SARASOTA, Fla., May 22, 2019 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Today,
Eternal Reefs and submarine veterans, veterans of other military
branches, Sarasota officials and
members of the public created the On Eternal Patrol Memorial Reef,
the first ever undersea memorial to the 65 American submarines lost
since 1900, along with 4,000+ officers and crew. The new marine
memorial is nine miles off the coast of Sarasota, Fla. and is the first and only
memorial honoring the sacrifice of these submariners in the
environment in which they served, the ocean.
Today is significant because it is the 51st anniversary of the
loss of the U.S. nuclear sub the USS Scorpion (SSN 589), the last
submarine to go On Eternal Patrol with all 99 officers and crew on
22 May 1968.
"This reef project is a beautiful thing and a good remembrance,"
said Phil Orapallo from Lakewood Ranch, Fla., who served aboard the
Scorpion as a quarter master and navigation expert in 1962, 1963
and 1964. "I was just a kid when she went down and the first thing
I did was look on the list of missing for Mazzuchi and Bishop
(chiefs of the boat) because they were like fathers to me."
"It just brings back so many memories and made me think of their
horrible death," Orapallo said as he dropped a small tribute reef
over the The Flying Fish's stern in honor of the Scorpion, the
final boat called in the Tolling of the Boats ceremony today.
In all, a group of 90 people in eight water craft gathered to
dedicate the On Eternal Patrol Memorial Reef. Aboard The Flying
Fish, 58 veterans and other representatives dropped 65 tribute
reefs decorated with red, white and blue flowers, one for each lost
sub. The small, cement tribute reefs sunk to the bottom, while the
flowers made a beautiful floating mosaic in the ocean.
With plenty of salutes, tears, respect and comradery, the
hour-long ceremony included a site dedication and invocation by
Rod Dimon (Chaplain American Legion
Post 159), remarks by William Andrea
(founding member US Submarine Veterans, Inc. – USSVI), and the
deployment of six giant memorial reefs via crane to the ocean
floor: the pinnacle reef; a USSVI reef and memorials to the four
boats lost after WWII: the USS Cochino (SS-345), USS Stickleback
(SS-415), USS Thresher (SSN-593) and the USS Scorpion (SSN-589). A
Tolling of the Boats ceremony occurred, in which each of the 65
lost boats was announced, the ship's bell sounded, and a tribute
reef was dropped. Finally, all the boats circled the flower-laden
reef site blowing horns and sirens to honor the ultimate sacrifice
of those in The Silent Service honored at the site.
"It's all about honor for me," said James Jordan who served aboard on the USS Parche
(SSN-683), the USS Daniel Webster (SSBN- 626), and the USS Sam
Rayburn (SSBN-635); he dropped the tribute reef honoring the USS
Pompano. "I looked out at all those floating flowers and imagined
they were all the souls that had been lost coming up to the surface
to let us know they're all right now."
"When you see a veteran, just smile or say 'hi,' because you
don't know what someone is going through and you never know how a
small act like this can make a big difference," said Jordan who
moderates a closed Facebook group called OTS at Crush Depth with a
mission to support the mental health of all submariners.
Each memorial is an individual reef ball, a designed artificial
reef specifically engineered to mimic Mother Nature, which quickly
assimilates into the ocean fostering significant new marine growth
within 90 days. Each of the reef balls in the On Eternal Patrol
collection weighs 1,300 pounds, stands three feet tall and includes
an individual plaque identifying the lost submarine, its best-known
last location and the number of officers and crew lost.
"Creating the On Eternal Patrol Memorial Reef is literally a
dream come true," said George
Frankel, CEO of Eternal Reefs. "Today we recognized the
heroes of The Silent Service that were lost on those 65 boats with
well-deserved respect and honor. Appropriately, these memorials
will continue to replenish the marine environment in which these
submariners served."
As the summer months progress, the remaining 61 reefs in the
entire 67-strong On Eternal Patrol Memorial Reef will be deployed
with assistance of the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG). Two USCG vessels
are planned to facilitate the deployments: the Joshua Appleby, an
offshore buoy tender, and the Vice, an inshore buoy tender. Eternal
Reefs executives will coordinate closely with USCG personnel to
deploy the final reef balls as weather permits.
The On Eternal Patrol Memorial Reef site is in public waters
nine miles off Big Pass in 45' of water. GPS coordinates are: 27
15.795N 82 45.505W. See video of the On Eternal Patrol Memorial
Reef project on YouTube and find a complete list of the boats On
Eternal Patrol and those lost in non-sinking events, visit
http://www.OnEternalPatrol.com.
A Sarasota-based 501c3 memorial
organization, Eternal Reefs, Inc., planned the ambitious project,
in partnership with Reef Innovations and The Reef Ball Foundation
and dedicated it in a land side ceremony last Memorial Day weekend
(27 May 2018). At that time each lost
boat received full military honors, for many the first time to have
received recognition. The project has garnered gubernatorial
recognition from 25 states including Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New
Hampshire, New Mexico,
Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode
Island, South Carolina,
Utah, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
About Eternal Reefs
The Genesis Reef Project dba Eternal Reefs, Inc. is a Sarasota-based non-profit organization that
provides a creative, environmentally-enhancing way to memorialize
the cremated remains of a loved one. Eternal Reefs incorporates
cremains into a proprietary concrete mixture used to cast
artificial reef formations which are then dedicated as permanent
memorials which bolster natural coastal reef formations. Eternal
Reefs pioneered the concept of reef memorialization and, since
1998, the organization has placed nearly 2,000 Memorial Reefs in 25
locations off the coasts of Florida (North Atlantic, South Atlantic, Gulf
Coast and Panhandle), Maryland,
New Jersey, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia, substantially increasing the ocean's
diminishing reef systems. Memorial reefs can only go in properly
permitted locations by the U.S. Government. Eternal Reefs has
strategic partnerships with the Reef Ball Foundation and Reef
Innovations. Learn more at http://www.EternalReefs.com or on the
company's Facebook page.
# # #
SOURCE Eternal Reefs