁve years ago. MO NOVEMBER 2007 The Grunion (SS216) slides down the launching ways Dec. 22, 1941, at the Electric Boat Co. in Groton, Conn. MILITARY OFFICER 79

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Military Officer - November 2007

Military Officer - November 2007 Contents From the Editor President’s Page Your Views MOAA Directory Rapid Fire Washington Scene Chapters in Action Financial Forum Ask the Doctor Cover Story: Commanding the Corps With Love, From Home Financial Guidebook Financial Tuneups Banking on Your Time Pages of History MOAA Scholarship Recipients Faces of MOAA MOAA Scholarship Donors Member Books Advertising Index MOAA Calendar Sounding Taps MOAA Member Services Encore

Military Officer - November 2007

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