[12/15/07 Ed note: Below is a typewritten letter from Harold “Buzz” Lee.  I’ve taken the liberty of interspersing a couple of official of WWII submarine patrol summaries in italics. History confirmed— by a man WHO WAS THERE!  Buzz sailed on Nautilus: 1938-42, Aspro: 1943, Sabalo: 1944-5*, and Torsk: 1947-8.-Ron Gorence]

[*Webmaster's note: Chief Torpedoman Harold Gordon Lee was aboard Sabalo Sep45-Jul46]

 5 Dec 2007

Dear Ron Gorence:                                                                                                                 

I have received all of your SILENT SENTINELS [San Diego USSVI Base Newsletter] right on time and the last one with the lost and missing submarines was as close as it can get!

We, on the Nautilus, had just transferred one of our ‘prospective commanders’ and my radioman named SMITH whom we called Smitty for short to the CAPELIN and were lost almost immediately.

 [USS Capelin (SS-289), on her second war patrol 17 November 1943, in the Molukka Sea and Celebes Sea, was to leave her area at dark 6 December— she was never heard from again.]

I was on the ASPRO later and made our first patrol on it to TRUK where the Capelin was bound.

We picked up pinging by a destroyer escorting a new Japanese submarine. He was perhaps the dumbest DD captain in the Japanese navy announcing to the world his presence. Our skipper was on a trim dive and that was our good luck and it was 1300 hours. We stayed about ten miles on the Jap’s beam and moved into him on the surface at darkness.

[After a long surface pursuit, Aspro drew within range of I-43 and at 2223 fired four torpedoes. Her crew saw and heard an explosion, followed shortly by another. They then saw her target's bow rise as she sank by her stern.]

At exactly 2200 we moved into him and fired four at him from 1200 yards (point blank). The Jap had no radar and [we] had him cold. The first two torpedoes hit him and he sank in two pieces. The exec came down from the bridge and asked me for a depth sounding which I did. The enemy sub sank in 3½ miles of water and made terrible sounds as the sea pressure exploded his tanks. Our skipper went through “JAYNES FIGHTING SHIPS and discovered we had put ENDO [Endo Shinobu, Commanding Officer I-43] away forever.

We did not celebrate the sinking of the Jap sub - it was “but for the grace of GOD there go I” but we did have a couple shots of HENNESSY’s Five Star as was ordered by our medic who controlled the liquor locker! By the way, it had a hangar forward of the bridge and held a spy plane with folded wings. Later we discovered the spy plane had been moving over Pearl Harbor all the way to Honolulu and got away with it!

[On 17 February, she underwent a depth-charge attack, but suffered no damage. Aspro torpedoed a freighter on 4 March, and the subsequent explosion shook the submarine violently. However, the Japanese vessel was merely damaged, not sunk.]

I was on watch in the radio shack on the morning of [June] 3rd when a coded message came in addressed to the NAUTILUS from NPM (Pearl Harbor). Our skipper and comm. officer deciphered it right along side of me in a special machine. It was a terrible moment! The skipper called all hands to the CREWS MESS and told us the largest armada ever assembled anywhere was coming straight at our position and would be exactly where we were the next AM about 1000 and I could write forever about the next morning (JUNE 4, 1942 [Battle of Midway, June 4-7, 1942]). And if you ask me I will reply. It has haunted me for 66 years!!

[Nautilus went to 300 feet as a prolonged depth charge attack commenced. At 16:10, the submarine rose to periscope depth. The carrier, burning along her entire length, had been abandoned. At 19:41, Nautilus resumed her patrol, having expended five torpedoes and survived 42 depth charges. Her commanding officer, Lt. Cmdr. William H. Brockman, Jr., was awarded the Navy Cross for his actions during this battle of Midway.]

[With the letter, Buzz included a copy of his invitation from Commandant, Naval District Washington, to attend a reception and dinner at the Army Navy Country Club, Arlington and the 65^th Battle of Midway Commemoration Ceremony at the US Navy Memorial the following day, June 4, 2007]

My youngest daughter and my son flew with me to D.C. and we had a moment in our life never to be forgotten. I am 90 years old and there are only two survivors left — me being one of them.

At the dinner of about 200 people with my son on one side and my daughter at the other I was the fourth person asked to stand and be recognized. More later.

Buzz Lee

 

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