Lost Kansas Submariners

"Tolling the Boats". Honoring our fallen submarine heroes is fundamental to our creed as members of United States Submarine Veterans, Inc. (USSVI), which is "To perpetuate the memory of our shipmates who gave their lives in pursuit of their duties while serving their country.

" In our participation we remember those gallant submariners who made the supreme sacrifice while performing their duties with honor, integrity, and courage and we demonstrate to our fames and to our youth by our deeds that we honor them, we pay tribute to them, we salute them, as should all citizens of our great nation.

The "Tolling the Boats" ceremony was originally established by the United States Submarine Veterans of World War II. It is a unique and time-honored memorial service and is in keeping with the finest traditions of the United States Navy. Custom has established that this ceremony be formal, and it honors the memory of those submariners who lost their lives in the line of duty, and especially those who perished during World War II. In the heart of the ceremony the names of each of the U.S. submarine lost, along with the fate of its crew, are read aloud as a bell is tolled, and a Carnation is tossed into the Arkansas River for each in turn.

The tolling of the ship's bell reminds us of the debt of gratitude we owe to both our departed shipmates and to those in active service who silently guard the honor of our country who are serving silently under the sea. In many ways the "Tolling the Boats" ceremony formally reaffirms to currently serving U.S. Navy Submarine personnel that their current "deeds and sacrifices" follow in the footsteps of their fellow submariners who preceded them. We shall never forget the ultimate sacrifice they made so we all, and especially our families and loved ones, enjoy the fruits of freedom.

