Heroes Beneath the Waves: Submarine Stories of the Twentieth Century by Mary Nida Smith

Each year the Naval Submarine League presents, The Rear Admiral Frederick B. Warder Outstanding Achievement Award to more than thirty graduating NROTC seniors selected for submarine duty. This year one was presented to Officer Candidate, Daniel Araki, a senior at the University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ. At the completion of the event, Joel Greenberg, Commander of the USSVI Tucson Base, presented Officer Candidate Daniel Araki, a copy of Heroes Beneath the Waves: Submarine Stories of the Twentieth Century by Mary Nida Smith

4 Heroes Beneath the Waves_Cover

The unbelievable stories of the heroic men who sailed under the sea.

In Heroes Beneath the Waves: True Submarine Stories of the Twentieth Century, many brave men rode submarines to great depths and across the oceans into unknown territory share their experiences, fears, and thoughts. They allow us to travel back in time through their memories. Trained for years to keep silent—for “loose lips sink ships”—many still believe what they know to be classified and refuse to disclose even the minutest of recollections. Others, however, want to leave a legacy of reminiscences for people to learn and live by—to know that freedom is not free.

Some stories will never be told. Held within the secret confines of their souls, these deep sea veterans block them out for self-perseverance. Yet, there are others who will never escape their own minds; they relive their underwater experiences over and over with eyes open or shut.

Heroes Beneath the Waves is about teenage boys who left farms, small towns, and inner cities to defend the United States and democracy worldwide. Signing up for United States Navy submarine duty was an adventure of a lifetime during the early 1940s. Dreams of torpedoing Japanese and German ships and subs consumed their thoughts. Those who returned home as young men were older and wiser. Heroes Beneath the Waves was written to honor these men—gallant heroes—who served and are serving today on submarines.

Smith-Mary-NidaHS

As the wife of a submariner, she lived through many troubled day. Her husband, Melvin T, Smith, was one of these honorable men. He is a lifetime member of the USS Submarine Veterans Inc., (Holland Club) and the Vice Commander of the USS Submarine Veterans Base, Mountain Home, Arkansas and also former member of the Idaho Spuds-USS Submarine Veterans of WWII and the Northwest Regions/Idaho/Montana/Oregon/Washington. Through it all, she stuck by him— and wrote.

Mary Nida Smith, author, freelance writer, poet and photographer has lived in several states, submitting and publishing in local magazines and newspapers. Magazines: The Ozarks Mountaineer, Ozarks, Arkansas Living, Good Old Days, Polaris (WWII), Grit, Northwest Living (Field Editor), Storyteller(photographed cover), Salute, Journal of the Ozarks and contributed to the anthologies Echoes of the Ozarks and Women in Nature. Newspapers:Magic Valley Farm Lines (South Idaho Press-Clark newspapers), Port Orchard Independent (Washington- weekly column), Ozark Mountain News (Mountain Home, AR), and Oregon Journal (Portland – book reviews). Newsletters: U.S. Submarine of Veterans of WWII (Arkansas Diamond Chapter),Salute, Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators (SCBWI- Australia), SCBWI-Missouri, SCBWI-Arkansas, Ozarks Writers League (OWL), and Missouri Writers Guild.