If you are a regular reader of these digital pages, you will have likely come across a comment from our friend “Hocky”. Hocky was a cold-war era US Submariner, and he has spent a sizable chunk of his life to a passion for knives and for promoting/celebrating the work that he and his shipmates did to protect this great country of ours.
From Hocky,
“The “USS George Bancroft SSBN643” was decommissioned in September of 1993.
The “sail” was removed from the hull and subsequently became the “Bancroft Sail Memorial” in 2000 at the King’s Bay Sub Base at St. Mary’s, Georgia.The sub is a boat in submariner parlance. The heart and soul of our boat are the more than 2,600 men who crewed it from 1966 until 1993.Our crew memorial project began in 2023 and we are now raising the money to build it in 2027. This memorial walkway as shown in the artist graphic contains an engraved brick with the name, rank and service time of each Bancroft crew member.Our fundraising to meet our goal of $90K by the end of 2026 is primarily focused on crew member donations. Realistically, that is a challenge. Nearly 600 men have passed away; aka “Eternal Patrol”. We have an active Association membership of about 800 crewmen; and, we are always searching for our shipmates.The “United States Submarine Veterans Charitable Foundation (ussvcf.org)” will set up our display at their exhibit at the national convention.“American Submariner”, a publication of USSVI.org, will have our “Crew Memorial” project advertisement in their 4th Quarter edition (Oct-Nov-Dec 2026).Our goal is to have the walkway completed in time for our Bancroft “Reunion 2027” scheduled for September 9-12, 2027.I am confident that we will accomplish this tribute to the men who served on the boat.
This seems like a cool project. I didn’t see a bidding link at the Caritable Foundation website, but if bids are open to the public, I will be sure to pass it along.
This is the display that will be set up at the USSVCF convention. And our favorite Bubblehead.
I am sure that Hocky will keep up posted.
Read the full article here
