The Galloping Ghost (40 page)

2006—“Standing in his light”

ANNAPOLIS, Maryland
—Admiral Fluckey, suffering from severe Alzheimer's, moved permanently into the assisted living quarters at Baywoods retirement center, where he and his wife had been living in Annapolis. Paul Farace, a non-submariner and close friend of the Fluckeys in their latter years, saw him there. He summed up his feelings about the admiral and his wife. “Margaret is the perfect Navy admiral's wife. She knows how to aid him, how to protect him, and now that it is required, how to protect his image and legacy. Better that we should remember a lively, talkative, and vibrant elder warrior than to see a tiny, frail, failing man in his last
days. When the orders come for him to depart on that final, eternal patrol, I know that we will have lost a great man. He is slowly leaving us now. As someone said of those who suffer from Alzheimer's, ‘They slowly fade away . . . long before their bodies.'

“I am very grateful that I had a chance to stand in his light and to help him understand that there are lots of us who think that what he and men like him did on our behalf was truly heroic.”

My biography of Rear Adm. Eugene B. Fluckey came from a desire by his family and
Barb
shipmates to preserve the admiral's legacy. Barbara Bove, his daughter, contributed much to my understanding of her life with her parents, at times baring her soul in answering personal questions. Likewise, I owe much to her daughter, Gail Fritsch, who lent me a carload of boxes containing wartime letters, Navy documents, speeches, notes, and memorabilia collected by her grandfather since the 1920s. They gave me keen insights into all that had happened in his lifetime. Margaret Fluckey, the admiral's second wife, met with me on occasion in Annapolis to add context to his dynamic retirement.

Barb
shipmates and those Gene served with after the war contributed their memories and comments via extensive e-mail, telephone, and snail-mail correspondence, as well as personal visits with me to help give a fuller portrait of the Navy's most decorated submarine hero. Among them, several stand out. Tuck Weaver, the
Barb
's former battle stations officer of the deck, convinced the Naval Institute Press to go forward with this project and provided enthusiastic support and background materials. Capt. Max Duncan, former
Barb
TDC operator, provided constant help in the preparation of this manuscript, chapter by chapter, often helping me steer the course through daily e-mails. Max and his wife Trilby are close personal friends of the Fluckey family, as they have been for fifty years, and are dedicated, as Max put it, “to all things Fluckey.” Adm. Robert McNitt, the former
Barb
executive officer, lent encouragement and shared wartime memories with me. Cdr. Dave Teeters, the former
Barb
electronics officer, and his wife Phyllis provided great insight into the
Barb'
s wartime patrols and life at home.

Each of these men—Max Duncan, Tuck Weaver, Robert McNitt, and Dave Teeters—went out of their way to review my manuscript and to keep me from crashing on the shoals of misinterpretation and error.

Other
Barb
veterans who helped were Don Miller, John Lehman, and Neal Sever, who convened a mini boat reunion for my benefit at John and Anne Lehman's home in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. Max and Trilby Duncan also attended. Max facilitated a follow-up visit with Margaret Fluckey at the admiral's home in Annapolis and helped me peruse additional records and memorabilia belonging to the admiral.

Providing excellent retrospective on Admiral Fluckey's Solant Amity II voyage to Africa was Fred Sill, one of Gene's naval aides during the goodwill tour and now retired in Brazil. I also owe a debt of gratitude to those who provided useful anecdotes about the admiral's post-retirement years: Dick Pohli, Navy Cdr. Edwin V. Rahme Jr., John Fakhan, and Navy Capt. David Ratte. Also, a note of appreciation to Helen Weaver, Tuck's daughter-in-law, who translated numerous newspaper articles for me about Admiral Fluckey that appeared in Portuguese newspapers when he was commander of NATO's IBERLANT.

Reeva Hunter Mandelbaum provided insight into the last reunion of
Barb
veterans attended by Admiral Fluckey in Annapolis in April 2003. Thanks also goes to Gary LaValley, archivist at the Nimitz Library at the Naval Academy, who expeditiously retrieved information I needed, as he has done in the past. Also, a tip of the hat to Barry Zerbe at the National Archives in College Park, Maryland; the Bucks County Free Library system for help in tracking down nonfiction sources on World War II and its aftermath; the David Library of the American Revolution in Washington Crossing, Bucks County; and Carol Bifulco and Jessica Schultheis, production editors for this book. Tom Cutler, my editor at the Naval Institute Press, provided consistent support and, like Admiral Fluckey, believes in the power of persistence in overcoming adversity, signing off on his e-mails, “DGUTS”—“Don't Give Up The Ship.”

