"A Letter Home, 13 August 1945"

by Stan (Levine) Lewin

September, 2005

Stanley Levine (Lewin), Lt. JGSC, USNR

Stan was Disbursing Officer, Assistant Supply Officer, Division Officer 7th Div., from May 1945 to June 1946.

Stan writes:

This letter has a special purpose. Last week in an attempt to fulfill a request for family info from a first cousin in Israel, I went searching through a metal file box which was left to me by my parents. One of the items discovered was a letter written to my folks from the decks of the Euryale (and my desk) on 13 August 1945. It was written 60 years ago (age 20) and we were dockside at Sub Base Pearl.

You may notice the name at the very bottom of the letter (Ensign Stan Levine) is not quite Stan Lewin. In 1948 our family name and mine was changed back to its original spelling so that it would by in sync with the Lewin clan in other countries and in the records of the Holocaust.

Click here to view letter

Stan goes on to say:

Though my browsing time is limited, some weeks back I visited the USS Current and the USS Atule links and some memories were triggered:

In the Atule's case I recall the humorous bit that circulated which put the sub and the tender into a teamed relationship in the Irish Navy as the "O'Toole" and the "O'Reilly".

The info on the Current and the trip from Japan to Pearl bringing the H boats back was of particular interest because I definitely remember the stop at Entwetok Atoll and the Euryale crew's struggle to get the H boat in tow so we could make better knots as we were suffering a 6 to 7 knot average because the one H boat was traveling under its own power. As I understood at the time, the process of the Euryale taking the boat in tow took time, skill and repeated tries. There was at least one towing cable snap. One explanation was based on the supposed fact that the winches on the Euryale were not designed as towing winches. Scuttlebutt or fact?

Also, if memory serves, I remember going ashore on the atoll and taking a swim in beautiful, clear lagoon waters. Don't know if anyone else recalls, but I believe some of the crew tried fishing over the side and caught a small shark.

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