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WWII SUBMARINE FOUND
It has taken 64-years for Nancy Lee (Cuthbertson) Wilson to find peace.
Months before she was born, she lost her father, U.S. Navy Ensign William "Red" Cuthbertson of Frankenmuth, when the submarine on which he was commissioned, vanished somewhere in the Pacific Ocean.
The tragic disappearance of the WWII vessel has touched the lives of 70 families.
"Closure isn't really a word I use," said Wilson, "It's a relief after all of these years. The past few weeks have been very difficult with all of the pictures coming back and the thoughts that follow."
The USS Grunion's
final radio transmission was received on July 30, 1942 in the midst of heavy
anti-submarine-activity off the coast of Alaska. Grunion reported from Dutch
Harbor their vessel was being attacked by an enemy destroyer and they had
fired three torpedoes but missed their targets in each attempt.
The Navy reported USS Grunion officially missing on August 16, 1942.
The search for the missing submarine began five years ago, organized by the commanding officer's children, John, Bruce and Brad Abele of Massachusetts.
Their father Lt. Cmdr. Mannert L. Abele was under orders to proceed to the Aleutian Islands and patrol westward towards the expanding Japanese empire.
Last summer, a team of searchers composed of seasoned crab fishermen, through the use of sonar, discovered what they believed was the Grunion's watery grave.
On August 23, of this year, the Grunion, was positively identified, sitting on the Pacific Ocean's floor beneath 1000-feet of water by the same team of crab fishermen.
70 crewmen perished after the Japanese successfully sunk the vessel on its patrol off Kiska, Alaska.
"One of the things they told us was that the hatch was opened when they found the submarine. I like to think that's because it imploded under pressure not because they were trying to escape," Wilson said through her tears.
Its propeller identified the submarine. The portion of the vessel that housed the torpedoes is missing from the debris field. The cameras were not able to detect any human remains.