Captain EDWARD L. BEACH (1163-LIFE-1989) did a lot in his life, and wrote his name in large letter in the history of the Submarine Service of the United States Navy.

Commander Beach while Active Duty in the Submarine Service

While those who knew him, knew ‘Ned’ Beach as a ramrod straight, no-nonsense officer from the Academy – they also knew him to be a great family man, a very patriotic American, a nice guy with a sense of humor hidden beneath an otherwise gruff exterior.

For example - those who are old enough or who know enough about history will remember the famous H. G. Wells radio broadcast entitled “War of the Worlds” in which fictitious aliens from outer space were invading the United States in a small town on the east coast. Even though the midshipmen were supposed to be studying and not listening to the radio, ‘Ned’ Beach heard the broadcast and, like thousands of Americans at the time, thought it was real – so he went to the Officer of the Deck at the Academy and volunteered lead a group of midshipmen against the invaders. He was a man who would rather do something to defend his country than sit back and hope someone else would do it.

He told us that he loved peanut butter on toast, but thought it took too long to put the peanut butter on after the toast came out of the toaster – so he put the peanut butter on he bread first, then toasted it. It was hot and creamy when it came out, so he took a big bite – and got 400º peanut butter stuck to the roof of his mouth. He said it was good SHARKHUNTERS got more of the human stories than just the wartime histories.

Captain Beach while serving as Naval Attaché to President Dwight D. Eisenhower

We all know of his wartime exploits such as earning his Navy Cross on the bridge of USS TIRANTE as XO; his making submarine history after the war as Skipper of USS TRITON when they were the first ever to circumnavigate the globe totally submerged; the many books he wrote which I read as a kid in high school such as ‘Submarine’ and of course the one that was made into a movie “Run Silent, Run Deep!” which had a great many actors who were either stars at that time or went on to become big names such as Clark Gable, Burt Lancaster, Jack Warden, Don Rickles and more.

We also remember ‘Ned’ Beach the man – the American. Sail on in peace Captain Beach – you’ll be missed.

Captain Beach passed away Sunday, 1 December 2002

A Chuckle

In light of the passing of Captain BEACH I thought we would share a little chuckle he gave us some years ago when he spoke at our ‘Patrol in Paradise’, Key Largo.

He said that he had a nightmare (bad dream) the previous night and in this dream, he dreamt that he died and arrived at the ‘Pearly Gates’ at the same time as Bill Clinton and Al Gore. He said that St. Peter looked at them, shook his head then pressed the ‘DOWN’ button on the heavenly elevator.

They arrived in a dark, depressing row of cells and as St. Peter opened one cell, inside there was a mean and ugly old woman. He shoved Gore inside and said, “Al, this is how you’ll spend eternity!”

They got to another cell and when St. Peter opened it, they saw an even uglier, meaner old lady - she had a mean dog! As he shoved Bill Clinton in he said, “Bill, this is how you’ll spend eternity!”

He said that he was really trembling in his dream, but they came to a lovely room and inside was a beautiful young woman in a swimsuit. As St. Peter shoved Ned inside, he said, “Miss America, this is how you’ll spend eternity!”

Beneath his staunch exterior, Captain BEACH was a fun guy with a great sense of humor. We’ll miss him – a lot.