The Galloping Ghost (39 page)

30 January 1990—“Best part of war”

BRISBANE, Australia
—
Barb
torpedoman Don Miller of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, arrived today to be reunited with Jack Flynn for the first time in fifty years. Flynn, seventy-two, was captured while fighting in Burma for the British and later was cast adrift on flotsam in the South China Sea. The
Barb
miraculously located Flynn and thirteen other survivors. Recalled Miller, “I'll never forget the Australians for how they looked when we picked them up—thin and with thighs like my wrist—and I'll never forget the Japanese for what they did to them. That's a part of the war I remember the best. That was the best part, getting to save somebody.”

5 September 1990—Guests of honor

KISSIMMEE, Florida
—It was an emotional reunion today between thirty-eight Barb crewmen and Jack Flynn and his wife Sandy, who arrived from Brisbane as the guests of the veterans. The Flynns were accompanied by Don Miller and his wife.

4 June 1991—Mystery

NAM KWAN HARBOR, China
—Gene Fluckey arrived here today to determine whether the
Barb
sank more than a single ship in its daring attack on the port where a twenty-seven-ship Japanese convoy was at anchor. The Chinese government provided a van, a government interpreter, and a cashier to make the overnight drive to Nam Kwan over rock-strewn roads and jagged mountains with hairpin turns. In Nam Kwan, two elderly men who were teenagers when the
Barb
attacked confirmed that four ships were sunk and three damaged.

9 May 1992—Cold Warrior in Red Square

MOSCOW, Russia—
Eugene and Margaret Fluckey today marched in the Russian Peace Victory Parade here. They were invited by the Russians to mark the end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The parade wound for four miles through Moscow, starting at the Parliament Building and ending in Red Square before the Kremlin. Dressed in uniform with his Medal of Honor suspended by its pale blue ribbon around
his neck, Admiral Fluckey greeted a Russian naval captain en route. Both locked arms in a warm embrace before thousands of cheering spectators.

1992—Next best thing

CLEVELAND, Ohio
—Admiral Fluckey was the guest of honor for the rechristening of the USS
Cod
(SS-224) as the USS
Cod
Memorial on the Cleveland waterfront. The
Cod
is the last remaining World War II fleet boat that has not been modified, and it has been restored to its wartime appearance, inside and out. Fluckey marveled that it was “like coming home” to the
Barb
. It was Fluckey, in charge of disposing of decommissioned submarines in the late 1950s, who gave the order to relocate the
Cod
from the Philadelphia Navy Yard to the U.S. Navy Reserve Training Center in Cleveland in 1959.

12 February 1992—Legacy

GROTON, Connecticut
—Eugene Fluckey was the surprise guest at a wine and cheese party hosted by the commanding officer of the Naval Submarine Base here. The admiral entertained officers-in-training with his account of the attack on Nam Kwan and the
Barb
's narrow escape from a chasing frigate. “Fluckey spoke about calling his engineering chief to give him more speed and tie down the governors,” recalled Lt. David Ratte. “Strangely, during his narrative, I could not help but think of ‘Captain, I'm giving it all I've got!' from Scotty in a fictional
Star Trek
episode and how closely this resembled
Barb
's real-life heroic escape from the enemy's clutches. That story has never left my mind. We men of today's submarine force salute Admiral Fluckey, the ‘Galloping Ghost of the China Coast,' and the never-say-die legacy that heroic submariners of World War II passed to us.”

11 December 1992—Sailing with the skipper I

ABOARD THE
DELTA QUEEN
—
Seventy-six
Barb
shipmates and their wives joined Admiral and Mrs. Fluckey today for a four-day cruise on the Mississippi River. “Weighing anchor on a paddle wheeler is something my wife, Margaret, and I always planned to do,” explained the admiral. “Then, we thought how nice it would be to return something to the men I served with, and hit upon the idea of everybody vacationing on
Delta Queen
.” The river boat flew the
Barb
's final battle flag during what the Fluckeys called “Operation Good Time,” completely paid for by royalties from the admiral's book about the
Barb
's legendary war patrols,
Thunder Below!
During the cruise, the veterans revealed that they had contributed a thousand dollars for a brass plaque permanently attached to the theater seat arm in Arleigh and Roberta Burke Memorial Theater at the United States Navy Memorial in Washington. The plaque reads:

