Intermittent rain did not deter about 100 people from attending the dedication of the Idaho Eternal Patrol Memorial on Sunday afternoon at Russell A. Freeman Park in Idaho Falls.

Gregg Smith, senior vice commander of Hawkbill Base in Arco, is credited with spearheading the memorial, built to honor all Idaho submariners who died while on active duty.

“It was Gregg’s idea,” said Hawkbill Base Cmdr. Ross Carroll. “He emulates exactly what submarine veterans want to do, which is to perpetuate the memory of our shipmates. He came up with the idea and then did all the legwork. He’s just a committed individual to the organization.”

The creed of the Hawkbill Base U.S. Submarine Veterans is “to perpetuate the memory of our shipmates who gave their lives in the pursuit of their duties while serving their country. That their dedication, deeds and supreme sacrifice be a constant source of motivation toward greater accomplishments. Pledge loyalty and patriotism to the United States of America and its Constitution.”

“I am incredibly happy that so many people came together for this,” Smith said.

Hawkbill Base is not an active military installation but rather the East Idaho chapter of the United States Submarine Veterans Inc. Based in Arco, the organization maintains a memorial museum featuring the sail of the decommissioned USS Hawkbill, a Sturgeon-class fast attack sub famously known as “The Devil Boat,” preserved as a war memorial.

Carroll emceed the dedication ceremony and explained that tradition dictates a sunken sub never technically returned from its deployment.

“The crew remains actively engaged on the ultimate watch,” Carroll said.

The Sunday ceremony followed the one World War II submarine veterans created to honor shipmates they lost.

“I’m really happy that we decided to do this for this group,” Carroll said. “This ceremony is performed for any submariner who passes and served on submarines. Today we’re going to send all 43 of these guys on eternal patrol the way the rest of their brothers would want. I know this ceremony was never performed for over half of these guys.”

After the Hawkbill detail was called to attention, Carroll officially began the ceremony.

“Our Idaho native submariners receive their final set of orders, which read: report immediately for duty of staff of the supreme commander,” Carroll said. “To assist them in compliance with these orders, we’ll dive their boat one last time. However, when we surface the boat, those of us present there were re-engaged in our daily lives. The Idaho submariners remain on eternal patrol.”

After the boat was ordered to dive, former Navy Chaplain Thomas Baird offered a blessing before the crew was piped to eternal patrol.

“We gather today to dedicate this memorial to submariners who are no longer present with us but have responded to the summons to their eternal patrol,” Baird said.

“May we continue to be undergirded with courage in peace by this ceremonial act of remembering and honoring those who have given the ultimate sacrifice, the last measure of devotion offered on the altar of freedom in the battle to preserve life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” Baird said. “We thank you for their lives of honorable service and devotion to their shipmates. We thank you also for the honor that these absent shipmates and their families maintain — constant and persistent vigilance to remember their sons, brothers, fathers, or other relatives now on eternal patrol — and hope to be united with them in the future.

“We leave in your hands and mercy ... the souls of our shipmates on their eternal patrol,” Baird concluded.

Carroll continued the ceremony with this order: “Sailors, rest your oars. We have the watch.”

A gun salute followed, along with the playing of taps and the order to surface the boat.

“Ladies and gentlemen, that completes the eternal patrol ceremony,” Carroll said. “We’re very appreciative that so many showed up. I’m really flabbergasted. Thank you so much. We really appreciate it.

“It shows me the Idaho Falls community with its past Navy connection to the site and a small connection now,” Carroll said.

The U.S. Navy still operates a major facility within the Idaho National Laboratory site, about 52 miles northwest of Idaho Falls near Arco.

What eventually became INL was originally a Navy artillery range and the home of the first nuclear prototype submarine reactor, as well as the Naval Prototype Training Unit, where 40,000 sailors trained on nuclear power plant operations from 1949 to 1995. All nuclear personnel from the first nuclear submarine, the USS Nautilus, trained in Idaho.

“When the sailors stopped getting trained here, that connection diminished, but still the Navy has a facility out there,” Carroll said.

The memorial was dedicated during the Field of Honor event at Freeman Park, a massive annual display of 1,000 U.S. flags erected every Memorial Day weekend. The display is organized by the Idaho Falls Exchange Club and takes place directly below the Idaho State Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

“The 1,000 flags here shows their commitment to our veterans, our current military people who are serving and our country,” Carroll said.