Finally, deep appreciation and love to my wife Mary Anne and daughter Genevieve. For nearly twenty years, they've shared my adventure with the Silent Service through three nonfiction books. Unlike her many friends, Genevieve understands a “boat” to be a steel vessel that travels beneath the waves. She can vaguely recall trips as a toddler to the World War II museum sub
Becuna
docked in Philadelphia to study its inner mechanisms. Meanwhile, Mary Anne has proven to be my best editor, with a greater understanding of human dynamics than I can ever hope to attain. Many times she pulled me back on track when I veered too far away on some meaningless tangent or drew the wrong conclusions.

Rear Admiral Fluckey collected thousands of letters, official documents, and photographs over his lifetime and they provided the underpinning for this book. This was augmented by letters, telephone calls, videotapes, and e-mails provided to the author by members of Admiral Fluckey's immediate family, surviving
Barb
officers and men, and acquaintances, many of whom consented to face-to-face interviews. Following are additional sources and observations by the author.

PROLOGUE: THE BOMB:
Admiral Fluckey's personal records refer to the bombing of NATO headquarters in Portugal numerous times. However, attempts to obtain more information through NATO sources were unsuccessful. Historical information about Portugal, NATO, and background on the Salazar regime came from Portuguese newspaper clippings and Reg Grant,
NATO
(New York: Franklin Watts, 2001); Ettagale Blauer and Jason Laure,
Portugal
(New York: Scholastic Press, 2002);
NATO Handbook
(Brussels: NATO Office of Information and Press, 1995); and NATO's online library (
www.nato.int/docu/comm/49-95/c681115a.htm
).

PART ONE:
Most of the material for this section came from Fluckey family memorabilia and the admiral's own reflections.

NORTH BEACH:
Historical information about North Beach, Maryland, came from
www.ci.north-beach.md.us/history.html
. Likewise, biographical background on Gene Fluckey's childhood hero, Rear Adm. Adolphus
Staton, came from the Arlington National Cemetery Web site,
www.arlingtoncemetery.net/adlophus.htm
. A history of the Boy Scouts of America came from
www.troop97.net
.

20-20:
Historical background on the Naval Academy comes from my previous book,
Slade Cutter: Submarine Warrior
(Annapolis, Md.: Naval Institute Press, 2003). Gene Fluckey's determination to overcome nearsightedness at the academy is drawn from the admiral's personal papers and his magazine article “AYE! The Eyes Have It” (
Shipmate
, July 1994).

OVER AND UNDER:
An excellent history of Long Beach in its drive to become a major port came from
www.cms.longbeach.gov
. As is the case for official information on all naval vessels, past and present, the Naval Historical Center is a treasure trove of information at
www.history.navy.mil
. Background on war planning and the buildup of the U.S. Fleet in the Pacific is treated in Robert W. Love Jr.,
History of the U.S. Navy,
vols. 1 and 2 (Harrisburg, Pa.: Stackpole Books, 1992). The break-in of the Japanese consulate in New York City by the FBI and the Office of Naval Intelligence in 1922 that resulted in the theft of Japan's naval code is detailed in
History of the U.S. Navy
as well. In researching causes and treatment of diabetes in connection with Marjorie Fluckey's long battle with the disease, I found the Joslin Diabetes Center's Web site very useful, at
www.joslin.org
.

SUBMERSIBLES:
My description of sub training comes from Admiral Fluckey's letters to his family and my two previous books,
Slade Cutter
and
Back From The Deep
(Annapolis, Md.: Naval Institute Press, 1994). The history of S-42 comes from the Naval Historical Center.

WAR FISH
: The consummate troubles of the V-class submarines including the
Bonita
are covered in Clay Blair Jr.,
Silent Victory: The U.S. Submarine War against Japan
(Annapolis, Md.: Naval Institute Press, 1975). Deck logs of the various submarines containing hour-by-hour notes of World War II subs, including
Bonita
(V-3), are available for review at the National Archives' research center in College Park, Maryland.

