Column: Saluting the sailors of the silent service

Staff

Published Friday, September 29, 2006

Ed Shannon, Between the Corn Rows

Reunions for World War II veterans are gradually fading away. Yet some of these special events can have real significance. This was certainly true for one reunion in Rochester last week. And one of the veterans involved with this particular reunion was a former resident of Twin Lakes.

Lester Riley, now 84, lived in Twin Lakes from 1949 to 2001. He’s a veteran of World War II and served in the U.S. Navy’s submarine service in the Asiatic-Pacific Theatre. He worked at the Dairyland power plant and was the Twin Lakes fire chief for many years. Lester is now living at Meadow Lake Senior Living in Rochester.

There’s another interesting area connection with the Riley name. Lester’s wife, Helen, was a nurse at Naeve Hospital for 20 years and mayor of Twin Lakes from January 1979 until she died on Feb. 26, 1986.

The reunion of about a dozen of the still-living crew members of a submarine named the USS Pargo was hosted by Lester and his son and daughter-in-law, Richard and Suzanne Riley of Rochester. Richard said a total of 36 people, which included family members, participated in this event.

The reunion was based at the Ramada Hotel and Conference Center in Rochester and ran from Sept. 20 to 23. The submarine veterans also visited a La Crescent orchard and Lock and Dam No. 7, Mayowood, the National Eagle Center and Lark Toys in Wabasha and the Spam Museum in Austin with its World War II display. A memorial service at Soldier Field on Sept. 23 honored the men of the 52 submarines which were lost during World War II and are now on “Eternal Patrol” in the “silent service” for our nation.

By the way, there’s no error regarding the spelling of the name of the submarine Lester served on during World War II. It was Pargo, and not Fargo.

USS Pargo (SS-264), a Gato-class submarine, was the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for the pargo, a fish of the genus Lutjanus found in the West Indies.

Construction on this submarine started on May 21, 1942, at Electric Boat Co., Groton, CT. It was launched Jan. 24, 1943, and commissioned April 26, 1943.

Following shakedown and training, Pargo sailed though the Panama Canal to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, arriving July 23, 1943. The first of the eight wartime patrols began Aug. 18 and took the Pargo into the East China Sea where she twice attacked the enemy, inflicting undetermined damage to several ships before returning to Pearl Harbor on Oct. 6.

During World War II this submarine was credited with sinking nine Japanese ships and damaging several others in the Pacific Ocean area. Among those enemy ships were two freighters, an ex-net tender, a cargo ship, a minelayer, a unidentified ship, a tanker, a passenger cargo ship and a destroyer, according to information supplied by Lester’s son, Richard.

After the war, Pargo was credited with the sinking of the last Japanese destroyer sunk by a U.S. submarine on Feb. 20, 1945. After Japan’s capitulation, Pargo remained. In the mine-filled waters near Japan until after the peace terms were signed and then sailed for Guam.

Returning to Pearl Harbor with the knowledge that she had contributed materially to the victory in the Pacific, Pargo assumed post-war duties as part of the squadron based there. She was decommissioned on June 12, 1946, and was assigned to train Naval Reservists in the 13th Naval District where she remained until

June 1, 1960, when her name was struck from the Navy’s list. Pargo was sold, likely for scrap metal on

April 17, 1961.

Pargo received eight battle stars for World War II service. All eight of her war patrols were designated as “successful.” She is credited with having sunk a total of 27,983 tons of enemy shipping. The submarine’s only real encounter with the Japanese was a depth charge incident in late 1944 which didn’t do much damage.

Special thanks goes to Richard Riley of Rochester who supplied the material which inspired this column.

(Ed Shannon’s column has been appearing in the Tribune every Friday since December 1984.)

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