Donated battle flag retells story of World War II sub

Late in World War II, as it operated near Taiwan, the submarine USS Aspro faced a deadly encounter with two running torpedoes — its own.

The big torpedoes got hung up when they were fired and only partially exited their tubes, recalled Page Edmunds, who was an officer on the 311-foot, Balao-class diesel electric sub.

The captain ordered another air shot into one of the torpedo tubes.

"It went out and 10 seconds later it went BAROOM!" said Edmunds, now 93.

The sub surfaced, reversed and, as it did so, fired another air shot to expel the second stubborn torpedo.

Edmunds presented a battle flag from the sub yesterday to the USS Bowfin Submarine Museum and Park.

The Pearl Harbor museum has about 75 of the hard-to-find flags, which were flown after patrols and tout a sub’s ship-sinking record.

"An original battle flag from World War II is like discovering gold doubloons laying on the bottom of the ocean," said Bowfin Executive Director Jerry Hofwolt, a retired submariner. "It’s great to see these kinds of things. People don’t understand that these battle flags truly are points in history that can never be replaced."

The embroidered felt flag donated by Edmunds denotes 22 merchant vessel and four military ship sinkings by the Aspro.

The sub arrived in 1943 in Pearl Harbor and made seven patrols, sinking the Japanese submarine I-43 as it operated north of Truk.

Edmunds was in bomb disposal early in the war, on an aircraft carrier later, and in late 1944 was assigned to the Aspro, where he worked in communications.

On the Aspro’s sixth patrol it was near Taiwan, supporting carrier operations and plucking downed American pilots out of the sea. Its seventh and final patrol in 1945 would take the Aspro south of Japan.

Edmunds’ son, who also is named Page, remembers asking his father what he was going to do with the framed battle flag.

"He said, ‘Well, I was going to give it to you,’ and I said, ‘Why don’t we give it to the (Bowfin) museum — where everybody could see it?’" the younger Edmunds said.

The World War II veteran and his wife, Micheline, divide their time between Baltimore, Canada and France. They and their son made the trip to Hawaii to donate the battle flag.

Edmunds can’t remember how he ended up with the flag, but he recalls where his wife thought was a good place for it: in the bathroom.

Hofwolt, the museum’s executive director, called it a "wonderful" donation.

"This is the heraldry of all the submarines. Each made its own," Hofwolt said. During the war, Disney Studios even got in on the act, designing some of the sub logos with its trademark cartoon character flair.

Hofwolt said to Edmunds, "Many people will be able to see (the battle flag), and we’ll be able to tell the story."