Saturday, July 23, 2011

Today in History: The Sub That Sank a Train

66 years ago today Commander Eugene "Lucky" Fluckey and the crew from the USS Barb did two things no sub had ever done. One, successfully land an attack party on Japanese soil, and two, "sink" a train. The team members used scuttle charges from the Barb and wired them to a homemade microswitch. Around 1:45AM a train engine carrying supplies triggered the switch and blew 200 feet into the air.
Paul Saunders, William Hatfield, Francis Sever, Lawrence Newland, Edward Klinglesmith, James Richard, John Markuson, and William Walker. 
These 8 guys were the only US troops to ever launch a ground combat operation on Japanese soil.  Leave it to those Submariners! 

So today in honor of that ingenious and heroic attack I'll be opening a Fluckey's Ghost at 1:45PM. Way to go guys. 

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