Gravesite Dedication for World War II MIA Saturday

GREYBULL - Glendon LaMar Scott followed in the footsteps of his brothers and joined the U.S. Navy, volunteering for submarine duty during World War II. He was a member of the USS Grayling that was officially reported Sept. 30, 1943, as "lost with all hands." A dedication of a grave in Scott's honor and memory will be in Greybull this Saturday.

According to the family history, Scott was born March 27, 1923, in Kane, the son of Herschel and Maye Scott. He joined brothers Damon and Joe and sister Barbara. LaMar was born into a family of bird hunters, a sport they all enjoyed. After school in Lovell, he joined the Navy, becoming the third Scott of eight in three generations to serve in the Navy during wartime.

Michael LaMar Scott of Greybull, LaMar's nephew, son of Damon, said, "I was named after [LaMar] about 68 years ago."

LaMar was stationed aboard the submarine USS Grayling (SS-209) as a torpedoman Third Class, which was home ported in Fremantle (Perth) Australia. While in port he met and became engaged to an Australian lady named Doris. In his last letter to his father he said he was looking forward to coming home and hunting birds, the letter was dated July 20, 1943.

Mike Scott said he still has that final letter from his uncle.

He also has the final picture ever taken of LaMar, a picture of his father and LaMar, when they happened, by chance, to both be at Pearl Harbor. They had a photo taken of the two of them that was sent to their parents.

Under the command of Lt. Cdr. Robert M. Brinker, the Grayling began her eighth and last war patrol in July 1943. She made two visits to the coast of the Philippines, delivering supplies and equipment to Panay, July 31 and Aug. 23, 1943. Cruising in the Philippines area, Grayling recorded her last kill, the passenger-cargo Meizan Maru on Aug. 27 in the Tablas Strait, but was not heard from again after Sept. 9.

She was scheduled to make a radio report on Sept. 12, which she did not, and all attempts to contact her failed. Grayling was officially reported "lost with all hands" Sept. 30, 1943.

A list of all 76 sailors is maintained at http://www.oneternalpatrol.com. According to the website, the Grayling was lost between Sept. 9 and Sept. 12, 1943, either in Lingayen Gulf or along the approaches to Manila.

Grayling was credited with numerous major kills. All but the first of Grayling's eight war patrols were declared "successful. She received six battle stars and purple hearts for World War II service.

Scott said he knew from family history a little about the Grayling history but with the internet, so much more information has become available.

Scott said he had been searching for his uncle's grave marker, for which he had been told there was one. He said he looked at Kane, Lovell, Basin and Greybull but was unable to locate one. He was talking to fellow veteran and Atwood Family Funeral Directors owner Clayton Draggoo about his search when Draggoo remarked that they should put in for one.

That was easier said than done.

They filled out the paper and sent it in, with the request for a Purple Heart notification. They received word from the government that they needed verification that LaMar Scott was awarded the Purple Heart.

Scott took a trip to St. Louis, Missouri, where the military records are kept. Despite a fire destroying most of the records, one of the employees there was able to find Glendon LaMar Scott's record, albeit water scarred, weathered and aged. There was still enough, Mike Scott said, to verify that his uncle had earned the Purple Heart.

The grave marker was awarded and arrived in April, broken. It was sent back and another sent in June, also broken. It was sent back. Finally this month, after Draggoo requested the third one be crated when shipped, it arrived and it is "beautiful," Scott said.

The stone has been set, a little over a year since the process started, with Scott noting, "Clayton, myself and my brother Pat laid it in the veterans plot at the Donald J. Ruhl Memorial Cemetery in Greybull.

Meanwhile, while Scott was working on the grave marker, his fellow American Legion Post 29 members suggested a dedication.

"I thought that would be cool. I'm on the firing squad with the legion. We do a lot of funerals. But we haven't done one that's 74 years old, which is pretty unusual. But we decided to go ahead a try it," Scott said. "Clayton from the funeral home got on the stick and started calling people and notifying all kinds of people about this dedication we're going to have this Saturday."

He added, "Basically, we're just given my uncle his own grave marker and a little piece of Wyoming after all these years. He still rests in the bottom of the sea off the Phillipines."

Scott, who like his father, brothers and uncles, served in the Navy during war time, served during Vietnam. He said, "I don't know how many times I sailed over that area, not knowing he could have been below me. It's kind of weird."

MEETING DORIS

Scott noted, however, his service in the Navy provided him the opportunity to meet LaMar's fiancée Doris. He said wrote his grandmother, LaMar's mother, while Scott was off the coast of Vietnam and told her that it looked like they might be going to Australia. LaMar's mother had written to Doris over the years so she gave her grandson Mike, Doris' address.

The trip to Australia was delayed after Mike's ship was sent back to Vietnam when the Pueblo was captured.

"We finally did make it down there and I met this lady who was engaged to my uncle, and her family, two daughters and a son. Just got along great with them. It was a wonderful time," Scott said.

Years later, when Scott was working for MI Drilling, he wrote a note to Doris' daughter and included it in a shipment to Australia. "She got it. Her mother told me when she came for a visit to Greybull and Lovell to see where LaMar grew up. I got to see her and her husband again in Wyoming. Again we had just a wonderful visit and reminisced some more."

HONORING MIA

Scott said Saturday's dedication is a way to honor his uncle that died six years before he was born. "We thought we'd honor him and his shipmates and basically all missing in action veterans with this dedication. I was really convinced of it when I started doing the POW/MIA ceremony at American Legion dinners. It just really hit home finally that, 'hey this is my uncle, my dad's brother, that I'm talking about here.'"

The dedication of Glendon LaMar Scott's grave in his honor will take place at 11 a.m. on Saturday at the Donald J. Ruhl Memorial Cemetery in Greybull. Military service organizations, government officials and patriotic citizens from around the Big Horn Basin area are invited to attend and show honor to this local war hero who paid the ultimate price.

Scott said dedication will be a graveside service with military honors. They are trying to get active duty Navy personnel to perform the ceremony, but if not the American Legion will do the honors.

"It's way overdue. He never received the honors," Scott said, adding that it took three years after his death for LaMar's parents to receive his death benefit.

Despite missing since Sept. 9, 1943, Scott said, LaMar's family was not notified until just before Christmas that he was missing.

"There were so many men making the ultimate sacrifice, I think the government was just overwhelmed," he said.

Scott said he began this journey over a year ago to honor his uncle. "I'm Doing this for my uncle and for all those who have given their lives all through our country's history. National POW/MIA Day was Sept. 15 and I don't think anyone noticed. I hope this brings recognition to that. I believe there are 83,000 missing from our wars. That's quite a bunch."