This leaves only one survivor from the USS Squalus remaining

Since 01-06-05

Sailor Rest Your Oar

From: Ray Samson
To: Undisclosed-Recipient:;
Sent: Sunday, January 02, 2005 1:13 AM
Subject: USS Squalus

Thought this of interest to all Submariners, and especially the DBF'ers .................. Time ~ it is a-passing!
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From: "Helen Hart Momsen" I wanted to share this with you. This morning Gerald MacLees passed away.

This leaves only one survivor from the USS Squalus remaining.

As you may know, the Squalus went down off of Portsmouth New Hampshire in May of 1939 with 33 men left alive. No one had ever been saved from a sunken submarine before but my grandfather, using his rescue chamber, his knowledge and a magnificent crew of divers, doctors and other sailors and officers, saved every man. Every year, until they grew too old to travel, the survivors would meet somewhere in the US and toast my grandfather. The Squalus rescue is one of many reasons that the Navy named the destroyer DDG-92 the USS Momsen after my grandfather.

I have attended too many funerals as these brave men have passed away. We lose so many of the great generation of WWII veterans every day and these men were very special. Gerald and I became fast friends and I am pleased that he enjoyed that friendship so much because, as he said, "Your grandfather outranked me...but you can be my friend." He came to a showing of the movie "Submerged" in Washington DC several years ago at the White House but was already too ill to attend the commissioning in Panama City this last August of the USS Momsen.

Please pray for him and his family and for Allan Carl Bryson who is the last remaining survivor. It was a contest they joked about, but none sought to win. I am planning something for the next generation to carry on the memories of these wonderful men in my grandfather's name.

I will be attending the services in Portsmouth, New Hampshire early next week...so we should also ask for no snow as we send our wishes Heaven-ward for a warm welcome for Mac.

Helen Hart Momsen