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Civilians plan
meeting with
grieving families
Crewmen 'were frantic in their
efforts to lend help immediately
upon the collision,'
one couple says
Victims' families form association
By Treena Shapiro
Star-BulletinTwo couples who had been aboard the naval submarine USS Greeneville when it sank a Japanese fishing trawler said yesterday they plan to address the Japanese families of nine crew members still missing.
Todd Thoman of Houston said last night that talking with the Japanese public was his and his wife Deanda's first priority.
"We're in the process of putting something together for the Japanese press and public," he said.
Susan Nolan, who was aboard with her husband Michael "Mickey" Nolan, said she was working with Thoman on arranging a meeting with families, although the time and location had not yet been finalized.
"At this point we still don't know exactly what form it would take," she said. "They (Thoman and another civilian couple, John and Leigh Anne Schnell Hall) have expressed a willingness to come here but it's still up in the air."
An official at the Japanese consulate said yesterday that a meeting between civilians and grieving family members could be beneficial, but suggested it be scheduled promptly as the families are gradually returning to Japan.
Five family members of the two missing Ehime Maru crew members were to arrive back in Japan today, leaving 17 members of six families remaining in Hawaii.
The five who left yesterday include Shizuko Kimura, 41, sister of chief engineer Toshimichi Furuya, 47, and Chihoko Nishida, 49, wife of engineer Hiroshi Nishida, 49.
Both Thoman and Susan Nolan have been interviewed by the National Transportation Safety Board. Nolan said she wouldn't be willing to comment publicly until her husband had been interviewed, sometime within the next two days.
The couple issued a public statement Saturday, however, assuring the families that the crew of the USS Greeneville "were frantic in their efforts to lend help immediately upon the collision" and that "the men on the USS Greeneville felt great sorrow and remorse about this terrible accident."
Nolan would not lend insight into what drew the group of 16 civilians together, reiterating earlier statements that they were not all connected to a charity golf tournament benefiting the USS Missouri that her husband had organized with Adm. Richard Macke, who arranged the trip on the submarine.
Both Thoman and Hall are connected to Fossil Bay Resources Ltd., which was title sponsor of the tournament that was postponed from last month.
The USS Missouri Memorial Association Inc. issued a statement yesterday that the Nolans were the only civilians aboard the submarine who had made a donation to the memorial.
Other civilians on the submarine could not be reached by phone, including Anthony Schnur of Texas, and Ken Wyatt of Colorado, who together founded in 1998 the Aquila Energy Capital Corp., which finances gas and power interests.
All four men brought their spouses. Investment banker Mike Mitchell of Irving, Texas, and his fiancee, Helen Cullen, were also aboard the submarine as was Jay Brehmer of Kansas.
Star-Bulletin wire services also contributed to this article.
BOSTON -- One of the two civilian passengers seated at the control console of the USS Greeneville when the U.S. Navy submarine rammed and sank a Japanese fishing boat said Naval officers were fully in control of the submarine when it surfaced. Civilian says officers
were in control as
sub surfacedAssociated Press
Jack Clary, 68, a freelance sports reporter from Stow, Mass., said he and his wife, Pat, were among 16 civilians on board the submarine when it performed what would have been a routine emergency rapid-ascent drill.
"I was one of two civilians seated at the consoles for this rapid ascent," Clary said. "I was not, and I am emphasizing, I was not running anything."
A yeoman officer stood behind him and guided his hands as he manipulated the lever that helped the sub to surface, he said.
When the collision occurred, "the yeoman literally threw me out of the seat, and that was the end of my involvement in the day's activities," he said.
Clary said the submarine crew actively searched for passengers of the Ehime Maru, contradicting accusations that the submarine did nothing to aid in the search for survivors.
"The submarine continued to look for survivors in the water," he said.
"They were very focused on trying to find survivors."
