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Sailors lost on submarine Lagarto honored

MANITOWOC, Wis. — William T. Mabin died in World War II without ever meeting his grandson. But on Saturday, Bill Kenney connected with his grandfather in spirit, attending a memorial for the crew members who died on the submarine Lagarto.

“It’s just a fitting tribute to my grandfather and to all the other brave men that served on the Lagarto,” said Kenney of the Manitowoc-built submarine.

The 34-year-old traveled from the Chicago area to attend the ceremony held on the deck of the USS Cobia outside the Wisconsin Maritime Museum. Along with a flag presentation, the remembrance included a 21-gun salute and a reading of all 86 crew members’ names as a bell tolled for each.

Kenney’s mother didn’t know her father as she was only 2 when Mabin died. Nancy Kenney attended the annual memorial for the second straight year, saying the ceremony gives the public a chance to express gratitude to those who gave their lives.

“I think they should be remembered,” she said. “As long as they are remembered by even one person, they are not really gone.”

Fifty-two subs were lost during World War II, and each has been adopted by a different state. The other three Manitowoc-built submarines lost in World War II are honored in other states, according to Gerald Pilger, president of the Manitowoc chapter of the U.S. Submarine Veterans of World War II.

The Lagarto disappeared around May 3, 1945 in an area near Thailand where U.S. ships worked to disrupt Japanese military supply routes.

It was presumed that a Japanese minelayer sank the Lagarto — the 21st of 28 submarines built in Manitowoc, and one of four sunk during World War II.

Lagarto had been missing until private divers found a 300-foot-long vessel in the Gulf of Thailand in 2005, a discovery Pilger called “a gift from the sea.”

The sailors who gave their lives are now at peace, he said at the ceremony.

“Now the sea is truly their sanctuary,” Pilger said. “No sailor can expect a more perfect rest.”

The families of 68 of the 86 crew members have been found.

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Lagarto: sailors lost on submarine honored