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World War II Congressional Medal of Honor Recipient
Commander George Levick Street III
Submariners Mourn Passing of Medal of Honor Recipient
by Robert Hamilton
In 1979, as a young officer aboard his first submarine, Capt. Arnold O. Lotring was enjoying the Navy Birthday Ball in the Dealey Center gymnasium, a little in awe of all the medals earned by the older sailors around him, when suddenly a hush fell over the crowd of merrymakers. Into the gym strode a 65-year-old retiree in full dress uniform and a captains stripes, wearing a large medal on a blue ribbon around his neck.
"Then the whispering started, that was George Street, the Medal of Honor winner," Lotring said. "It was very impressive to a young ensign, let me tell you. It left a lasting impression about how revered he was in the submarine force, even though he had been retired for years."
The submarine force is in mourning at the loss of George Levick Street III, who died last Saturday at the age of 86. A large contingent from the Naval Submarine Base is expected to attend a memorial service planned for Street at Christ Church in Andover, Mass., at 2 p.m. Sunday. Burial will be in Arlington Cemetery at 9 a.m. Wednesday, March 15.
"Captain George Street was a warrior and a leader, a prominent member of what Tom Brokaw has called the Greatest Generation. He was also a gentle man of uncommon grace, keen intellect, and quiet courage who deeply cared for those he commanded," said Rear Adm. John B. Padgett III, commander of the Navys northeast region, in a statement issued by his office.
Capt. Street won numerous medals for his war accomplishments, but the Medal of Honor came on his first patrol as commander of the Tirante, off the coast of Korea April 14, 1945, in the harbor of Quelport Island. Sneaking to within 1,200 yards of the coast, in treacherously shallow water and with patrol craft and mines providing additional hazards, Capt. Street supervised the attack that sent a larger ammunition ship to the bottom in a flash of blinding light, as well as a frigate and another warship.
On his second patrol, he crept into Nagasaki Harbor, torpedoed several warships, then boarded and burned more than a dozen large sailing vessels. Retired Navy Capt. Edward Beach, the noted naval author, recalls there was a magnetic board at the headquarters of the Pacific submarine force, filled with little silhouettes of the submarines depicting each of the boats in their operating areas. A little Japanese flag was attached to the silhouette for each confirmed kill.
"It was near the end of the war and there werent a lot of targets, so most of submarines had none or one," Beach said. "But the Tirante was covered with them we had seven of them."
Hugging the coast
He said Capt. Street, when he took command, charted the paths of patrolling submarines, and once all the tracks were on the map he realized that the ships transporting war materiel had to be hugging the coast to avoid them.
"So we went into the shallow water, and there we were, knocking them off when nobody else could find them," Beach recalled. "That was pure George. He sat down and analyzed the situation, worked it all out. That was the kind of skipper he was."
While Capt. Street always tried to give the credit for any successes to his crew, Beach said, it was just the opposite when something went wrong.
"George Street was the kind of guy who would never blame anybody. He would say, Well, it must have been my fault because I didnt make sure you had the right dope, " Beach said. "He was the type of leader that the crew fell in love with. He never had to threaten anybody to get them to do something right, they did it because they knew he wanted it done that way."
Capt. Streets death means retired Adm. Eugene B. Fluckey is the last of the four legendary World War II submarine commanding officers who won the Medal of Honor. Vice Adm. Lawson Paterson Ramage , skipper of the Parche, died in 1990, and Rear Adm. Richard Hetherington OKane , responsible for sinking 31 ships on five patrols as skipper of the Tang, died in 1994. Fluckey, who commanded the Barb through five war patrols, and wrote the book "Thunder Below" that will be made into a movie by Steven Spielberg, said the four submariners whose portraits still hang in a wall of valor at the Naval Submarine School never got together as a group, though their paths often crossed at the annual Medal of Honor convention, or at conventions of Submarine Veterans of World War II.
"The Navy tends to keep you pretty widely separated, and I went out a lot later than the others, in August of 1972," Fluckey said. "For whatever reason, we never had any special meeting for ourselves."
Though Capt. Streets exploits during the war were legendary he was an inspiration for the movie, "Run Silent, Run Deep" he always tried to shift the credit to his crew.
Made others feel important
Capt. Richard T. Luke, a former commanding officer of the Groton-based USS Philadelphia, said he was also impressed with how Street made those around him feel important. Luke, now serving at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine, as the representative of the commander of the Atlantic submarine force, recalled the time he met him during ceremonies at the USS Constitution in Boston two years ago. Luke brought one of his three daughters over to meet the captain.
"Despite being one of the celebrities there, I introduced my daughter, and very quickly the focus of the conversation turned not to Captain Street, but to her," Luke said. "My daughter felt so special that day, not only being able to talk to someone as special as Capt. Street, but to come away with the feeling that she was important to him."
He said he was honored beyond words when Capt. Street asked him to speak at the 50-year reunion of the crew of the Tirante.
"Here was a man who was just a giant in our community," Luke said. "And you would meet him, and his ability to make you feel special, to put the emphasis on you and your crew, was just remarkable."
Rear Admiral Edward J. Fahy, USN (Shipyard Commander), Rear Admiral Eugene B. Fluckey , USN (Commander Submarine Force, Pacific), Rear Admiral Richard H. O'Kane , USN (Ret), and Capt George L. Street, III are shown at the launching reception for the USS Kamehameha (SSN-642) at Mare Island on 16 Jan 1965. Admirals Fluckey and O'Kane and Capt Street are noted World War II submarine commanders.
CITATION:
Rank and organization: Commander, U.S. Navy, U.S.S. Tiranle. Place and date: Harbor of Quelpart Island, off the coast of Korea, 14 April 1945. Entered service at. Virginia. Born: 27 July 1913, Richmond, Virginia. Other Navy awards: Navy Cross, Silver Star with 1 Gold Star. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty as commanding officer of the U.S.S. Tiranle during the first war patrol of that vessel against enemy Japanese surface forces in the harbor of Quelpart Island, off the coast of Korea, on 14 April 1945. With the crew at surface battle stations, Commander (then Lieutenant Commander) Street approached the hostile anchorage from the south within 1,200 yards of the coast to complete a reconnoitering circuit of the island. Leaving the 10-fathom curve far behind he penetrated the mined and shoal-obstructed waters of the restricted harbor despite numerous patrolling vessels and in defiance of 5 shore-based radar stations and menacing aircraft. Prepared to fight it out on the surface if attacked, Commander Street went into action, sending 2 torpedoes with deadly accuracy into a large Japanese ammunition ship and exploding the target in a mountainous and blinding glare of white flames. With the Tiranle instantly spotted by the enemy as she stood out plainly in the flare of light, he ordered the torpedo data computer set up while retiring and fired his last 2 torpedoes to disintegrate in quick succession the leading frigate and a similar flanking vessel. Clearing the gutted harbor at emergency full speed ahead, he slipped undetected along the shoreline, diving deep as a pursuing patrol dropped a pattern of depth charges at the point of submergence. His illustrious record of combat achievement during the first war patrol of the Tiranle characterizes Comdr. Street as a daring and skilled leader and reflects the highest credit upon himself, his valiant command, and the U.S. Naval Service.
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