MIDDLETOWN -- A city-based treasure who collected memorabilia for nearly half a century to protect a portion of naval history is gone. Bernard A. "Ben" Bastura, the 69-year-old owner and curator of the Submarine Library and Museum, died at his home on Saturday. Bastura ran the museum and library, which filled nine rooms of his Washington Street duplex home.

"The Submarine Force has lost an incredible individual," said national archives chairman John Wynn, of the U.S. Submarine Vets Inc. Wynn was a longtime friend and mentee of Bastura. "It's a loss that can't be replaced. He'll be greatly missed."

"It's very sad," said State Rep. Joseph Serra, D-33, who was among the state legislators to honor Bastura in October with a General Assembly citation for his efforts in protecting a portion of military history. "He was a Middletown icon in terms of what he did. Connecticut has lost a true protector or hero of our treasures."

Serra said the library and museum was "something he was proud of and always told about in Middletown."

"He was a very dedicated gentleman and was very proud of his collection of memorabilia," the legislator said about Bastura. "It's a sad day in Middletown. We're losing a mini-attraction."

For 36 years Bastura opened his home on weekends from April to December and by special weekday appointments to view the vast collection of submarine memorabilia and artifacts.

His collection started out as a hobby in 1954 when he had gotten out of the Army at the age of 21. That was the same year the first nuclear submarine, the Nautilus, was launched.

In 1964 Bastura was invited for a full-day cruise aboard the submarine USS Cavalla, and he was made an honorary crew member. The USS Cavalla was the first USN submarine inducted into Bastura's library and museum.

With enough of a collection built up, the doors of the museum opened, free of charge, in 1966. His museum averaged about 3,000 visitors per year from throughout the country and overseas.

The rooms were filled with sailors' mementos, articles from World War I and II submarines and files on every one built for the U.S. Navy. Plaques that once hung in submarines such as the USS Puffin and the USS Trout covered the walls of one room. The original plaques were donated by either the submarine's commanding officers or the naval facility.

Display cases held personal mementos donated by submarine veterans like a Japanese soldier's silk gunpowder sack and the Ace of Spades from card decks distributed to those who served on the USS Trout.

An original letter from Adm. Chester Nimitz to the U.S. Naval Department praising submarine crews' actions during World War II hung on a wall. On another wall was a detailed chart showing where all of the submarines sunk during World War II.

"That was his life," said Council of Veterans member Martin Reardon Sr., who had visited the museum a few times. "He was very knowledgeable."

Bastura had 18 four-drawer cabinets filled with extensive files on every naval submarine from the USS Holland built in 1900 to the USS Texas, which is scheduled to be built in 2005.

According to his will, Wynn said, Bastura has bequeathed his collection to the Saint Mary's Submarine Museum in Georgia.

"He never served in a submarine, but it was his life interest," Wynn said. Bastura even carved a submarine out of a railroad tie using three X-acto knives. "The Submarine Force has lost a true national treasure."

Wynn recalled if someone asked Bastura his age, he would never give an accurate age.

"Sometimes he would say he was 78. The next time someone would ask he would say 73," he said. "He was one of a kind. He was a quiet, nice guy. He was an absolute gentleman."

At times Wynn said Bastura would purposefully display a few items incorrectly, either marking them wrong or display them upside down "to see if people noticed."

"He was such a neat guy," he said. "Ben's last wishes were as simple and straightforward as his life was. His only request was to be cremated and have his ashes scattered on Long Island Sound."

"We're going to do that right," Wynn said, adding the veterans group is "working on it as best we can."

"I love him, and I'm going to miss the hell out of him," he said. The creed of the Sub Vets is "to perpetuate the memory. If anyone did it, he did it. No one did it better -- single handedly."

To contact Amy L. Zitka, call (860) 347-3331 ext. 211 or e-mail azitka@middletownpress.com

....The Middletown Press 2003