|
The Submarine Veterans of WWII and the US Submarine
Veterans, Inc. had their first combined convention last September in Reno, Nevada.
The Parche Association provided a hospitality room just for Parche sailors from
Tuesday through Thursday where all could meet and socialize during the day and
evenings. It was stocked with geedunk, soda, and beer during the day and had
sandwiches available during the evenings and prizes were raffled off as well.
The PA also had a table set up at the main hospitality room in the convention.
PHOTOS
Here is a "shot by shot" description of the events from
our very own John Dale (the PA's Reunion & Activities Coordinator):
September 1, 2003: Labor day! What a labor it was to drag my fat
butt out of the rack. Somehow during the night I was licking the floor at the
old Horse and Cow in Vallejo. At least my mouth tasted that way. The pounding
in my head turned out to not be my hangover but my Parche shipmate Wayne Pickett
beating on my front door. He is ready to head out and I have awoken late, I
have not packed and the van is still full of work tools and equipment. Did I
mention I needed to fill the gas tank?
About 45 minutes later I am showered, the van is cleaned out, gassed up, and
filled with all of the stuff we a bringing. Armed with a hot black and bitter
and a couple of aspirin we set out on the seven-hour drive to Reno Nevada. The
drive turned out to not be that bad. We were amazed at all of the brothels we
passed on the trip. Two ex-submarine sailors on the road, pockets loaded with
cash and credit cards and brothels everywhere. The names were quite inviting,
the Cherry Patch Ranch, the Chicken Ranch, the Shady Lady Ranch, and our favorite
(one which got a good laugh out of both of us) the Glory Hole. I guess when
you're older the fun stuff doesn't quite have the shine it used to. We drove
on.
Arrived at the Hilton hotel and got checked in and quickly found our way to
the closest casino bar to wash down the road dust. You could hardly see the
bar; it was crowded with submarine sailors in all shapes and sizes in their
blue vests. You would have thought you were at the Horse and Cow with that many
bubbleheads crowding the bar. Wayne and I are in our late 40's and we were the
youngsters in this group. Got a couple of beers in our fists and out pops two
boomer sailors who spotted our 683 caps and started asking stupid questions
about the boat. We quickly told them about how we sank seven floating barrels
and a couple of navigation buoys with our sail mounted twin 50 caliber guns.
That seemed to satisfy them so we moved onto getting our convention packets
grabbing a couple more cold ones to take on the trip.
After checking in we found the vendor area and purchased a few patches and a
real nice pair of handmade solid back sterling silver dolphins for my vest.
We quickly attached the new patches and dolphins to our own vests and headed
down to the lounge to do some serious drinking and hooking up with fellow Parche
shipmates. After finding a nice spot in the main lounge we broke out a couple
of cigars and began to put a dent in the hotels supply of Black Label and beer.
Vacation and relaxation were moving along quite smoothly and to our likening.
Our cocktail waitress, Ashley was in tune with our needs and was always available
to fill our empty glasses and engage us in idle banter.
Just when we thought things could not get any better than those two boomer sailors
pop up again. One of them spied my Parche tattoo on my arm and proudly boasts
that he has an even bigger dolphins tattoo on his back. He tells us to "take
a look" but he has a white tee shirt on and we can't see squat. Unperturbed,
the boomer sailor whips off his tee shirt (did I mention we are in the main
bar of the Reno Hilton?) and proudly shows off this tattoo of a pair of silver
dolphins covering his whole back. He happily stumbles off and Wayne and I stare
at each other and say in sync; "Friggin' boomer sailors!" Laughing
we summoned the lovely Ashley over and ordered more drinks.
On Tuesday the party really started to begin. Bleary eyed Wayne and I stumble
down to the main floor to start the day's events. After a good breakfast we
hooked up with Elvie Jackson and J.B. Messer and set off to the opening ceremonies
in the main ballroom. The place must have had 3000 bubbleheads in there. I think
we were the youngest.
After the ceremony we hooked up with Linda & Cal Colavechio and got the
hospitality room secured. We also met Bob Hall of the Parche 384 crew and set
about getting the room prepared for raffles, displays of the 384's colorful
history. We could not sell beer and soda's in the room so we gave them away
for free but appreciated a $2 donation to the association if you grabbed a cold
one.
