May Meeting Notes

We began the May meeting with the Tolling of the Boats for May, birthday wishes for our members, introductions, and officer reports. Then we moved right into the meeting business.

Old and New Business:
Armed Forces Day Weekend at Cabela's - On Saturday May 18, Armed Forces Day, and Sunday May 19 we will set up the Seattle Base float in the parking lot of Cabela's Tulalip store (9810 Quil Ceda Blvd Tulalip WA 98271). We will be there both days from 10 AM to 4 PM. If you are planning on attending, please contact Doug Abramson or Steve Shelton (or you can just show up). For Cabela’s event, all vendors (that’s us) get the employee discount up to 25% as well as free lunch at the store deli.

Bremerton Armed Forces Day parade - If you can't make it to the Cabela's event, please consider attending the Bremerton Armed Forces Day parade on Saturday, May 18. The Silent Service Motorcycle Club and other local bases will be at the parade.

Smokey Point Rest Stop Event - The Smokey Point event is back for 2013! This year we will be at the southbound rest stop June 28 - July 1. Steve Shelton will have sign-up sheets available at the next meeting or you can contact him directly to sign up for a time. Additionally, we can use donations of cookies (or donation to buy cookies) to hand out at the event.

Holland Club Committee Donation – The Holland Club Committee has requested donations from all USSVI bases. To help support the efforts of the Holland Club Committee, Seattle Base passed a motion to donate a dollar to the committee for every Seattle Base member, for a total of $118.00. We also passed the hat for anyone wishing to make an additional personal donation. We collected $90.00 bringing the total to $208.00.

May Program:
Pat Householder gave a short presentation about Lloyd Manes, an Electricians Mate who served on the USS Squalus when the boat sank during trials off the Isle of Shoals in May 1939. Lloyd survived that tragedy and continued on submarines, including volunteering to serve on USS Sailfish (the renamed Squalus) before World War II. During World War II, Lloyd served on several different submarines. His last patrol was aboard the USS Growler, which was lost with all hands aboard in the Sea of Japan in November 1944. It was an interesting, but sad, story about one of our lost shipmates.

Ric Hedman told us about a project to produce a documentary film about the loss and location of the hulk of the USS R-12 (SS-89). The USS R-12 (SS-89) was lost during World War II off Key West, Florida. The sunken remains were discovered in 600 feet of water in 2010.

The documentary project, called “Twice Forgotten – The Story of the USS R-12” is being funded through the Kickstarter online funding platform. The organization behind the project is trying to raise $89,000 to move forward. The USSVI Board of Directors has endorsed the project by pledging $1,000 to it and encourages all USSVI bases and base members to join them.

Here is a short video explaining the project:


Your participation, via Kickstarter, will enable the completion of the documentary "Twice Forgotten". Our collective participation will help empower them to finally tell the story of the USS R-12 Submarine's tragic sinking, the families left without any information and the quest to solve the mysteries that have been unanswered after all this time.

How you can help:
1. Go to the Kickstarter page for the “Twice Forgotten – The Story of the USS R-12” project.
2. Review the information about the project.
3. Click the Green BACK THIS PROJECT button.
4. Choose your support level and click the CONTINUE button.
5. Complete the Log-in information and enter info for AMAZON Payments.

When complete you will get a email notification thanking you for the pledge. At the end of the pledge drive on June 30, the donor list will be reviewed by us so that USSVI gets recognition for all our collective donations. This project will be funded and your pledge converted to a donation ONLY if at least $89,000 is pledged by Sunday June 30.

Note: Some members may not be able to or will not wish to PLEDGE using the above method. The alternative is to have them pledge to the Seattle Base and then have the base make a collective pledge on their behalf before June 30. If this is your situation, please email David Schueler giving your name and the dollar amount of your pledge by June 15. When the project exceeds $ 89,000 David will get back with you requesting reimbursement of the pledge amount. If the project falls short of the $ 89,000 goal, all pledges are cancelled.

Good of the Order
John Mansfield, District Four Commander, gave us an update of what is happening in the district. He also let us know that he will be appointing Al Gurkee to take over his position. Finally, he showed off a stained glass window with a submarine silhouette attached that was presented to him by the Olympia base.

John with his window. BZ to John for all his hard work ad District Four Commander

A memorial for June Schmidt, base member Irv Schmitt’s wife, will be June 8th at 1:00 pm at the First Baptist Church, 22800 56th Ave W, Mountlake Terrance (just about a block from the Seattle Fleet Reserve Association Branch 18 building). Everyone is encouraged to attend.

Binnacle List:

• Gene Posel is still recovering from a torn back muscle.
• Robbie Robertson is still battling prostate cancer, but is doing better with some new drugs.

We hope to see you at the next meeting.