SUBMARINE HEROES

Bob Hall was serving on the submarine USS Parche the night of July 31, 1944 when the USS Parche’s Commander Ramage kept his submarine on the surface and defiantly charged into the midst of a large Japanese convoy. Ramage's close-in, furious surface rampage became the talk of the submarine force, both in terms of its boldness and its destruction of the enemy shipping.  Remarkably, Parche's crew had managed to reload their torpedo tubes while their skipper twisted and turned the boat through the chaos of machine gun bullets, exploding heavy shells, and Japanese ships trying to ram them. 

Cmdr. Ramage was among an elite group of just seven U.S. submariners who were awarded the Medal of Honor during World War II and the first not to die in the course of his heroic exploits.  A new book has been written about this exciting event in WWII history called Battle Surface: Lawson P. "Red" Ramage and the War Patrols of the USS Parche by Stephen Moore (thank you to Amazon.com for book description information). 

Around August 6th  the Library’s display case will be filled with memorabilia from Mr. Hall’s submarine days.  All day Saturday, August 20th the Library will be showing a photo slideshow of the men from the USS Parche.  So come see the amazing collection in our display case, watch the slide show then go visit Mr. Hall in Kimball Hall for a detailed account of his days on the USS Parche from 10 AM to 1 PM.  The book Battle Surface: Lawson P. "Red" Ramage and the War Patrols of the USS Parche by Stephen Moore is available for check out at the library.