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Foreword
07 August 1999
Earlier today I received the Martinez
account via e-mail from FRANK
TOON
I then contacted Frank for any additional
background on the account and he steered
me to Paul E. Perris. So here is an exerpted bit of background from a friend
of Oscar Martinez, Tony Uribe.
This information from
Tony Uribe was passed to me by Paul
Perris aka PEP
Sid Harrison
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TONY URIBE's e-MAIL TO PEP:
Hello Paul, ...
I was in WW II on Sunfish and Pilotfish.
Oscar Martinez, who wrote the accounts
on COCHINO, was a school mate of mine and served on Aspro in WW II. Have
several of his shipmates from Aspro who are members of
Sub Vets WW II, LA Chapter.
Isn't it amazing that in reading the
story, we relive the moments of daring they went thru. Here they were in
a time bomb ready to explode at anytime and they were trying to get power
to engines so they could make it to port.
This is what "Submariners"
are made of. I remember times we lost an engine or other equipment on patrol
and it had the crew work around clock repairing it. It was nothing to double
watches six on six off till repairs were made. Those were the days when
we thought we were the elite
and feel we were.
There are at least two things I saw
in trying to save Coichino. First was that the TUSK was close enough to
come to aid them and second, that all personnel of COCHINO were aboard
TUSK before she sank. Both had to be from God's hands.
Tony Uribe
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- Sunday, 08 August 1999
-
- ... just a little more background on
this narrative.
-
- Further follow-up e-mails with Tony
Uribe answered some questions
- about how this narrative was found.
- Here's the scoop.
-
- Oscar Martinez's narrative of the COCHINO
sinking below was
- obtained by a Laredo Texas high school
acquaintance of his, Tony Uribe.
-
- Tony reports that he had picked up
on some leads about the narrative
- from two fellow Los Angeles area submarine
vets who had known Oscar
- on the submarine ASPRO in WW-II. Tony
then, by doing some very
- resourceful, amateur detective work
(ads in newspapers etc.) finally
- located the son of Oscar Martinez in
New England.
-
- To make a long story short, the son
passed a copy of this narrative
- to Tony Uribe. And that's how this
personal account of the COCHINO
- found it's way here.
-
- Oscar Martinez died when the son was
three years old.
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Additional
reading on the COCHINO sinking via SUBNET
The
account from ComSubPac website
The other two boats lost in
the "cold war":
THRESHER
(Site 1) || THRESHER (Site 2)
SCORPION
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(This
info added) 14 August 1999
COCHINO/TUSK
Article by Bob Hamilton
New London Day Newspaper
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(This info added) 13 September
1999
Rear
Admiral R.C. Benitez, 81, Dies; Led Cold War Rescue
New York Times Article (Copy),
April 5, 1999
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(This info added) 22 October
2002
LIFE BENEATH THE WAVES
Includes the experience of
a USS TUSK crew member,
Paul Ingalsbe, a survivor of the COCHINO rescue attempt
OZARKNOW-News leader - Article copy - Oct. 2002
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I've never read this particular
account before and thought some of you may have missed it also. What an
experience!
Frank Toon
THE
FOLLOWING IS FROM THE INITIAL FRANK TOON e-MAILTO ME OF THE MARTINEZ ACCOUNT
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CLICK HERE
FOR THE MARTINEZ ACCOUNT OF
THE SINKING OF THE USS COCHINO
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