There is an agreement in place for USSVI to absorb all the WWII guys that want to become part of USSVI. Discounts for life memberships will be offered. Of course many of them already belong. The 2009 convention will be a dual convention and there has been announced when each part of their organization will wind down in the next few years. Already most of their memorials are being handled by the USSVI bases that are in the area of a WWII chapter and the memoriial. So eventually there will be just the one organization, but it will have most of those who are still alive from WWII as members. USSVI was designed on purpose to be an ongoing organization although at times you will see numbers go up and down as membership is reflected by the size of the submarine force of 30 years ago. However there are so many sub vets out there that don't belong, that with the right advertising, we could increase our numbers as the actual numbers of sub vets went down.
There were some political issues between the two organizations; mainly on the part of a very few at the top of the WWII guys; but in the last couple of years, thanks in large part to the work Pat Householder has done, they have faded away. WWII was a unique war in many ways and for that reason I think, we have held those who serve in it in special regard. This however is probably another of those heart over mind matters. I am sure the Korean sailors and the Vietnam ones were just as important to their families and to each other as those who served at any other time. Of course many who belong now, were cold war veterans and I think that the fact that much of what we did was never known or discussed probably affected how some view us also. I find it amusing that because the two fast attack subs I was on didn't get the right notices or medals, it is considered that I wasn't engaged in a war, but if I had of made one cruise on the FBM I put into commissioning, I would have qualified for the VFW. Yet of course, what we were doing on the Snook and the Scorpion came much closer to actual war conditions than what most FBMs went through. Not of interest to me at all, but I find the public perception to be amusing.
Viejo