RADM Eugene B. Fluckey USN
CO USS
Barb
(SS 220) WWII
From His Shipmates

31 May 1993—Breakfast with the Clintons

WASHINGTON, D.C.
—Admiral Fluckey today was the sole representative for all the veterans of World War II at a Memorial Day ceremony at the White House and Arlington Cemetery. He and his wife enjoyed breakfast with Bill and Hillary Clinton. Gene, a great admirer of Presidents Nixon, Reagan, and the first George Bush, had visited the White House many times to meet with past presidents over security matters. Fluckey praised President Clinton for appointing David Gergen as his White House adviser despite criticism from Democrats. Gergen had advised three previous Republican presidents.

14 October 1993–1 August 1994–Limelight

NEW YORK CITY—
Gene Fluckey, eighty, began a whirlwind speaking tour promoting his book before the Yale Club here. Tuck Weaver also attended the dinner, providing a “living witness to some of Admiral Fluckey's ‘miracles' of warfare in World War II,” as Weaver later put it. Subsequent addresses and lectures were at Old Dominion, Hampden, and Norfolk State universities near Norfolk, Virginia; the National Press Club in Washington; Submarine Group Six in Charleston, South Carolina; the Iwo Jima Survivors Convention in Wichita Falls, Texas; the Naval Academy Dolphin Club in Annapolis; Submarine Atlantic Fleet in Norfolk; the National War College in Washington; the Submarine Veterans of World War II in Ballston, Virginia; the Battleship Park Memorial in Mobile, Alabama; the Basic Submarine School in Groton, Connecticut; and the National Archives in Washington.

26 March 1994—Knighted

KANSAS CITY, Missouri
—Rear Admiral and Mrs. Fluckey were inducted today into the Sovereign Military Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Knights of Malta. The order dates back to its founding in 1046 at the Vatican and was active in the Crusades of the Middle Ages. Admiral Sir Gene and Lady Margaret Fluckey are members of one of the world's oldest orders of chivalry, which uses its resources to assist the needy in the name of Christianity.

4 July 1995—Home of heroes

PUEBLO, Colorado
—Wearing his Medal of Honor and a baseball cap noting his service as COMIBERLANT in Portugal, Admiral Fluckey flashed the “V” for victory sign popularized in World War II in a ceremony here
today honoring sixteen recipients of the medal. Pueblo calls itself “Home of Heroes” because four Medal of Honor winners reside in the city at the eastern foot of the Rocky Mountains.

15 September 1995—Standing ovation

PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii
—Gene Fluckey, one of America's most decorated living Americans, today provided introductory remarks for President Bill Clinton at the fiftieth anniversary of the Allied triumph in World War II, the most costly war in world history. The ceremony was held on the USS
Carl Vinson
(CVN 70). When visitors and dignitaries rose to their feet to applaud him, the admiral thanked them for “that standing ovation for my crew.”

3 November 1995—Fluckey Hall (Georgia)

KINGS BAY, Georgia
—Admiral Fluckey was the guest speaker at the dedication of Fluckey Hall at the Naval Submarine Base here. He quipped, “It puts the onus on me to keep out of trouble for the next twenty-five or more years.” In a serious note, he added, “I do hope that those who study here will be imbued with some of the pioneer spirit and determination that made America great and not expect to develop knowledge without some good old-fashioned hard work and sacrifice.”

14 May 1996—Sailing with the skipper II

VANCOUVER, British Columbia—
Rear Admiral and Mrs. Fluckey, along with
Barb
shipmates and wives, boarded the SS
Nordham
for a seven-day cruise of the inland passage of Alaska, all of it paid for by the Fluckeys. The ship flew the
Barb
's battle flag during the voyage.

1996—Fluckey Hall (Japan)

YOKUSUKA, Japan
—Fluckey Hall, the new headquarters for U.S. Submarine Group Seven, was dedicated at the Yokusaka Naval Base with Admiral Fluckey and his wife in attendance.

