This is the article that appeared in the Thursday the 17th in the Capistrano Valley News portion of the Orange County Register.

REUNION FLOAT

By

Phillip R. Schwartze

March 4, 2005

On March the 19th we will have horses, kids, bands, floats and a rolling Fez on the City streets. Now that's a parade! This year, near the end of the parade, is a special float with a unique group of men who all served aboard the same submarine, and are having a reunion. They are here in San Juan Capistrano renewing old acquaintances and determining how they all have done in later civilian life. After leaving the Navy some were Policemen, tug boat captains, salesmen and other diverse professions. All of these men shared the common bond of serving their country on a special boat. In the Navy, submarines are called boats. The submarine Remora was, we believe, the longest serving submarine in the Navy. Remora was built in 1946 and served in the United States submarine force until 1973 when it was transferred to the Greek submarine forces, and then scrapped in 1999. The USS Remora served for 53 years. Most of these Remora reunion attendees have not seen each other for over 30 years. Like all reunions, you go to see how everyone else has gotten old, put on weight and lost hair while you have remained unchanged. I think I appear almost exactly like I did 40 years ago, with the exception on my platinum blond (some say gray) hair. Since I am the organizer of the San Juan Capistrano reunion of the sailors of the USS Remora, I was looking forward to seeing old submarine friends, knowing that I would be easily recognizable. I was very excited to see the first of my old submarine buddies when he came walking up my driveway. I spotted him out of my den window and rushed to the door to greet him. I opened the front door and he looked me in the eye and said, "Is your son here?" Give the float a wave on Saturday. You will be waiving at several former Commanding Officers and a number of crewmen from an important part of naval history. You can even wave at the jerk that didn't recognize me.