HONOLULU -- Families of the nine missing, feared dead, in the Feb. 9 collision between the Ehime Maru and the USS Greeneville formed an association late last night to collectively demand that U.S. authorities raise the sunken Japanese ship, family members said today. Victims’ families form
association to demand
raising of shipKyodo News Service
The 499-ton fisheries training ship is lying on the seabed 600 meters underwater off Oahu.
Ryosuke Terada, 45, father of Yusuke, 17, who is among the missing, is serving as spokesman for the association.
The U.S. Navy on Saturday showed footage of the Ehime Maru taken by the Scorpio-2 submersible to the families. The families, however, are not satisfied as the video showed only about 30 minutes of more than 10 hours of footage recorded by the submersible.
Last night, Yoshitaka Sakurada, a parliamentary foreign secretary representing the Japanese government in accident investigations in Hawaii, conveyed to the families the U.S. replies to their letters and questions.
The families, however, reacted strongly against U.S. promises that it would "study" the possibility of raising the ship and demanded more concrete assurances.
GREENEVILLE, Tenn. -- The town that is the namesake for the embattled USS Greeneville submarine is rallying community support for crew members whose sub collided Feb. 9 with a Japanese fishing boat. Greeneville community
rallies support for
submarine crewAssociated Press
The local nonprofit organization USS Greeneville Inc. is spearheading the campaign to send hundreds of cards to the sailors. Its president will travel to Hawaii in about two weeks to personally deliver them.
The group also plans to honor the nine missing Japanese teachers, students and crew. Details on those plans were not immediately available.
USS Greeneville Inc. president Dale Long said the community has had a close kinship with the sub since convincing the U.S. Navy to name it after Greeneville, a town of about 14,000 people in northeastern Tennessee.
The nonprofit group is encouraging schools, churches, civic groups, businesses and individuals to respond to their call.
"I hope we get so many cards that I have a hard time carrying them all," Long said. "This is the time for all of Northeast Tennessee to rally to support our crew."
Pain beyond UWAJIMA, Japan -- There was the roar of the U.S. Navy behemoth plowing into the hull. Running for the upper deck through the water pouring into the boat.
physical scars
More than a week after the
accident, the survivors are
only beginning to deal with
the psychological effectsBy Mary Yamaguchi
Associated PressThat's it.
That's all Makoto Hotta, a 24-year-old crew member, can remember of that day when the submarine rose up from the depths of the sea and rammed the Ehime Maru, a Japanese boat from a fisheries high school.
The next thing Hotta remembers is sitting in a rescue boat, soaking wet and trembling.
That gap in his recollection gnaws at him daily.
"I was so shocked, I can't even put it in words," Hotta said today. "I just don't know how I made my way out and survived. I just can't remember that part."
Hotta's other symptoms, such as insomnia, have mostly faded, but he still doesn't feel like going out or talking to friends.
More than a week after the USS Greeneville struck and sank the Ehime Maru off the coast of Hawaii on Feb. 9, the survivors are only beginning to come to terms with the psychological scars.
The accident exacted a harsh physical toll. Nine people are missing and presumed dead. Though the survivors -- including nine high school students -- suffered mostly minor injuries, many are still grappling with the emotional aftermath of disaster: headaches, insomnia, loss of appetite, difficulties dealing with people, and memory loss.
Dr. Tatsuyuki Teramoto, a health expert in Uwajima, the hometown of most of the survivors, said today almost everyone showed some form of stress-related symptoms. His institute provided the first counseling for student survivors on Friday.
Teramoto said subsequent disclosures that civilians were at control positions on the sub at the time of the accident have only compounded the anguish caused by losing classmates in the crash.
"Those who lost their friends tend to blame themselves for surviving," he said.
Manabu Matsushita, 17, who made it back home, is just plain angry.
Though the headaches are beginning to fade, his appetite is coming back, and he's getting a little more sleep every night, it's still rage that he feels the most.
"I don't want to discuss the accident. I only feel angry," Matsushita said yesterday, struggling to control his emotions. "I lost everything in that accident -- it took away my friends, everything."