The ocean I was looking at looked just like it did a million years ago, and just like it did from the sails of my two submarines long ago. The sky and everything else looked the same. It could have been a million or only thirty years ago.

It hasn't changed.

What is down there?

I have dragged up pieces of depth charges and some of my cohorts have dragged up unexploded depth charges. "Friendly fire" left over from the cold war?

There are also boats down there; fishing boats, freighters, tankers and a liner that was sunk off Cape Elizabeth around the turn of the century drowning many Irish Immigrants. Her prop shaft is now a support for a Coast Guard daybeacon in the Saco River, about a half mile from my home. A couple of years ago a German U-boat was found not too far from where I was fishing. Kindred Souls still sleep on board.

Moving from my little bit of coast I thought of the hours I have spent down there. Hours spent talking with my shipmates. Just submariner talk about things past, the present and speculating on the future. I also thought of the thousands of soldiers, sailors, and submariners that remain down there. And I thought of some of my shipmates down there too.

I only hope that they know they are remembered and appreciated.

My flag flies high today.