Next time you feel like whining, remember lives of these Vero Beach High School graduates
Laurence ReismanI wonder what the Harlock brothers' perspective would be these days.
Sitting in air-conditioned comfort, many of us grouse about this and that and who’s to blame: gasoline, insurance and food prices; tipping and toilet paper, funding Ukraine’s defense.
We listen to politicians of various persuasions, dividing rather than uniting, warning of threats to our nation.
But was there any greater threat than during World War II, when Nazi U-boats lurked off Treasure Coast beaches? Axis armies swept across Europe, Asia and Africa, committing atrocities some folks say now are too explicit to be read in school libraries?
One Harlock brother sent back to Vero Beach
Arthur Harlock, who died at 83 in 2008 after a woodworking career in Indian River County, lived through those threats. A Vero Beach High School graduate, he joined the Navy at 17 in 1943, then was forced to return home to serve at the Vero Beach Naval Air Station after basic training.
In town, he dealt with rationing and intentional blackouts ― to keep Nazi ships and possible planes in the dark. Unrelated, more than 100 fellow soldiers at his base died by the end of the war, many in plane crashes.
Why was Harlock sent home? Because his two brothers died earlier in a war that took an estimated 407,000 U.S. soldiers' lives. The Harlocks were the only Indian River County family to lose two siblings in the war.
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When Charles Harlock, a Navy gunner's mate protecting Merchant Marine ships delivering Allied supplies overseas, wrote his mother in Wabasso that summer, he wished the teacher luck finding gasoline to travel to North Carolina for summer classes.
His sister, Wanda, and her parents made it by bus to Boone, where Margaret Alma Emmitt Harlock went to what is now known as Appalachian State University. The Navy tracked down the Harlocks, telling them Charles, 20, had been struck and killed Aug. 10, 1943, by a taxi in Liverpool, England. The hit-and-run led to a criminal investigation.
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"It was terrible," Wanda Harlock Anderson, told me in 2008. "I think I cried all the way from North Carolina home."
Her brother's remains were not returned to Indian River County until 1949.
The veteran, who joined the Navy after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941, survived an incident seven months earlier in which the SS Pan Royal he was on was rammed by two other vessels and sunk, killing eight. Harlock was injured and treated in a New York military hospital before returning to England.
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Robert Harlock, the oldest of five siblings, joined the Navy in 1940. In 1943, the yeoman second class received orders to relocate from the Panama Canal Zone to launch a new submarine in Groton, Connecticut. His USS Dorado, named after a fish we frequently call "mahi-mahi," would go down in history for at least two reasons.
In 1942, the Electric Boat Co., hired its first female welders, machinists and sheet metal workers to build the ship, according to TheDay.com.
“Life magazine sent a photographer to record the women at work, and the color images show them in overalls and gloves, with sleeves rolled up and hair in kerchiefs, as Dorado comes together beneath their hands,” The Day reported. “For reasons unknown, Life never published the photos.”
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The story goes on to say some early crew thought the ship might be jinxed because men and women worked together below decks.
On Sept. 30, 1943, Robert Harlock, 22, sent home a two-page, single-spaced, typed letter thanking his family for a birthday present and offering news: The Dorado would head out soon.“I now have one very big surprise for you, putting it bluntly, I was married 2:30 Monday afternoon in Baltimore, Maryland,” he wrote, adding his wife was "attractive," "nice" and was from Boston.
They’d dated four months, and he planned to send her to live with his parents once the Dorado departed.
Also in the letter was heartfelt appreciation:
“My folks are the best a person could ask for,” he wrote, noting he yearned to come home for a visit, but had no time to do so. “This tragedy (his brother's death) that has occurred in our family has really and truly brought us much closer together.”
Two weeks later, six days after leaving Groton, the Dorado disappeared. It has never been found, becoming one of 52 U.S. submarines lost in the war.
“When the sub failed to arrive at the Panama Canal … unsuccessful searches were launched in the Caribbean,” The Day reported. “A Navy Court of Inquiry decided Dorado had probably been the victim of friendly fire” by bombers thinking they saw a U-boat.
Another theory is a U-Boat, known to have been in the vicinity, dropped mines the Dorado ran into.
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Harlock was one of 77 men lost. They are memorialized at the USS Dorado Memorial in Wichita Veterans Memorial Park in Kansas. Each state was designated to honor a lost submarine.
The other day in Vero Beach, the community gathered at Veterans Memorial Island Sanctuary to dedicate a monument honoring merchant mariners from World War II. It’s part of ongoing improvements at the memorial. In November, organizers hope to unveil a World War II memorial, which will be incorporated into a permanent stage for ceremonies.
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Funds are needed to complete the project. Donations can be made online via the Cultural Council of Indian River County or mailed to the council at 1216 21st St., Vero Beach, FL 32960.
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This weekend, I’ll be thinking of the Harlock brothers and their family. It was crushed with the loss of their two oldest sons under unusual circumstances ― leaving them without closure ― all in the service of our great nation.
That’s what our Memorial Day remembrance should be about.
This column reflects the opinion of Laurence Reisman. Contact him via email at larry.reisman@tcpalm.com, phone at 772-978-2223, Facebook.com/larryreisman or Twitter @LaurenceReisman.
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