Vet reunited with ship from 71 years ago at Fisherman's Wharf

KGO logo
Thursday, December 1, 2016
Vet is reunited with ship from 71 years ago
An emotional reunion took place when a local veteran was reunited with the ship he served on at San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf.

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- An emotional reunion took place on the high seas today between a man and a ship.

We were at Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco as 93-year-old Spencer Stimler of Southern California got a look at the USS Pampanito, a submarine where he served as a radio technician from June of 1944 until the end of WWII, Sept. 1945.

It's believed that he's one of only two men from the ship's crew who are still alive.

"It looks pretty darn nice," said Stimler. "The overhaul made her look pretty. it wasn't all that pretty during the war."

Stimler says the highlight of his patrol on the Pampanito was when it picked up survivors after the US sank a ship that happened to have English and Australian prisoners of war aboard.