When Fred Darden heard in January of 1950 that the training submarine USS Sawfish was in Long Beach he asked his two buddies if they wanted to see the submarine. All three were just nineteen years old and accepted Fred's invitation with the nonchalance of ignorance. They slid down the after torpedoroom hatch with a slick-talking lieutenant whose job it was to bring fresh blood into Naval Reserve submarine Divisions 11-6 and 11-7. By the time Fred and his buddies reached the forward torpedo room they had signed to become submariners.

Fred was enthusiastic about anything military and he made sure they all went to Hunter's Point Submarine School that summer. It was unusual, but they young seaman recruits managed to get into both the submarine primary course and the submarine general course. It involved the whole summer, but fit perfectly with their school schedules. They attended John Muir College in Pasadena which was a two year college granting an associate in arts degree.

During the fall semester Fred pushed the studies to one side and concentrated on getting his drawings and notebook finished for his qualification in submarines. By November of 1950 he was in San Diego for two weeks aboard the USS Pomfret (SS-391)where he qualified in submarines.

since Fred was only a seaman recruit the naval reserve program granted him a quick advancement to seaman apprentice. He made the front page of the Naval Reservist, a quarterly magazine for being the fastest qualifying member of the reserve. His zeal for submarines was not without a price, because he had devoted himself to qualification and only managed to get an associate in arts degree. Meanwhile his two buddies went on to four year colleges and became officers, one through the R.O.C. program and the other by going to O.C.S.

Seeing his buddies as shiney, new ensigns, Fred did everything he could to talk the Navy into giving him a commission, but because he had so limited a formal education the Navy couldn't help him. He then went to the Army. It had a program that was tough, but would provide Fred with a commission. As a second lieutenant he went to Fort Bragg, then on to Fort Benning where he won his paratrooper emblem. He wore his paratrooper badge above his dolphins. It was a strange combination and he had to explain the circumstances to many people including the Shah of Iran, where he was a military adviser. Explaining the dolphins to high-ranking Vietnamese officers in the Mekong Delta was a real burden. His imagination never left him and he settled on flying fish eating a crab. It was a special award for never eating red meat.

Fred never wore his Army uniform without his dolphins. He retired as O-6, Colonel from the Army.

John Bergren was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. In high school he was fascinated with electrical apparatus. In 1950 he received a form letter from a Navy recruiter. It sparked a curiosity as to what the Navy could offer in electrical training. He visited a Naval Reserve surface unit, but when he saw radioman keys he knew he didn't want to have anything to do with Morse code. He joined Submarine Division 3-23 which had the Plunger (SS-197) and Gato (SS-212) as training submarines. This was to his liking and he attended Submarine Primary School and Submarine General School at New London in 1951.

John went on active duty on February 7, 1952 and was assigned to the Sea Owl (SS-405) where he qualified in submarines that year. The officer giving him the qualification examination was Lieutenant Peter Brailey, who later became captain of the Irex (SS-482). John remained on the Sea Owl for two years after which his time expired and he went back to Submarine Division 3-23. He remained in the Reserve until 1985 during which time he had become a sonarman. At this point in John's military career he had put in thirty-five years in the Naval Reserve and this, by itself, was an outstanding achievement. In 1970 and 71 Bergren was voted Submarine Sailor of the Year by the Long Island Base USSVI. In 1983 he was base commander of the Long Island base USSVI.

His best friend was Lcdr. Edward Klibinoff (SS) who had finished his medical training and was intending to join the Army. He invited John to come along and John accepted. Thus after so long a service in submarines he became a staff sergeant in the Army as communication chief. Most of his Army career was devoted to instructing Army personnel using knowledge gained in the Navy.

He wore his dolphins above his ribbons and this gave cause to some interesting queries by young Army enlistees who had hardly heard of submarines let alone the meaning of dolphins. John's normal response was, "That insignia's my astrological sign. I'm an Aquarius so you see the two dolphins." This gave rise to varying degrees of believability. Most said nothing and walked away thinking their staff sergeant was eccentric. Some pursued the matter and John then explained his former service in submarines.

He wore his Army working uniform which was called B.D.U.'s or Battle Dress Uniform. It was a camouflage uniform with boots. The problem was that he had to find cloth dolphins that would subscribe to regulations, namely black dolphins on khaki background. This was accomplished by going to an Army-Navy store and buying several cloth dolphins. He dyed the dolphins black and then bleached the patch to achieve a background of dull gray which was close enough to khaki to pass inspection.

After being discharged from the 808th station hospital unit of the Army Reserve at the age of 60, he joined the New York State Guard for ten years, being promoted to Lieutenant Colonel, where he was retired at age 71. All together John Bergren put in fifty-two years of military service, but his best years were in submarines. He is a life member of the Holland club, USSVI and Sea Owl veterans group.

Now he likes to stand behind the Brooklyn city buses, breath in the diesel exhaust and think back to the good old days.

If you know of dolphins on uniforms other than the Navy, let us know the story of how it happened.