| GCUUF prepared family dinner for Seabee Trainees |
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Many of our members are veterans, and many of our members have loved ones serving in the Navy, Coast Guard, Army, Air
Force and Marines. With Keesler Air Force Base and the SeaBee unit nearby, we strive to honor men and women who serve
our country in every worship service. We extend our hospitality to active duty, reservists, and retirees who visit or
live in this area.
Memorial Day: We Honor Richard Halloran's USS Scamp shipmates We are privileged to have Richard Halloran, 89 yr. old
veteran of WWII as one of our faithful members and supporters. Richard has often shared his memories of
his experiences on the Scamp, a submarine that patrolled the seas during WWII. He
still remembers with love and tenderness the men with whom he served. After
his seventh patrol, Richard went home on leave and married his war bride. When he returned to the sub,
his commander said it was time for him to rotate to shore duty. A few days after Richard departed for home,
the Scamp was sent on its last patrol – it sank in 1944, with no known survivors. Other shipmates who
had been transferred before the USS Scamp sank faithfully strive to commemorate the loss of their shipmates. Richard wrote the following poem, which
speaks to the sacrifices of his WWII shipmates – and the suffering borne by all those who serve our
nation in times of war. When you visit the Admiral Nimitz Museum in Fredericksburg, Texas, you will find Richard's
poem inscribed on a plaque:
Won't Somebody - Please - Relieve The Watch
This submarine's still on patrol
Carrying
83 weary souls.
Some are on watch and some are asleep
But all are encased in the mighty deep.
Won't somebody
- please - relieve the watch?
This patrol is a long one
Fifty full years to be exact.
Does anyone care
that we are here?
Does anyone ever shed a tear?
Won't somebody - please - relieve the watch?
Do you know
of our dreams and aspirations?
And how desperate we were to achieve them?
What of our families and what of our foe?
How did they fare and where did they go?
Won't somebody - please - relieve the watch?
Does anyone remember
our last dive?
Do you know that we are still inside?
We ran silent and we ran deep.
Hoping and praying our
souls to keep!
Now we are tired and all worn out - -
Won't somebody - please - relieve the watch?
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