The Galloping Ghost (16 page)

The
Barb
exited the Okhotsk Sea on 29 June and set a course for Midway. All those aboard celebrated the Independence Day holiday—4 July—twice, on both sides of the international dateline. In a single war patrol, they had coalesced to make the
Barb
one of the war's most formidable submarines. The captain's lightning-like ability to analyze any situation and execute a determined plan of action, while methodically plotting an escape route, had impressed the crew. Said McNitt, “During attacks, he had an uncanny ability to keep the tactical picture clearly in his head, focus on the battle plan, and change it at the last minute as the situation changed.”

The
Barb
arrived at Midway on the boat's second 4 July. The submarine's 51-day patrol included 33 days spent crisscrossing 8,700 miles of the Okhotsk Sea. The men had bonded with Kito during the time and hated to see him go. They filled a seabag with cigarettes, extra clothes, and comic books for him to take along. He, in turn, told them he hoped one day to become an American citizen, that going back to Japan would be a death sentence for revealing so much to the submariners. When Marines came aboard to take charge of the prisoner, they began roughing him up. “These were Marines that had not been to war yet and they thought they'd be tough with this Jap, you know, and knock him around,” explained McNitt. “The crew got between the Marines and Kito and shook his hand. Every one of them shook his hand when he left, and these Marines couldn't understand this.
This guy was an enemy. The Marines hustled him off the ship, and away he went. But he'd been very helpful to us.”

Aftermath of bombing of IBERLANT headquarters in Portugal in 1971.
Courtesy Fluckey family

Exterior of IBERLANT headquarters showing how windows had been blown out by bombs planted by terrorists.
Courtesy Fluckey family

Isaac Newtown Fluckey and wife Louella with their children (
clockwise from lower left
) Eugene, Jim, Lucille, and Ken in 1918.
Courtesy Fluckey family

Eugene B. Fluckey after graduation from the Naval Academy as an ensign assigned to the battleship
Nevada. Courtesy Fluckey family

Portrait of Marjorie Fluckey following marriage to Ensign Fluckey on 6 June 1937.
Courtesy Fluckey family

Lieutenant Fluckey served in S-42 operating out of the Canal Zone in Panama in 1938–40.
Naval Historical Center, NH42155

The
Bonita
(
from the right
) and
Bass
of the V-class submarines moored in San Francisco in the early 1930s. Lieutenant Fluckey honed his seamanship and engineering expertise in the
Bonita
leading up to World War II.
U.S. Naval Institute Photo Archive

Portrait of Marjorie Fluckey and daughter Barbara during World War II.
Courtesy Fluckey family

SS-220 coming in off patrol to Midway during World War II.
Courtesy Fluckey family

Japanese prisoner “Kito” with (
from left
) Lt. Everett “Tuck” Weaver, Lt. Cdr. Gene Fluckey, and Lt. John R. Post at end of the
Barb
's eighth war patrol in the Okhotsk Sea.
Courtesy Fluckey family