U.S. NAVY Charles Downes   “Run Silent, Run Deep,” “Destination Toyko,” “The Enemy Below.” Charles Downes supposes he’s seen all the World War II submarine genre flicks. But none can compare to his own memories. Downes was born April 15, 1925, in West Penobscot. He graduated from the long-gone Clark High School in a class of 30 kids. He was working on airplanes at a Bradley Field machine shop in Connecticut when, just two months after he turned 18, in June 1943, he was drafted into the Navy’s submarine service. “They didn’t waste much time,” he jokes about his quick draft. “It didn’t much matter to me. I think I was fortunate.” While the 12,000 submariners made up less than 1.6 percent of the Navy, they sank 55 percent of the Japanese shipping and naval force. In exchange, they lost 52 subs and 25 percent of their men. It didn’t take much to get used to the military way of doing things, “Doing what you were told,” he said, “I just went with the flow.” Nor was he worried as he went aboard the sturdy Balao-class submarine USS Blenny. “You know, when you’re 19 years old you’re pretty bullet-proof,” he said. And so he found himself “plank-owner” on the 312-foot sub, motor-machinist second class in the engine room and machine room, on his way to the Pacific via Panama City (“the dirtiest city in the world,” Downes said. “They were all chasing after your money.”) The close quarters of the submarine, three-high bunks and all, didn’t bother him, Downes said. The Navy did extensive psychological screening, he said, and anyone with symptoms of claustrophobia or other troublesome conditions wouldn’t have been let aboard. In addition, he had to pass physicals to prove he could stand the pressure of the ocean depths. The Blenny could drop to 400 feet below sea level. Once the submarine was given its designated area to patrol, he said, “whatever came by, we tried to sink it.” Targets included tankers, freighters and small vessels carrying oil and supplies from Japan to Axis forces. “We sank probably three tankers and three or four small boats,” said Downes, who spent the time below deck and standing watch. “We could shoot ’em ahead or shoot ’em behind.” By the end of the war, Downes said, Japan was out of merchant fleet due to efforts like those of the crew of the Blenny. “[Japan] was supplying people with small boats, but most of them had Chinese and Indonesian crew on them, and we sank 64 of them, but none of the crew was hurt or killed because we’d come up on them at night. We took their crews aboard, on deck and after we sank several of them, we unloaded the next one and put them all on that and set em adrift.” Captured enemy forces, said Downes, “didn’t have much to say. It was just part of their job.” On the whole, Downes said he liked his time in the Navy. The food was excellent, the environment wasn’t overwhelmingly strict and the hazardous duty pay was 50 percent more than you’d make on any other boat. “We even had ice cream,” he said. Downes visited Australia and the Philippines on two-week R&R jaunts. Though he said the Philippines weren’t too exciting, USO groups visited Australia and the people there were kind. The men stayed in hotels, enjoying horseback riding, swimming and dancing. Downes even became an aficionado of the local 14 percent brew made in Perth — Emu Bitters. (“Damn good, too,” Downes said.) To pass the time back on the sub, Downes wrote to his mother, his grandparents and his girlfriend, receiving mail when the sub returned to port. The crew of the Blenny played poker and listened to a record player. But they weren’t listening to any Andrews Sisters or Glenn Miller. It was a new kind of music, Downes said. “I guess they called it rock ‘n’ roll.” Of course, there were plenty of heavy depth charge attacks (“like you’re inside of a tank and someone’s beating on it”) rocking the Blenny as well. “But we had a good captain and he got us out of most of them,” Downes said. “We were lucky. I got back.” Downes served four war patrols (each lasting 60 to 90 days) on the Blenny. His captain had made 14 on three different boats and was an expert in evasion tactics. Downes was discharged in 1946. He received a Submarine Service medal with three gold stars for the four successful patrols. In the 60 years since, Downes said America has changed for the worse, become over-regulated, with leaders not as noble as those of the past. Looking back on the war in which he fought, Downes said, “I think it was necessary.” “We were invaded. Nobody’s invaded us since.” The current military situation in the Middle East, he said, is anything but necessary. “It’s a money game,” he said. After the war, Downes found employment as a mechanic and millwright. “I met a girl, we got married, we had three boys. And we’re all of reasonably good health.” — By Ashley Meeks