Families of Lost Sailors and Civilians Mark 50th Anniversary of USS Thresher Tragedy

The 129 sailors and Portsmouth Naval Shipyard civilians who perished on the USS Thresher (SSN 593) may have died 50 years ago, but the pain and anguish felt by family members is just as intense now as it was when they first received the terrible news.

Vicki Billings, the daughter of Navy Lt. Commander John Hilary Billings, one of 16 officers who died when the USS Thresher submarine sank off of Cape Cod, Mass., during its deep sea diving trials on April 10, 1963, shared her memories of her father.

She said she, her mother and four sisters and brothers lived in South Berwick, Maine, and her father was stationed at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. "My father was Navy through and through and his true passion was submarines."

Billings was one of several speakers who addressed more than 950 U.S. Navy submarine veterans and the family members of the Navy sailors and civilian workers who perished on the USS Thresher during the 50th anniversary memorial service at Portsmouth High School on Saturday afternoon.

Billings said she was 12 when her father died. Her brother, Blake Billings, who performed the song, "In Memory of You," was just 3 years old. Her sister, Cathy, who was on stage with her, was 6.

She said her dad also marched in the South Berwick Fourth of July parade one year while her brother, Hilary, rode his bicycle that was adorned with red, white and blue streamers and had baseball cards on the fenders, around their father.

Her last memory of her father was when he helped her write an essay about communism infiltrating the United States. She ended up getting third place in the essay writing contest, but her father would never know how she did.

Billings asked everyone in the audience to remember the USS Thresher widows. "Our moms were the ones who held our lives together at a time of devastating loss," she said. "Our moms were true heroes."

Navy Rear Admiral L. Bryant Fuller, commander of the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine, said "Thresher will always be part of Portsmouth Naval Shipyard."

"Thresher was and still is our boat," Fuller said. "We designed, built and overhauled the ship."

He said the Sub Safe program that resulted from the USS Thresher tragedy has ensured that subsequent and current generations of Navy submariners come home safe after their missions.

Dr. Thomas Hassan, New Hampshire's first gentleman and husband of Gov. Maggie Hassan, read a letter from the governor. "The loss of the Thresher is a reminder of the perpetual risk that members of our Armed Forces face everyday," Gov. Hassan wrote.

U.S. Rep. Carol Shea-Porter, D-NH, said the Navy's submarine fleet is safer today as a result of the horrible tragedy that befell the USS Thresher. But she said her heart still goes out to all of the family members who have lived with the pain of the loss of their loved ones for 50 years.

"I can't imagine what it was like for the children to hear that their father was never coming home again," she said.

U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-NH, said the Thresher tragedy really comes into focus when one looks at the individual sailors and civilians who were lost that day. She said men like Wayne Malloy of Rochester had a wife and five children. She said brothers Benjamin and John Shafer of Connecticut were both Navy electricians mates who wanted to serve together on the Thresher.

Ayotte stressed it is so important to remember the sacrifices made by those who lost their lives on the USS Thresher because they helped the Navy improve and remain the force it is today throughout the world. "They will forever remain on eternal patrol," she said.

U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-NH, said she will continue her efforts to have the USS Thresher crew and civilians honored at Arlington National Cemetery, which she added "is way past its time."

Shaheen said there were many heroes that day like Paul Currier of Exeter, who left behind his wife and five children. She said Currier also coached in the local Little League in the 1950s and the championship trophy that is handed out each year has his name on it.

Vice Admiral Michael J. Connor, commander of the Navy's submarine forces, said the men aboard the USS Thresher did not die in vain. They were pioneers who were in the process of adding a new cutting edge submarine to the fleet during the Cold War when the former Soviet Union posed a grave threat to the U.S. "This ship helped change the world," he said.

The Sub Safe program enabled the Navy and Portsmouth Naval Shipyard to build better vessels that made it harder and harder for the Soviets to keep pace until the former Soviet Union finally collapsed in the 1980s. He said the lessons learned from the USS Thresher tragedy ultimately made the world a safer place.

"The sacrifice made by these people will be carried by the entire submarine force as we do the nation's business under the sea," Connor said. "May God bless the USS Thresher and may God bless the United States of America."