Plaques prove to be more than scrap - Discovery came from WWII sub memorial

 A collection of bronze plaques from a 1964 memorial has resurfaced in Norwich, more than a decade after they were removed from a national World War II memorial in Groton.

The pile of metal turned up last month at a local scrapyard. That’s where U.S. Navy veteran Steve Seder, owner of Shetucket Iron and Metal Co. in Norwich, first took notice. 

“We were loading some brass into the container when I saw this one memorial plaque and 49 smaller plaques,” Seder said.

Each plaque lists a submarine lost during World War II — from the Sealion, which was lost during an air raid at a base in the Philippines in 1941 to the Bullhead, lost sometime in 1945.

“I’m looking at these and saying, ‘I just can’t scrap these. These guys died for this.’ That’s just wrong,” Seder said.

Exactly how the plaques ended up in Norwich is still unknown, but Richard McGirr, of Groton, cleared up some of the mystery about why the plaques were discarded.

McGirr is the chairman of the National Submarine Memorial — East, and said information on too many of the original plaques was incorrect. It’s the reason they were replaced and why they were stored in a box, free for any veteran to take, until about four years ago, when they were discarded.

The old plaques were replaced in favor of the new ones now mounted at the National World War II Submarine Memorial — East on Bridge Street in Groton. The memorial, honoring more than 3,600 submariners lost in World War II, was rededicated in 1995.

“My committee got together and got them recast ... with all the right dates. They were scrap as far as we were concerned,” McGirr said. “All of the World War II vets said if we’re going to put this stuff up — make sure it’s right.”

Seder has agreed to donate the plaques to the U.S. Navy.

Stephen Finnigan, the supervisory curator at the Submarine Force Library, said they will be gladly accepted.

‘Historic find’

“This is an historic find,” Finnigan said. “They raised the money in 1964 to put this together. This is part of their heritage and history. We’re in a time that, within a short period of time, we will have lost most of out World War II submarine veterans.”

The original plaques were purchased and dedicated in June 1964 by the U.S. Submarine Veterans of World War II. They were attached to a granite slab, along with conning tower of the submarine USS Flasher on Route 12.