THE BOAT FROM SCOTLAND:
The official war patrol records of the submarine
Barb
prior to Eugene Fluckey coming aboard provide the basis for this chapter, as well as the author's interview with Admiral McNitt and his oral history on file at the Nimitz Library at the Naval Academy. The
invasion of North Africa in Operation Torch from a submarine point of view came from a Web site devoted to the first war patrol of USS
Gunnel
(SS-253), which participated in the invasion with the
Barb.
That Web site is
www.jmlavelle.com
.

PART TWO:
The author consulted a number of primary sources in addition to Admiral Fluckey's own records and the recollections of spouses and veterans of the USS
Barb
for
Part 2
. Of great value were
Silent Victory
and
History of the U.S. Navy,
as mentioned above; the official war patrol reports of the
Barb,
reprinted by J. T. McDaniel, ed. (Riverdale, Ga.: Riverdale Books, 2005); Theodore Roscoe,
United States Submarine Operations in World War II
(Annapolis, Md.: Naval Institute Press, 1949), considered by submariners as the “bible” of the undersea war; and Admiral Eugene B. Fluckey,
Thunder Below!
(Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1992), which covers the seventh through twelfth war patrols of the
Barb.
Additional notes regarding
Part 2
are as follows.

RIFT:
The so-called skipper problem in the early days of the war in which older submarine captains were criticized for a lack of aggressiveness plus the notorious torpedo malfunctions are fully explored in
Silent Victory
and
United States Submarine Operations in World War II.

KITO:
The capture of a Japanese sailor is described in
Navy Times, They Fought Under the Sea
(Harrisburg, Pa.: Stackpole Books, 1962).

LOST:
Admiral McNitt's oral history on file at the Nimitz Library at the Naval Academy provides insight into how the former executive officer on the
Barb
's ninth war patrol was able to find Australian prisoners of war adrift in the South China Sea. A more detailed account of Admiral McNitt's remarkable ability as a ship's navigator is covered in the admiral's article, “The First Watch,” which appeared in
Proceedings
(January 1959, pp. 49–53), and “The Submarine Navigator—Some of His Methods,” in
Proceedings
(May 1949, pp. 566–71). Transcripts of interviews conducted by author Clair Blair Jr. with Australian and British prisoners rescued by the
Barb
that were in Admiral Fluckey's personal records also were useful. The declassified report of POW experiences recorded by naval interrogators on the USS
Fulton
on 30 September 1944 provided great detail, as did the transcript of a remarkable speech that Neville Thams, one of the Australian prisoners rescued by the
Barb,
delivered on 19 March 1980 before the Broadbeach Lions Club in Southport, Queensland, Australia.

CHAOS:
The construction of the Navy base in Majuro and other bases in the Pacific can be found at
www.microworks.net/pacific/bases/btnb_online/majuro.htm
.

SECRET HARBOR:
Controversy over whether Capt. Fluckey received help from spies in the successful attack on Nam Kwan Harbor during the boat's eleventh war patrol is discussed in Capt. Emil Levine, USNR (Ret.), “Who Helped the Barb?” in
Naval History
(U.S. Naval Institute, June 2001, pp. 44–47). Additional narrative on the attack comes from Capt. Walter Karig, USNR, and Lt. Cdr. Frank A. Manson, USN, “The Hairbreadth Escapes of the Barb,”
Saturday Evening Post
(22 October 1949). Captain Fluckey's warfighting leadership techniques and innovations are discussed in Lt. Nathan D. Luther's essay “Bureaucracy,”
Proceedings
(February 2006).

MOM CHUNG:
Information about Mom Chung is drawn from my earlier book,
Slade Cutter,
with additional sourcing from Judy Tzu-Chun Wu,
Dr. Mom Chung of the Fair Haired Bastards: The Life of a Wartime Celebrity
(Berkeley: University of California Press, 2005).

GRADUATION:
The sabotage of the troop train by crewmen of the
Barb
on the boat's twelfth war patrol is recounted in Lt. John Strohmeyer, “The
Barb
Strikes” (publisher unknown), and “The Hairbreadth Escapes of the
Barb
” (previously cited). The American military believed troop trains moved at night to avoid attack.