Hayes Oliver Trukke TM2c USNR enlisted in the US Navy during WWII and volunteered for the Submarine Service.
He was the son of Mr. and Mrs. William Edward Trukke of Flagstaff, Arizona.
He transferred from another active submarine to be on the crew of the highly successful USS Tang (SS 306) under the command of CDR Richard H. O'Kane.
On the night of October 24, 1944 in the Formosa Strait near Turnaround Island, the Tang had attacked a convoy and was finishing off a record war patrol. O'Kane fired her last torpedoes at a crippled Japanese merchant ship. The last torpedo fired went erratic and made a deadly circular run, the torpedo struck the Tang in the stern. The damage to the submarine's stern sank it to the bottom and the bow remained surfaced at a tremendous angle. To avoid capture of the submarine's vital secrets, the Tang's ballast was fully flooded down and she went to sit on the shallow bottom, some 160 feet below the surface.
As escape attempts were made, Hayes Trukke was one of the five men to make it to the surface and survive that night using the Momsen lung and exiting through the submarine's forward escape trunk. The five men were also the ONLY men to escape from a US submarine and survive. Only 9 crew members out of 87 survived through the night. The 9 men were picked up the following morning by a Japanese destroyer. The men were then taken to a interrogation camp at Ofuna, Japan where they were tortured for information and eventually transferred to a priority POW camp at Omori, Japan for the remainder of the war.
He was liberated two weeks after the end of hostilities.
After the war he remained in the Navy and was on shore patrol in San Diego. He later joined the Los Angeles Police Department. Hayes died in 1981 a drowning accident.
Sailor rest your oar.
He was the son of Mr. and Mrs. William Edward Trukke of Flagstaff, Arizona.
He transferred from another active submarine to be on the crew of the highly successful USS Tang (SS 306) under the command of CDR Richard H. O'Kane.
On the night of October 24, 1944 in the Formosa Strait near Turnaround Island, the Tang had attacked a convoy and was finishing off a record war patrol. O'Kane fired her last torpedoes at a crippled Japanese merchant ship. The last torpedo fired went erratic and made a deadly circular run, the torpedo struck the Tang in the stern. The damage to the submarine's stern sank it to the bottom and the bow remained surfaced at a tremendous angle. To avoid capture of the submarine's vital secrets, the Tang's ballast was fully flooded down and she went to sit on the shallow bottom, some 160 feet below the surface.
As escape attempts were made, Hayes Trukke was one of the five men to make it to the surface and survive that night using the Momsen lung and exiting through the submarine's forward escape trunk. The five men were also the ONLY men to escape from a US submarine and survive. Only 9 crew members out of 87 survived through the night. The 9 men were picked up the following morning by a Japanese destroyer. The men were then taken to a interrogation camp at Ofuna, Japan where they were tortured for information and eventually transferred to a priority POW camp at Omori, Japan for the remainder of the war.
He was liberated two weeks after the end of hostilities.
After the war he remained in the Navy and was on shore patrol in San Diego. He later joined the Los Angeles Police Department. Hayes died in 1981 a drowning accident.
Sailor rest your oar.
Hayes Oliver Trukke TM2c USNR enlisted in the US Navy during WWII and volunteered for the Submarine Service.
He was the son of Mr. and Mrs. William Edward Trukke of Flagstaff, Arizona.
He transferred from another active submarine to be on the crew of the highly successful USS Tang (SS 306) under the command of CDR Richard H. O'Kane.
On the night of October 24, 1944 in the Formosa Strait near Turnaround Island, the Tang had attacked a convoy and was finishing off a record war patrol. O'Kane fired her last torpedoes at a crippled Japanese merchant ship. The last torpedo fired went erratic and made a deadly circular run, the torpedo struck the Tang in the stern. The damage to the submarine's stern sank it to the bottom and the bow remained surfaced at a tremendous angle. To avoid capture of the submarine's vital secrets, the Tang's ballast was fully flooded down and she went to sit on the shallow bottom, some 160 feet below the surface.
As escape attempts were made, Hayes Trukke was one of the five men to make it to the surface and survive that night using the Momsen lung and exiting through the submarine's forward escape trunk. The five men were also the ONLY men to escape from a US submarine and survive. Only 9 crew members out of 87 survived through the night. The 9 men were picked up the following morning by a Japanese destroyer. The men were then taken to a interrogation camp at Ofuna, Japan where they were tortured for information and eventually transferred to a priority POW camp at Omori, Japan for the remainder of the war.
He was liberated two weeks after the end of hostilities.
After the war he remained in the Navy and was on shore patrol in San Diego. He later joined the Los Angeles Police Department. Hayes died in 1981 a drowning accident.
Sailor rest your oar.
He was the son of Mr. and Mrs. William Edward Trukke of Flagstaff, Arizona.
He transferred from another active submarine to be on the crew of the highly successful USS Tang (SS 306) under the command of CDR Richard H. O'Kane.
On the night of October 24, 1944 in the Formosa Strait near Turnaround Island, the Tang had attacked a convoy and was finishing off a record war patrol. O'Kane fired her last torpedoes at a crippled Japanese merchant ship. The last torpedo fired went erratic and made a deadly circular run, the torpedo struck the Tang in the stern. The damage to the submarine's stern sank it to the bottom and the bow remained surfaced at a tremendous angle. To avoid capture of the submarine's vital secrets, the Tang's ballast was fully flooded down and she went to sit on the shallow bottom, some 160 feet below the surface.
As escape attempts were made, Hayes Trukke was one of the five men to make it to the surface and survive that night using the Momsen lung and exiting through the submarine's forward escape trunk. The five men were also the ONLY men to escape from a US submarine and survive. Only 9 crew members out of 87 survived through the night. The 9 men were picked up the following morning by a Japanese destroyer. The men were then taken to a interrogation camp at Ofuna, Japan where they were tortured for information and eventually transferred to a priority POW camp at Omori, Japan for the remainder of the war.
He was liberated two weeks after the end of hostilities.
After the war he remained in the Navy and was on shore patrol in San Diego. He later joined the Los Angeles Police Department. Hayes died in 1981 a drowning accident.
Sailor rest your oar.
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