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When Edward Hary was deciding to join the Japanese Islands until the war was over.
military service in 1942, he had heard his father's We surrounded Japan so we could pick up
j '' stories about the infantry in WWI and his brother's aviators who had been shot down. We had already
stories who was already in the Army as a forward sunk anything the Japs had that would float. We
• observer assistant, so he decided to choose the rescued nine aviators on those patrols."
Navy. It wes during one of the rescue missions that
• "I decided that I would always have a bunk they were almost sunk by the U. S. Navy.
that was dry or it would be really wet" "We were searching for a downed aviator and It
Shortly into his basic training he and twenty we were supposed to be out of the area by the
• others were asked to volunteer for torpedo school. time we were shelled but we hadn't found him yet
1 When no one did, they were "volunteered" en and we weren't going to give up until the shelling
masse. Upon completion of torpedo school he started. We dove to two hundred feet but we were
was given the option of aircraft carrier, PT boats, still being hit by shrapnel so we dove deeper and
20-, destroyer or submarines. went to 425 feet before we got the sub under con -
;, °1 decided that if I joined the submarine serv- trol. We thought we had had it'." .
1. ice, if the enemy was to get me, he would get all Hary would often volunteer to be a "lookout"
of me." on the bridge when the submarine surfaced at .
In May of 1942 Hary began to serve aboard night so he could get some fresh air.
• the USS Chocalot. The 270' Chocalot held seven "Early on the morning of August 6th, 1945, 1
officers and sixty -five enlisted men. Hary bunked noticed a glow over the horizon and reported it to €;
': between two thousand pound torpex torpedoes in the Captain. He decided to investigate so we zig-
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• the forward torpedo room which contained six- zagged to the horizon where the sky was lit up. We ; lit
' , teen torpedoes. You slept where you could and learned the next day that the glow was the bomb
when you could." that had been dropped on Hiroshima. The war was
"Our maiden voyage was to the Aleutian over soon after that." ,
Island then held by the Japanese. During the day Hary is now retired but is still involved with
• we would get close to shore to observe what was the WWII Submarine Service Association.
• going on and then each night surface and report "During the war, the submarine service was
what they were doing." only 2% of the men and material but we sunk 52%
"My most dangerous duty was the next two of the Axis fleet. Each year, those that are left,
2. • years at the submarine school training new sailors gather together to honor the 52 boats sunk and
�‘ how to operate the subs. If they opened the wrong the 3,505 men lost at sea. I am proud to have
'' valve or the wrong switch, we all could be lost. served with them.
. You had to watch all of them real close until they Edward Hary's name will be added to the :
- had completed their training and had shipped Brazos Valley Veterans Memorial this fall. For
• out." more information, to make a contribution, or to
In February of 1945, Hary was reassigned to nominate a veteran. contact the BVVM at
the USS Toro which ran patrols off the southern www.veterans- memorial.org.
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