The hospitality room was the meeting and drinking place for the gathering of
two crews for a single purpose, camaraderie! An excellent room even by Parche
standards. Had a three-stool bar that was good unless we had a couple of two-stoolers
from the Horse & Cow wanting to pay lip service for old times sake. We had
several people from other boats walk into the room and donate dollars for ice
cold refreshment. Even Capt. Charlie Mac Vean came in and told sea stories which
were very funny. Sure was nice hearing stories from behind a pair of gold dolphins.
Another Seawolf pal was Scott Jaklin who told me to tell Mike Bridges that he
is a pussy.
Several sea stories were told from our Parche 384 brothers. Many of which were
about the second and sixth war patrols where there was much excitement and fear.
One shipmate stated he stopped counting at 87 for the number of depth charges
he had heard until ordered to his rack for some shuteye. I do not know how you
could think of sleeping.
An interesting story is that no one from the 384 crew had seen Ed Rauch since
the war and many had assumed he was dead. Then weeks before the convention he
called one of the crewmembers and stated he would be there.
Wednesday was pretty much the same. Albert Stoll and his wife Jeri flew in and
they were sure tired from several missteps by the airline. I believe that night
was fun night for the convention. We went down to check it out but it was lame
so it was back to the hospitality room for more beer and sea stories.
I think the funniest story I heard was told by Ken Riley. On his first day back
aft he was walking through AMR2 and was grabbed by the watch. He wanted to know
who he was and Ken stated he just checked aboard and was heading to the engine
room to report. The watch told him to fetch him a black and bitter and to hurry.
One of the guys in maneuvering saw Ken and wanted to know who he was and what
was he doing there. Ken told him about fetching coffee for the AMR2 watch and
the guy grabbed the cup, reamed it, and pointed to where the coffee makers location.
At the coffee maker was another guy who questioned him and upon learning his
mission reamed the cup also. Cup filled and reamed twice Ken went back to the
AMR2 watch and gave him his coffee. As he handed the cup he told the watch that
two guys reamed his cup. The watch laughed and said, "Ha! That's funny",
and took a drink. Parche sailors, got to love them!
Thursday rolled around and it was off to the "Men's Beer Bust" in
the grand ballroom. 4,000 submarine sailors and unlimited beer and German food.
What more can a guy ask for. By now there was probably eight of us that were
pretty much running together. Myself, Wayne, Elvie, J.B.Messer, Brian Woodson,
Dan Dahms, Gregg Smith, and Ken Riley. What a team! It was a regular comedy
show if you were there to witness it.
That evening was a dinner for both the 384 crew and us. We had dinner at the
Chevy's restaurant located in the Hilton main floor. It was put together for
the Parche 1 crew but they invited us and we had a really good time as can be
seen by the photos on the reunion web page. What a great bunch of men and their
wives I am not sure who consumed more adult beverages the Parche 2 crew or the
Parche 1 crew and wives.
Friday morning dawned and off we went to the Parche Memorial Ceremony in the
Convention's main hospitality room. This is a very moving ceremony the Parche
384 crew holds each year to remember their shipmates on eternal patrol. First
each shipmate who is present has his name called out and answers "Here".
Then each shipmate's name who is on eternal patrol is called out once and is
repeated then followed with one ring of the ship's bell. This continues until
the list is complete. The ships bell rang twice for each of the two men lost
at sea during the fourth war patrol.
The Crew of the 384 asked us if we would like to participate in reading our
role call. We were honored and included the names that we know of the 683 shipmates
on eternal patrol. Then Linda Colavechio stood up and gave everyone a run down
on the current state of business of the Parche Association. Once that was completed,
you guessed it, back to the hospitality room to continue festivities.
That evening was the Grand Banquet. Good thing our tables were in the back of
the ballroom we were not dressed for the occasion. We saw people with tuxedos
and evening gowns and here we are in jeans and Parche T-shirts. Parche sailors,
got to love them. Dinner was great and then we slipped out and went back to
the hospitality room for a final party.
Saturday rolled around and we cleaned everything up and said our good-bye's.
This was by far the most fun reunion we have had to date. It was a shame only
a handful of us were there but we still have the decommissioning next year.
Until then keep your surfaces the same number as your dives.
John Dale
This page last updated on Wednesday, May 12, 2004
The Parche Association Menu