Aloha Everyone,
I'm a member of NAFTS & our sister organization in the UK is DSRTA. We recently held our annual US reunion in October and two of the UK men came across the pond, (Deane Wynn, Donald Graham) as they often have for the past several years. I spent many an hour with Deane Wynn as he recounted his career in the Rescue Tugs.
He became a member as a 'boy seaman', after being rescued himself from the Atlantic by a rescue tug. He was hauled aboard after clinging to the keel of an overturned lifeboat for many hours as all his mates drowned or succumbed to hypothemia in the icy waters.
....and this was just one of many tales he told.
We also premiered a preview of a movie being produced entitled "Tugs of War" which will recount the expolits of the US/UK/Dutch/French etc rescue tugs of WWII.
As for myself, I served on the USS GRASP (ARS-24) & USS BOLSTER (ARS-38) during the Cold War years.
There are plenty of photos of the Rescue/Salvage tugs on our website
National Association of Fleet Tug Sailors and we also have a quarterly publication called "Towline" which has stories of the Salvage forces from WWII, Korea, Vietnam and beyond.
Anchor's Aweigh
Craig
