As all military veterans and their family members know, being home to spend time together during a holiday is never guaranteed.  I can attest to this having missed several holidays while serving in the Navy.   One of these was Christmas in 1977.  It was during a long deployment at sea, and I described it to my wife Terrie in one of several letters that I wrote to her while I was away.  My Christmas letter was particularly interesting because it described how our sub’s captain, Douglas Volgenau, arranged for a special Christmas celebration for the crew while we were several hundred feet under the ocean.  In the crew’s mess he had Christmas music playing, special foods and deserts available, and he personally came around to each watchstation on-board to make sure he spoke to each and every crew member to wish them a merry Christmas. 

He was an extraordinary captain.  Sadly he died in 2014 from ALS.  I was so fortunate that our paths crossed.  You don’t often meet someone of Captain Volgenau’s caliber.   He had served on a destroyer and three other submarines before becoming Captain of the hunter-killer fast attack nuclear submarine USS Billfish (SSN-676).  While on Billfish, he oversaw the performance of numerous sensitive military patrols, some of a covert nature as part of America’s Cold War against Russia.  The movie “Hunter Killer” starring Gerard Butler provides a vivid picture (but a somewhat outlandish plot) of what we incurred on board the actual Billfish submarine.  After leaving his command on Billfish, Captain Volgenau had an illustrious career.  Some of his accomplishments included commanding the Naval Nuclear Power School at Mare Island, California, served as Senior Member of the Pacific Fleet Nuclear Propulsion Examining Board, commanded Submarine Squadron 10 in New London, Connecticut, and served as the Commander of the submarine research center referred to as the Naval Underwater Systems Center.  He even spent 20 years as an outside expert for the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board which oversees the safety of all Department of Energy nuclear installations.  Just to name a few of his accomplishments.  He retired from the Navy as a Rear Admiral after having served his country with unboundless energy and passion.  A truly great man to be remembered. PS.  To read the actual Christmas letter I sent my wife, you can find it in “The Real Night Order Book”, a book I wrote about the U.S. Navy’s two submarines named Billfish.  Happy holidays everyone !!