18 April 1997—Celebration

YOKOSUKA, Japan
—Gene and Margaret Fluckey were guests of honor at a ball today to mark the ninety-seventh birthday of the submarine navies of Japan and the United States.

Summer 1998—Astronaut Fluckey?

WASHINGTON, D.C.
—At a meeting of retired naval officers here, an elderly man approached Admiral Fluckey and said to him, “I made my
first and last ride on a submarine with you in 1944.” It was Ohio Senator John Glenn, the first American to orbit the earth. As a Marine lieutenant, he was a passenger aboard the
Barb
off Midway during deep submergence when a packing gland broke loose in the conning tower, thoroughly soaking the pilot. Glenn is in training to ride the Space Shuttle
Discovery
as the first senior citizen to orbit the earth. With his trademark humor, Admiral Fluckey asked about going along so scientists could compare a seventy-five-year-old with an eighty-five-year-old.

1999—Long goodbye

ANNAPOLIS, Maryland
—Physicians diagnosed Admiral Fluckey as suffering from Alzheimer's disease, a brain disorder common in older people and that also afflicts former President Ronald Reagan.

3-4 April 2003—Last reunion

ANNAPOLIS, Maryland
—It has been forty years since thirty-five
Barb
crewmen and officers met in Pascagoula, Mississippi, during the commissioning of the nuclear submarine
Barb
. In the intervening years there had been six reunions in addition to the
Delta Queen
and Alaska cruises. As shipmates left for eternal patrol or became physically unable to travel, attendance dropped a little at each reunion. On this occasion fourteen crewmen and officers, their wives, and two widows came from all across the country and met in Annapolis to exchange memories of the glory days and bid a fond farewell to their beloved skipper. The anecdotes exchanged in many cases were humorous sidelights that occurred during the serious business of trying to sink an enemy that was attempting to reciprocate. Admiral Fluckey made his appearance on the second afternoon, and it was the last time most of the attendees would see their inspirational leader.

April 2003—Message to nuclear sailors

WASHINGTON, D.C.—
The
Submarine Review
this month published advice from Rear Admiral Fluckey to young people who might follow him: “Serve your country well. Put more into life than you expect to get out of it. Drive yourself and lead others. Make others feel good about themselves; they will outperform your expectations, and you will never lack for friends.”

21 November 2003—Distinguished graduates

ANNAPOLIS, Maryland
—The United States Naval Academy, the Brigade of Midshipmen, and alumni this evening honored Eugene Fluckey and Robert W. McNitt. The academy praised both men as Distinguished Graduates
before the entire brigade in Alumni Hall. Capt. Max Duncan, who served with both men in the
Barb
and had been a close friend of Gene for fifty-nine years, spoke for “my inspirational skipper.” Duncan also honored Admiral McNitt as “the finest open sea navigator of his time,” the man who correctly calculated where the sub could find shipwrecked Australian and British prisoners of war afloat in the South China Sea in 1944. Commenting on the skipper afterward, Duncan marveled, “Gene was a man of many different ideas. He used to run them by the bucket-full. All the time. Always pushing to do things differently.”

7 December 2004—Gallery

GROTON, Connecticut—
The Submarine Force Library and Museum today honored submariners with the opening of a Medal of Honor Gallery. Rear Admiral Fluckey, the only living recipient of the Medal of Honor for submarine service, sent a letter that was read by Neal Sever, the former
Barb
signalman who took part in sabotaging an enemy train in 1945. Sever attended the event with fellow
Barb
veterans Don Miller and John Lehman. In his letter, Admiral Fluckey praised
Barb
crewmen and thanked the sub base for creating a gallery for Navy heroes. “In the fullness of time I will depart on my last patrol. But here in the twilight of my life, please be aware that my gratitude overflows for the recognition here bestowed upon me and my
Barb
shipmates. Think Deep. Eugene Fluckey.”

12 November 2005—Honors for two admirals

WASHINGTON, D.C.
—The World War II Veterans Committee of the American Studies Group presented The Chester Nimitz Award for Outstanding Service during the war to Admiral Fluckey and Admiral McNitt at the committee's annual meeting at the Capitol Hill Hyatt Regency Hotel tonight. Margaret Fluckey accepted the award for an ailing Admiral Fluckey.