The USS Perch (SS-176) was scuttled after being damaged by Japanese destroyers on 3 March 1942. The 300-foot diesel submarine was found 23 November 2006 by an international team of photographers and divers looking for the wreck of the HMS Exeter sunk in the same area on 1 March 1942.
Robert Lentz was a 20 year-old torpedoman on the ship. and remembers "I got $35 still in my locker." He is now 85 and living in Mountain Home, Arkansas. After his capture, he spent 3 1/2 years in Japanese prison camps before being released Sept. 18, 1945. Mr. Lentz recalled that in one camp, there were nearly 600 survivors of the HMS Exeter.
There are only five Perch veterans still alive (as of 2007).
The wreck was found north of Surbaya City, Java. They know for a fact it is the Perch because they found a plaque with the name on it.
In the past year, three other U.S. submarine wrecks have been found:
USS Wahoo, sunk north of Hokkaido in 1943.
USS Grunion, sunk 1942 near the Aleutian Islands.
USS Lagarto sunk 62 years ago by a Japanese minelayer.
During the war, more than 3500 American submariners lost their lives on 52 submarines that were lost.
--GreGen
No comments:
Post a Comment