 |
 |
 |
| I recently read an online article in the Pascagoula Mississippi Press, which mentioned a proposed memorial to honor the memory of the submarine USS Tullibee (SS-284). I sent an e-mail to Commander C.L. Harvey of the Tullibee Base Division of the USSVI (United States Submarine Veterans, Inc.) in Biloxi, MS on October 12th to inquire about it. Commander Harvey and other members of the Tullibee Base, in conjunction with the Magnolia Rebel/W. J. Cheek Chapter of SubVets WWII, presented the proposal of the memorial on October 9th to the Biloxi Port Commission. The memorial will actually honor a total of fourteen boats—13 that were built at Ingalls Shipbuilding in Mississippi and the USS Tullibee (SS-284), which is the state boat. (Click here to see the names of the boats to be honored) Representatives of both the Tullibee Base and the Magnolia Rebel/W. J. Cheek Chapter met with the Commission to seek approval of the memorial. All of the members of the Commission were not present to vote, so no approval could be given. Despite the lack of a quorum, one of the members reassured the representatives that their proposal was a good one and would be accepted. Commander Harvey was pleased with this phase of the proposal. "This project is in the beginning stages, but we feel that it is a go," he said in an e-mail last Saturday, October 12th. The representatives will meet with the Biloxi City Council on October 22nd for final approval of the memorial. Commander Harvey is confident that the proposal will be passed. "As soon as we get permission from Biloxi, we will go full hook with fund raising. We hope to have the local SeaBees aid in the construction." A model of the memorial, designed by Al Hammond--a member of Tullibee Base, has been built. The location of the full-scale memorial, when the vote to build it is passed, will be in a park nearby to the Biloxi Port Commission. Commander Harvey said that one former crewmember of the WWII Tullibee submarine was interested in participating in the dedication of the memorial after the proposal is passed. I have asked Commander Harvey to update me when the decision is made. I have also asked him for ongoing details as the building of the memorial progresses forward, including an address where donations can be sent to help in the fund raising. He is very happy that the Official USS Tullibee Web Site is helping in this effort by hosting the information and updates at the web site. "Your offer of assistance by putting us in your web site is great." Commander Harvey welcomes any questions about the memorial. He can be reached at HarvGayle@aol.com. (My thanks go out to Commander Harvey in providing the information in this article.) |
| Permission to reprint this article is granted with prior permission from Paul Lambert via e-mail at uss.tullibee@verizon.net. |
|
| By Paul Lambert October 18, 2002 - 10:28pm ET |
 |
 |