I’ve been inspired, again.  Over the past few years I’ve found numerous things to inspire decisions I’ve made regarding this project.  As I’ve acted on these decisions, I’ve found more success than failure, so it keeps me wanting to see what happens if I keep it up.  For instance, at one point a few years ago I decided to seek an explorer who might be interested in helping me locate, document and film the wreck of STRONG.  My first effort died in the water, so to speak.  I didn’t give up and eventually met David Mearns of Blue Water Recoveries, LTD.  If we are ever to kick this goal off my bucket list, David is the one who will get us there.  Much remains to be done and nothing is certain, but I feel we are on the right track.  Next, I thought it might be cool to start a web site to get the word out about the project and hopefully pull more people into the project.  That has proved to be a true bounty, as over the past 2.5 years it’s been live I’ve located many more family members of STRONG men.  Many of you have found me on your own and I couldn’t be happier.  Then, I always thought the STRONG story deserved a book, a comprehensive well written book that told her story and the story of her men.  Again, good fortune smiled on me the day I got the first email from Stephen Harding back in 2013.  That book is in progress and due to be released in the middle of 2016.  So far, I’m batting 1000.  That gives me hope for my next set of bucket list goals, and those revolve around locating and documenting the ship.  After watching the live stream (and then re-watching it) by Paul Allen and his research team from the wreck site of the IJN MUSASHI in the Sibuyan Sea of the Philippines (see link to project on previous blog), it triggered a lot of pistons in my brain.

In the beginning, aside from a way to honor my great-uncle Billy and his shipmates I had thoughts of using the STRONG expedition should it come to be, as an educational and informational tool.   Billy was a teacher prior to joining the Naval Reserve, and I believe he would be totally on board with something such as this.  Over 500,000 people from around the world watched the live stream broadcast.   That was a one-time deal as far as we know.  No one but Mr. Allen has done this before.  So what if you had a game plan for an expedition, from start to finish, documenting the steps along the way, something that could be accessed at any time by thousands of people?  My idea for following an expedition on film is to do this in short vignettes, maybe no more than 10 minutes each that would describe the events leading up to the discovery, cover the discovery and then the aftermath.  In these shorts we could discuss the history of the ship and even focus on some individual stories of the men.  There would be primers on the equipment (ROV’s, AUV’s) used to locate the site, such as was seen for the MUSASHI.  We could have someone discuss the history of the Solomon Islands during WW2 and the part the islanders played in helping the allies gain control.  In addition there could be lessons on weather patterns, geology and volcanism, ocean currents, local wildlife and ecology – so many topics could be covered.  These films could be posted on a web site dedicated to school children from kindergarten to high school.  I’d especially like to have a focus toward high school kids working to decide on a career path, some things to consider when choosing a major for college.  How many different job types are involved in the exploration industry?  There are meteorologists, biologists, archaeologists, engineers, historians, marine scientists, mechanics- just a few examples of the many different vocations involved in this type of industry. 

In the past I have worked with kids of all ages on many levels.  I miss that.  This would be the perfect vehicle for pulling in kids, teachers and parents.  The key is education and information.  Do it in a manner that is entertaining and engaging and offer it to the world.  I believe this is one way to help foster concern for these resources and to build respect for the sites that remain to be discovered.  Kids dig deep sea exploration, and I for one can never get enough of watching anything on this topic that comes up on NatGeo, Discovery, History Channel or whatever.  The kid in me is never satisfied.  Let’s feed this information to our children in a way that keeps them seeking and searching for more.  Let’s show them the world under the sea, the exploration of this world as they have never seen it.   I’d love it to be interactive, where questions could be submitted and responses posted.  This way they would know they are heard and their thoughts are important.

It would be awesome to have the resources to pull this off.   Bucket list has been updated, and the universe has been notified.   I’ve been inspired. 

-Tammi

At the end of February, Paul G. Allen of Microsoft fame located the wreck of the IJN MUSASHI, one of two Yamato class ships built by the Japanese for fighting in WW2.  On the evening of March 12th, they ran a live stream feed from the expedition site in the Sibuyan Sea in the Philippines from his ship the MY OCTOPUS.  For those who did not get to see the live stream, here is the link to the archived film: http://www.paulallen.com/galleries/musashi-expedition

It's a little over two hours and extremely interesting viewing.  Not only do you see the ROV move over the wreck site as it's narrated by Rob Kraft and David Mearns of Blue Water Recoveries, LTD, but they teach us a bit about the equipment used, show us the bridge of the ship where the instruments do their job, and we meet some of the crew.  All in all, some very interesting stuff to see.  Watch and enjoy!

Tammi

Over the past 2.5 years since I started the web site for the USS STRONG DD 467 project, I have been constantly amazed at the response from family members of sailors who served on board the ship.  I don't know if it's fate, providence or what – but all of a sudden so many people are deciding to research the history of their STRONG man.  Some tell me it's because their father/grandfather/uncle is still alive and has finally decided to share their story, so they go seeking information.  With others, they lost their man years ago and the need to learn more has just become important to them.  I currently have about 60 family members and numerous other friends on board and the list keeps growing.  Most recently I was contacted by the relatives of sailors Grady Lee Nelson and Benjamin Roy McElduff.  I plan to do a short story on Grady in the near future, but for the purposes of this blog let's talk about Roy.

I got a message on Facebook from Roy’s niece recently telling me about him.  He was born in Great Falls, South Carolina on September 8, 1921 to Ben and Rosa Stewart McElduff.  Roy’s rank was S1C (signalman 1st class) on board STRONG and unfortunately one of the men who did not make it home.  After talking with her, I learned that Roy's sister and her mother is 86 years old and lives with them.  They were stuck without power in one of the recent snow and ice storms, and started doing some reminiscing about the past.  Her Mom was 14 years old when they got the news that Roy was lost.  Just as my Uncle Billy's sisters never stopped mourning his loss, it’s the same for her Mom.  What makes this all the more poignant, is that Roy's life was saved as the ship was sinking by Lt. Hugh Barr Miller, Jr., only to have him go missing without a trace shortly after.

If you've read the October 2013 blog about Stephen Harding and the book that is currently underway (scheduled for release sometime in 2016), then you know his focus in the book is the survival story of Lt. Miller.  The USS CHEVALIER had to ram STRONG in order to rescue the survivors.  As she was pulling away, one of the lines used to secure her to STRONG snapped and ended up lashed back against the side of STRONG, trapping Roy and Eddie Deering.  On his way down into the water, Miller found the two men and struggled to cut them loose before STRONG went under.  He was able to sever the line just as the ship sank beneath them.  Miller, Roy, Deering and several others made it to a float net, and eventually to Arundel Island.  On July 11th, four of the men set off to try and locate help, and Roy was one of the four.  Two of the four men, Robert Butler and Sigmund McGee are known to have survived and made it back home.  There's an extraordinary story here about the adventures of these two as they sought rescue, and I will cover this story in a future blog.  It's unclear what happened to Roy and the other man.  Eddie Deering died of his injuries on July 13th.  

Just from speaking with Billy’s sister Stella in the years before she died, I got a sense of the emotional trauma that families suffer when they just don’t know what happened.  It might be different if you have a body that comes home to give a proper burial, but when there is no trace of your loved one I can see how a family is left in a state of perpetually wondering about their fate.  I don’t know if following through with this project to its end will help to answer any of these questions, but I believe for my family it will provide a sense of closure.  I can only hope it helps others to find closure as well. 

To the McElduff family, thanks for telling me about Roy.  I welcome any other information you have to share in the future. 

-Tammi