DARLINGTON TWP. - In 1943, with World War II heating up in the Pacific, the U.S. Navy needed manpower for its 262 submarines. But there wasn't time to send the youngest enlistees to submarine school to learn how to man battle stations and surface and dive a submarine in a pinch.

Instead, these young men were plucked from basic training and sent directly to sea to fill entry-level positions. In the case of Robert "Soupy" Campbell, 17 years old and just out of Beaver Falls High School, the submarine USS Pilotfish needed a dishwasher. Campbell, who had volunteered for sub service because he "heard it was good liberty and extra money," took the job. He also ran the ice cream machine and later, as electrician's mate third class, recharged the diesel ship's propeller batteries.

Although Campbell learned "the hard way" about a sub's controls - during three war patrols in the Pacific - it wasn't until Friday, in Groton, Conn., that Campbell finally graduated "with distinction" from the Basic Enlisted Submarine School, along with 174 others.

Now 76 and living in Darlington Township with his wife, Eileen, Campbell said Wednesday he wouldn't have made it there without his best friend - career Navy man and fellow submariner Bill Britt of Lisbon, Ohio, national commander of the U.S. Submarine Veterans Inc.'s Holland Club - who invited Campbell to the graduation.

Although they didn't meet until after the war, when both became involved in veterans' activities, the two men share the experience of serving on diesel-powered subs during the war. And Britt wanted to be sure Campbell received his due for that service.

On the Pilotfish, Campbell and his fellow crew members rarely glimpsed sunlight, surfacing once every eight hours. They were chased hard and often by depth charges, or exploding detection devices the enemy would use to find submarines, which busted light bulbs and popped cork until, as Campbell recalled, "you're so scared you don't know what to think." They joined with two other submarines to form a "wolf pack" for harassing Japanese war vessels and merchant ships.

They rescued many a pilot downed in "the drink," or the ocean, by Japanese forces, including a young Navy fighter pilot named George Herbert Walker Bush. The crew saw his plane flying overhead and tried to persuade him to land, to no avail; Bush was shot down and rescued by the next sub in the Pilotfish's unit.

And as if the enemy wasn't enough, the crew also had to contend with the volatile weather of the Pacific, including one typhoon that sent 50-foot waves crashing over the Pilotfish.

Despite these perils, Campbell remembers life on the sub as "deluxe" compared with that of other servicemen. While submariners feasted on breakfasts of steak and eggs, he said, Marines often slept in flooded tents. "You ate well; you had a dry bed," he said. "It was buddy-buddy. The officers made you behave and do right, but in the long run, they'd stand behind you. Yeah, it was the best."

Half a century later, Campbell and Britt spend many hours reminiscing with their submariner pals - "a brotherhood," Britt calls it - about life under the sea. The submarine veterans group and its Holland Club of 50-year sub veterans recognize this elite association by giving members gifts, including the mug Britt gave Campbell on Wednesday to honor his 50 years. As much as Campbell appreciates such tokens, the most meaningful one came last week in Groton.

"He got the best gift of all," said Britt's wife, Louise, nodding toward the kitchen table, where Campbell's new diploma lay. "That piece of paper right there."

Angela Pfeiffer can be reached online at apfeiffer@timesonline.com.

©Beaver County Times/Allegheny Times 2002