  • USS F-4 Skate (SS-23), Lost with 19 men on 25 March 1915 when it floundered off Honolulu Harbor. Clark George Buck (Leavenworth)
  • USS O-9 (SS-70), Lost on 20 June 1941 with 34 men when it floundered off the Isle of Shoals, 15 miles from Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Marvin Dale Barry (Manhattan)
  • USS Sealion (SS-195), Lost with 4 men on 10 December 1941 by aerial bombs during a Japanese air attack at Cavite Navy Yard, Republic of the Philippines. Sterling Cecil Foster (Cedarvale)
  • USS S-26 (SS-131), Lost with 46 men on 24 January 1942 in the Gulf of Panama, 14 miles west of San Jose Light when USS PC-460 rammed it. 2 men survived. Edwin Bruno Burchart (Ellinwood), Thomas Videtto Peters (Parsons)
  • USS Grunion (SS-216), Lost with all hands (70 men) on 30 July 1942 off Kiska Island Aleutians (Alaska) to unknown causes. John Stewart Clift (Wichita)
  • USS Argonaut (SS-166), Lost with all hands (105 men) on 10 January 1943 in the Java Sea by Japanese surface attack. Stanley Herbert Carlisle (Wichita), Blaine Gilmore Miltner (Wichita)
  • USS Grampus (SS-207), Lost with all hands (71 men) by Japanese surface attack on the Solomon Islands on 5 March 1943. Donald William Bowlby (Goff), Orville Franklin Fanning, Jr. (Topeka), Willard Moeller (Richland), George Lewis Thomas (Kansas City), Alvin Westly Tevis (Selden)
  • USS Triton (SS-201), Lost with all hands (74 men) by Japanese surface attack off New Guinea on 15 March 1943. Marsh Jones (Wichita)
  • USS Pickerel SS-177), Lost with all hands (74 men) by Japanese surface attack off Honshu, Japan on 3 April 1943. Jerrell Robert Johnson (Kirwin), Wade Calvert Shaffer, JR. (Humboldt)
  • USS Runner (SS-275), Lost with all hands (78 men) by possible Japanese mine between Midway Island and Japan in June 1943. Charles Merril Martin (Cawker City)
  • USS Grayling (SS-209), Lost with all hands (76 men) to unknown causes on 9 September 1943 when it was sunk in or near Tablas Strait, Republic of the Philippines. Eugene Joseph Hoffman (Topeka)
  • USS Pompano (SS-181), Lost with all hands (76 men) by possible Japanese mine off Honshu, Japan in September 1943. Leonard McGuire Anstine (Wichita), Chester Phipps (Beardsley), Wayne Clifford Proctor (Lebo)
  • USS Cisco (SS-290), Lost with all hands (76 men) on 28 September 1943 during a Japanese air and surface attack in the Sulu Sea. Patrick Joseph Cannon (Ft. Scott), Earl Raymond Upson (Neodesha)
  • USS Corvina (SS-226), Lost with all hands (82 men) on 16 November 1943 during a Japanese submarine attack off Truk. Donald Kenneth Hall (Axtell)
  • USS Sculpin (SS-191), Lost with 40 men on 19 November 1943 when it was sunk by a Japanese surface craft north of Groluk Island near Truk. 42 men were taken prisoner but only 21 men survived the war. Fred George Bentsen (Frankfort)
  • USS Capelin (SS-278), Lost with all hands (78 men) on 2 December 1943 by an unconfirmed Japanese surface attack in the Celebes Sea. Loyle Oliver Keaton (Almena)
  • USS Grayback (SS-208), Lost with all hands (80 men) on 27 February 1944 during a Japanese air and surface attack off Okinawa. Frederick Richard Bell (Kansas City), Wilbur Edward Campbell (Topeka), Vance Edward Davis (Olathe), Jesse Hamilton Stewart (Arkansas City)
  • USS Trout (SS-202), Lost with all hands (81 men) on 29 February 1944 during a Japanese surface attack in the Philippine Sea. Louis Joseph Copt (Osage City), Morris Henry Keltner (Hoisington)
  • USS Tullibee (SS-284), Lost with 79 men on 26 March 1944 north of Paau, Sunk by her own torpedo. One man survived and was taken prisoner. Charles Herman Degenhardt (Topeka)
  • USS Gudgeon (SS-211), Lost with all hands (78 men) during a Japanese air and surface attack on 12 May 1944 in Northern Marianas. Harry Clark Nickel (Hutchinson)
  • USS Herring (SS-233), Lost with all hands (84 men) on 1 June 1944 by a Japanese shore battery and surface craft off Matsuwa Island, Kuriles. Samuel Loy Johnson, Jr. (Pratt)
  • USS S-28 (SS-133), Lost with all hands (50 men) when she floundered off the Hawaiian Islands on 4 July 1944. Leonard Eugene Highfill (Topeka), Marvin Ray McMillan (Rolla)
  • USS Robalo (SS-273), Lost with 77 men by possible Japanese Mine off Palawan on 26 July 1944. 4 men survived as POWs, but they were never recovered. Harley Truman Hood (Junction City)
  • USS Flier (SS-250), Lost with 78 men on 13 August 1944 when sunk by Japanese mine in the Balabac Strait south of Palawan. Eight men survived and were later rescued by USS Redfin (SS-272). James Edward Elder (Ottawa), Paul Arthur Vest (Ossawatomie)
  • USS Seawolf (SS-197), Lost with all hands (82 crew and 17 U.S. Army) on 3 October 1944 when it was mistaken for a Japanese submarine and sunk by friendly destroyers just north of Morotai, Republic of the Philippines. Roy Edward Huff (Burlington), Edward Lyle Morris (Mt. Home), Clinton Leroy Nivison (Wichita)
  • USS Shark (SS-314), Lost with all hands (90 men) on 24 October 1944 when it was sunk by Japanese surface craft in the channel midway between Hainan and Bashi Channel. Jesse Lee Selig (Dodge City)
  • USS Tang (SS-306), Lost with 78 men on 25 October 1944 when it was sunk by her own torpedo in the north end of the Formosa Strait. Nine of the crew were taken prisoner and survived the war Her Commanding Officer Richard O'Kane, received the Congressional Medal of Honor. Dwayne Dale Allen (Quinter), Darrel Dean Rector (Chautauqua)
  • USS Scamp (SS-277), Lost with all hands (83 men) probably on 16 November 1944 from progressive damage in multiple air and sea attacks east of Tokyo Bay. Archie Leonard Blankenship (Isabel), Morris A. Cartee (Augusta)
  • USS Swordfish (SS-193), Lost with all hands (89 men) by a possible Japanese surface attack or min on 12 January 1945 off Okinawa. Robert Lesslie Emmingham (Frankfort), Claude Lee Pollard (Cutler)
  • USS Kete (SS-369), Lost with all hands (87 men) in March 1945 to unknown causes between Okinawa and Midway. Joseph Albert O'Brien (Winfield), Galen Irvin Woodward (Richland)
  • USS Trigger (SS-237), Lost with all hands (89 men) in the East China Sea on 28 March 1945 during a Japanese air and surface attack. Robert Benton Ball (Hutchinson), Joseph Martin Boeding (Corning), Robert McClellan Foster (Elk Falls), John Richard Weeks (Mapleton), William Michael Zugecic (Kansas City)
  • USS Snook (SS-279), Lost with all hands (84 men) on 8 April 1945 to unknown causes off Formosa. Russell Leigh Baum (Phillipsburg), Leo Burger (Horton)
  • USS Lagarto (SS-371), Lost with all hands (85 men) on 3 May 1945 in the Gulf of Siam during a Japanese surface attack. Frederick Lester Auchard (Woodston), Wardour Laverne Britain (Elk Falls), Wesley Clay Shackelford (Great Bend)
  • USS Bonefish (SS-223) Lost with all hands (86 men) on 18 June 1945 when it was sunk in Toyama Wan in the Sea of Japan. Otis Clyde Danielson (Ellis), Roscoe Conkling Ray, Jr. (WIchita)
  • USS Bullhead (SS-332), Lost with all hands (84 men) off the Bali Coast by a Japanese air attack on 6 August 1945. Walter Eugene Bertram (Great Bend), Carl James Smith (Rexford)
  • USS Thresher (SSN-593), Lost with all hands (129 men) on 10 April 1963 off the New England coast. Larry William Claussen (Toronto), Don Roy Dundas (Dodge City), Billy Max Klier (Elkhart), Douglas Ray McClelland (Walnut), Ronald Hal Solomon (Coffeyville)
  • Clyde E Walters 17 August 1942, Fire aboard USS Bass (SS-164) Atchinson, KS
  • Maruice Glenn Smith 17 July 1944, Accident in Perth, Australia Oakley, KS
  • James Robert Pottle, Jr. 25 July 1981, aboard USS Sturgeon Praire Village, KS