Historic Submarine
Memorial Chapel Windows
Dedicated to
Lost Boats!
Pearl Harbor - December, 1999
Submarine Memorial Chapel held a stained-glass
window dedication recently at the Subase Memorial Chapel in honor of the
Submarine Centennial.
The ceremony included the Naval Station
Color Guard parading of the colors. Rear Adm. Al Konetzni Jr., Commander
Submarine Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet was the guest speaker.
|
"Whether it was facing a tenacious,
deadly adversary in the waters of the Pacific or in constructing a house
of worship against all odds and without support, it's the spirit of service
and sacrifice which I hold in the highest regard. And that's why I think
today is so important," said Konetzni.
Click
here to read RADM Konetzni's Chapel dedication speech.
|
Picture
LINK-1 Picture LINK-2 Picture
LINK-3 Picture LINK-4
The chapel was constructed when Chaplain
Thomas H. Reilly noticed that submarine Sailors in Pearl Harbor were in
dire need of a more accommodating space for worship. With no funding or
construction equipment, Reilly recruited volunteers and finished construction
of the chapel in September of 1944 after eight months of labor.
The submarine chapel will dedicate
13 historic stained-glass windows, and will dedicate one window to every
submarine lost in that month throughout the year 2000. They dedicated the
one window located in the choir during this ceremony to all submarines
past and present in honor of the submarine centennial.
"Equally as important is the notion
of having today's younger Sailors - many of who have served in the post-Cold
War era, to understand our heritage."
The president of the Electric Boat
Company donated the windows in 1959. They had been fashioned from templates
that Reilly has provided 14 years earlier.
Fifty-two submarines, which were almost
one of every five submarines, 3,131 men and 374 officers were lost during
World War II alone. This seemingly invisible multitude of Sailors conducted
over 1,600 war patrols in a little more than two years and sank over 1,000
Japanese merchant ships and a significant portion of the Japanese Navy.
At the time of the war, U.S. submariners composed less than two percent
of the Navy's personnel, yet accounted for over five million tons of shipping
or 55% of all Japanese ship losses in the entire war.
|
