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                  PRESS RELEASE

                  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

                  MAY 25, 2011

                  Contact: Col Suellyn Wright Novak
                  (907) 696-4904 (h)
                  (907) 677-8802 (w)
                  missfiresioux2@yahoo.com

                   

                  Alaska Veterans Museum’s Tribute to USS Grunion (SS-216) to Open Memorial Day 2011, 2:30 PM at Alaska Aviation Museum

                  Don’t miss the great opportunity to learn the fascinating story of a family’s search to find their father’s submarine lost off Kiska Harbor in July 1942 and not found until 2007.  Bruce Abele, the eldest son of the Grunion’s Skipper, will join us by Skype to tell the story and then we will open the tribute to the submarine and her valiant crew.

                  In the display, you enter what appears to be a submarine; overhead are black lighted glow in the dark stars and cameos of each crew member (watching you from the heavens).   A stand holds a notebook of crew pictures and personal data. Look right to see a mural with the poem “On Eternal Patrol” and on the left a framed oil canvas print of the Grunion with her patch along with a WW II Submarine Service poster.  There is a laser cut-out of a GATO Class submarine with three Challenge coins below it for the three subs of the Aleutian Campaign on eternal patrol (Grunion was the only one lost in Alaskan waters).  The Navy Hymn appears as do photos of the Grunion from keel laying to commissioning, the artist’s two water color views of her as she rests on the sea floor today, and then the underwater photos. There is a photo of a sinking Japanese merchant ship taken through a sub’s periscope. The display also features a mural of the sub’s control room with a 3D wheel to spin by the young at heart; it will also show the dampness and condensation always present on the boat (yes boat is what subs are termed).  Look back to the left again to see the over 5’ long model of the USS Grunion SS-216, a battle lantern, a sub’s lead battery test kit, a piece of submarine radio apparatus, a WW II trench art submarine made by a sailor, the gold dolphins of an officer and the white jumper of an enlisted man as well as the winter uniform’s dark patch, along with WW II binoculars, and more. A stand at the end features a submarine manual dealing with each section or department of the boat.

                   

                  Come help us honor these American heroes on Memorial Day.  Free admission for veterans & Active Military and $10 for adults; $8 for seniors over age 65; $6 for children ages 5-12; Free for ages 4 and under.

                   

                   

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