Submarine Veterans Charitable Foundation Newsletter March 2025

Shipmates,

Submarine Veterans Charitable Foundation Newsletter March 2025

Shipmates. If you are at all like me you still harbor a feeling of invulnerability. How could a rompin’ stompin’ submariner, afraid of nothing, and at the top of his game, face the inevitability of … eternal patrol? I know it’s hard to fathom. The truth is, though, that it’s something we all need to come to grips with. The likelihood that between half and seventy percent of us aren’t prepared for it is sobering.

Your Charitable Foundation has wrestled with it and decided to try and make part of those preparations easier. We are in discussion with a service that can make it less difficult and more economical to prepare our Wills on line. Wills are the only real way we can be sure that our wishes are carried out after we’re gone.

While we don’t endorse any particular service as yet, we would like your input before we enter into an agreement and put up our cold hard cash. If we do engage this service each of us will be able to get a will prepared for free. To be clear, any USSVI member, their children and their grandchildren will be able to get a Will … free.

I can answer any questions you may have if you contact me at: vp-ed@ussvcf.org or by phone at 860-886-3566. But I’ve put some frequently asked questions and their answers below. Our comments should not be a substitute for/or taken as legal advice. However, Wills made as a part of this program will be enforceable in your state.

FAQs

1. Will my will be legally valid in my home state? Yes each Will is tailored to your individual home state
2. Will I have to hire a local attorney to have the details of my Will carried out? No, not unless you feel the need to.
3. Will I have to pay for any legal services after my Will is finalized and I sign it? No, not unless you have many specific bequests, or have complicating circumstances like trusts or other encumbrances, then it is advisable to hire your own attorney.
4. Will my Will supersede any previous Wills I may have made? Yes.
5. Should I have my Will notarized? Yes.

We need a “show of hands” to know how many would be interested, before we commit, so please let me know.

Scholarships

Our esteemed Dr. Alan Fickett is currently shepherding 286 scholarship applicants through the selection process. He reports that this is a bumper crop of applicants, but he is confident that all will be evaluated, and the lucky recipients informed, by the end of July.

Volunteers

Thank you and welcome aboard to our most recent volunteers! As everyone should know the Charitable Foundation is staffed by the most willing set of hands any boat has ever seen. It’s no surprise that our bases are named for boats we’ve known or geographic features dear to us. Welcome aboard to Fernando Borges who has stepped up to aid Mike Ferranti as manager of the Brotherhood Fund. Welcome also to Scott Gerber who will back up Don Young with the Monuments and Memorials Fund and finally welcome aboard to Tim Blevins who will back up Steve Day as Building Fund manager.

That all being said we still need volunteers for important work. If you have communications skills or experience as a historian we need you, and we still need Ambassadors for 130 bases.

Our New Mascot

I’m sure you are all eager to know what has been chosen as our new mascot. I hate to keep everyone in suspense, but the truth is we haven’t picked one yet. Altogether we’ve received entries from eleven members and some are intriguing. For instance, John Barr from Razorback Base submitted the venerable Pelorus Jack. Jack was a real aquatic hero, a dolphin who helped to guide ships through the treacherous Cook Strait near New Zealand in the late 1800s and early 1900s. I’m pulling for you, Jack.

John Fleitz of USS Toledo base has entered an historic seadog. He reminds us all that Garbo the Puppy was the mascot and good luck charm aboard USS Gar, during six WWII patrols. She was a calming influence in the forward torpedo room especially during depth charging.

There are nine other entries, and I must report that each one is creative. Enjoy the suspense. I am holding the entries open until May 1^st when the CF Board of Directors will vote and choose the winner. That gives the rest of you, who haven’t sent me an entry, (send it to me at vp-ed@ussvcf.org) time to use that old submarine know how to conjure up a winner. Remember that the prize is a drink on me during our Orlando convention and a free commemorative coin. (Look for that to appear on our website for purchase soon).

USSV CF Newsletter No 15 Copyright^© March 2025 George Palmer Editor

George Palmer

Vice-President & Executive Director

USSV Charitable Foundation

vp-ed@ussvcf.org

www.ussvcf.org