Joseph L Fairbanks

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Obituary- Fairbanks, Joseph 2

Joseph L. Fairbanks
Joseph Lewellyn Fairbanks, 80, Rossville, died Monday, January 29, 1996, Stormont-Vail Regional Medical Center, Topeka.
He was born November 27, 1915, in St. Clere, the son of Frank and Ethel Blaylock Fairbanks.
He spent most of his life near Emmett, and moved to Rossville in the 1970s. He worked for Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company in Topeka from 1948 until he retired in 1974.
He joined the U.S. Navy in 1934, and took his boot training in San Diego, Calif. His first assignment was aboard the U.S.S. Maryland. He went on his first cruise from the Pacific to the Atlantic. Later, in Bremerton, Wash., he applied for the submarine fleet. They nicknamed the old submarines they were using then, “The Sewer Pipes” because there was no air conditioning. He served on these for two years. From Bremerton, he went to the Panama Canal Zone. Most of his active duty was in the Pacific area. He was assigned to the U.S.S. Tamber, commissioned in New London, Conn. in 1940. He was at Midway when the war started. When he returned to the United States, he was put aboard a U-boat, a World War 1 type submarine. He was later assigned to the U.S.S. Flying Fish. He served on several submarines, one of which was the U.S.S. Halibut.
During the war, he returned to New London, Conn. and taught in the submarine school, where he stayed until 1944. It was while he was there that he met and married Helen Taffee. She died in 1970.
His longest stretch at sea was during the batde of Midway. All together, he spent twelve and one-half years overseas. The longest period of time between visits home was seven years. He retired from the Navy in 1948.
During the war, Joe’s mother was invited to San Francisco, Calif., where she christened the U.S.S. Chickashaw, while his dad witnessed the event. This honor was bestowed on them because they had six sons in the Navy at that time. A younger brother, Hugh, joined the Navy later. The six sons were: George, Joe, Carl [finished on other item]

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