Elmer Belcher was the oldest son of Sarah Sizemore Belcher and Leonard Belcher. He joined the US Navy at the age of 14 in 1945 after his mother signed an affadavit in which she falsified his age as 18. He was a Fire Control Technician for 27 years, reaching the rank of Chief Petty Officer by his retirement in 1973. Having barely missed WWII, he was a veteran of Korea and Vietnam. In the early 1960s he volunteered for the nuclear submarine fleet where he served aboard both long range missile boats and fast attacks. He died of septicemia a few months after his 59th birthday.
Elmer was a hard person to know, even by his children. He was quiet and often stoic, which could be missinterpreted as apathy but was actually just his manner. He took a lot of his mannerisms from his mother. He was a hard working man, who had a difficult time adjusting to and navigating through the waters of civilian life but pushed himself to provide for his family. He worked for sometime in the electronics field as a technician for Litton Industries in Greenwood, Mississippi where he settled after his retirement from the navy.
Three weeks before his death he made a trip to Charleston, SC to see one his old subs, the SS Clamagore, and to participate in a reunion, which he had never done before. The sub was being made into a museum.
Elmer was a hard person to know, even by his children. He was quiet and often stoic, which could be missinterpreted as apathy but was actually just his manner. He took a lot of his mannerisms from his mother. He was a hard working man, who had a difficult time adjusting to and navigating through the waters of civilian life but pushed himself to provide for his family. He worked for sometime in the electronics field as a technician for Litton Industries in Greenwood, Mississippi where he settled after his retirement from the navy.
Three weeks before his death he made a trip to Charleston, SC to see one his old subs, the SS Clamagore, and to participate in a reunion, which he had never done before. The sub was being made into a museum.
Elmer Belcher was the oldest son of Sarah Sizemore Belcher and Leonard Belcher. He joined the US Navy at the age of 14 in 1945 after his mother signed an affadavit in which she falsified his age as 18. He was a Fire Control Technician for 27 years, reaching the rank of Chief Petty Officer by his retirement in 1973. Having barely missed WWII, he was a veteran of Korea and Vietnam. In the early 1960s he volunteered for the nuclear submarine fleet where he served aboard both long range missile boats and fast attacks. He died of septicemia a few months after his 59th birthday.
Elmer was a hard person to know, even by his children. He was quiet and often stoic, which could be missinterpreted as apathy but was actually just his manner. He took a lot of his mannerisms from his mother. He was a hard working man, who had a difficult time adjusting to and navigating through the waters of civilian life but pushed himself to provide for his family. He worked for sometime in the electronics field as a technician for Litton Industries in Greenwood, Mississippi where he settled after his retirement from the navy.
Three weeks before his death he made a trip to Charleston, SC to see one his old subs, the SS Clamagore, and to participate in a reunion, which he had never done before. The sub was being made into a museum.
Elmer was a hard person to know, even by his children. He was quiet and often stoic, which could be missinterpreted as apathy but was actually just his manner. He took a lot of his mannerisms from his mother. He was a hard working man, who had a difficult time adjusting to and navigating through the waters of civilian life but pushed himself to provide for his family. He worked for sometime in the electronics field as a technician for Litton Industries in Greenwood, Mississippi where he settled after his retirement from the navy.
Three weeks before his death he made a trip to Charleston, SC to see one his old subs, the SS Clamagore, and to participate in a reunion, which he had never done before. The sub was being made into a museum.
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