Quest for WW II closure

Jim Brown of Fredonia, a community columnist in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, reviewed Find 'Em, Chase 'Em, Sink 'Em: The Mysterious Loss of the WWII Submarine USS Gudgeon by Mike Ostlund.

The Commander Submarine Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet says of the Gudgeon,

She left Johnston Island on April 7, 1944, after having topped off with fuel, and was never heard from again.

Brown tells how Ostlund picks up the story.

He recounts how he researched everything from old sea dogs' stories to records he had translated from the Japanese war archives and finally found authoritative accounts that agree as to where and when the Gudgeon went down.

The Japanese records even identify the aircraft that dropped bombs through the ship's deck and conning tower on that sunny day in April 1944. They produced a huge geyser of saltwater and fuel oil that ended in a single moment, the last patrol of the little sub and its crew.