Megan Grabel and Kevin Graney.
Hi everyone; it’s Kevin. Today is Monday, April 22 (date recorded). On April 10 we marked the 61st anniversary of the loss of USS Thresher. Thresher had completed an extended post shakedown availability at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine. On April 10, 1963, during her initial dive to test depth, the nuclear-powered submarine was lost with 129 U.S. Navy sailors, Portsmouth Naval shipyard and civilian company employees on board. One of the sailors was Machinist’s Mate First Class John Edward Bell. His granddaughter, Megan Grabel, joined Electric Boat June of 2023, and she’s with me today to talk about how the Thresher tragedy has affected her family.
So Megan, welcome to the podcast, and thank you for sharing your family’s very personal story with us.
Thank you very much Kevin, I really appreciate the opportunity to talk about this.
So since you’ve been here at EB for about 10 months or so, tell us a little bit about you and what you do here at EB.
I started last June. I joined the ship signature group, we do acoustics, we get to touch pretty much every aspect of all the boats. It’s a pretty interesting group. I am the program rep in the department. I keep track of schedules, cost, financials, I assist managers with any needs they have financial-wise, I talk to the program offices.
I grew up in Groton; I was born in this area. I lived half my life in Groton, the other half I lived out in Stonington. My mom no longer lives in this area; she’s now down in the Virginia Beach area. My step dad, he worked for EB for over 20 years, they met up here, he was a pipefitter. He now works for Valkyrie down in Newport News. My father-in-law also worked for EB for over 45 years; he just retired two years ago. I grew up with a lot of connections with EB; I had a lot of friends in high school, a good two dozen of them are at EB right now.
It’s something that’s so unique and very special about this area and the connections that everybody has to our company.
I moved down south with my boys; I moved back in 2017. This has always been home so I wanted to move closer again. I came back with hopes of getting a job with Electric Boat. I stayed with Charter Oak for almost six years. I met quite a few connections; I was also working at the Mystic Marriott. A lot of events for EB are at the Mystic Marriott.
You worked the Thresher commemoration dinner we did last year, right?
I had the honor of working it; I was very excited. I was telling all my co-workers that night how excited I was to be there and explaining my connection that my grandfather was on the ship. I kind of just stood in the back and took everything in. I was very happy. That night I went home and told my family about it; I told my grandmother and my mom about it, that I got to be a part of that, one way or another.
That was a great commemoration and a great opportunity for us to renew our commitment to your grandfather’s legacy. So welcome to the team, first of all; glad to have you. I understand that we found out about your connection to Thresher because you were an usher at the Idaho christening that just happened last month.
I was; it was quite the opportunity. Someone had reached out and asked if I wanted to usher, and of course I jumped right on that. It was the first christening I’ve ever been a part of, or actually seen a submarine up that close and saw the sheer size of that. It was absolutely incredible.
At the christening I met Michael Holdsworth, and we had started talking and I mentioned my grandfather was on the Thresher. He was a little taken away by it. Then I also mentioned how while that I’m here, one of my goals is to be involved, after I learned how much we do is based on the loss of the Thresher to keep submariners safe going forward. I want to be part of any kind of ceremonies marking the anniversaries going forward. Michael connected me to the Communications team.
And here we are. The loss of the Thresher and the 129 souls on board, including your grandfather, is something that drove the creation of SUBSAFE, the first of three special emphasis programs. Every year on April 10th we honor the memories of those lost and remind ourselves what we owe submariners and their families—that safety and quality will always be our top priorities in designing, building and maintaining submarines. If any of our newer employees listening are not familiar, please see this year’s recounting of the Thresher tragedy on Homeport.
So let’s talk about your grandparents. I saw a beautiful wedding photo of your grandmother and grandfather; they were quite a happy young couple at that time. So tell us about their life together.
My grandfather was born in Toccoa, Georgia, in 1936. He joined the Navy in 1958. Before joining the Navy, he did work on other ships. He also worked in the automobile industry, he was a patrolman for the Georgia forestry and he was a member of the National Guard. Then he moved over to the Navy; he ended up meeting my grandmother, Carrie, when he came to submarine school in 1961. She lived in Mystic; she still lives in Mystic in the same house. They connected, were married shortly after that with the picture that I’ve shared with everyone. Every time I look at it, it gets to me. My grandmother is absolutely gorgeous in the picture. They just look so happy. They’re young, they have their whole entire life ahead of them with no clue what was about to come. Every time I see it, no matter how many times I see it, it definitely touches me.
Wedding photo of Carrie Bell and John Edward Bell
When I was telling my grandmother that I was going to the Idaho christening, she got quiet for a second. She said, “that’s crazy, because we actually lived in Idaho. So it’s strange that the first boat you saw while working at EB was the Idaho.” My grandfather actually went out there to the nuclear reactor training facility and my grandmother went with him before they came back this way. Then he was in Portsmouth where the Thresher was coming out of; he was back and forth between Connecticut and Portsmouth. That was just a weird coincidence with the Idaho.
I understand your mom was pretty young when your grandfather was lost.
Yes, she was seven months old. They had gotten married, just had a newborn baby, they had their entire life ahead of them, their family started. It definitely changed everything in the moment. My grandmother was shopping that day, she was on base at the Commissary, and my great-grandmother got the call first at her house. They were trying to get in touch with my grandmother and they found her while she was out shopping and broke the news to her that Thresher was lost. Everyone was meeting up and they wanted to talk to her and explain what was going on, brief her on the situation.
It’s heartbreaking; it’s unimaginable to think about what your grandmother went through, on that day, and moving forward with her life. How did this affect her and your family?
It definitely affected everything going forward. That moment in time, it definitely froze for her; she’s never fully recovered from it. I can’t imagine going through something…any of the other families involved. It was a fork in the road; it changed the path for my mom. I was talking to my mom the other day; she still wonders how different her life would have been if she had a complete family. I asked her how she felt as a child growing up and it got to her. She’d see her friends and they had that father/daughter relationship and they’d do things or their fathers would be involved in school, and she never got the chance to have that. My grandmother is in her 80s. She still lives here. Bringing up this whole thing, it was definitely a Band-Aid getting torn off again. The emotion is still there for her. She never remarried. She dated; she actually had another daughter whose last name she changed to the same as my grandfather. She’s held onto her and they’ve just kind of stayed to themselves. My grandmother is afraid of loss; she doesn’t ever want to feel that again. That’s been a rough thing for our family. She’s held on and almost clammed herself into her little shell in her house.
I know I speak for everyone here at Electric Boat, that is a heartbreaking story, something that I think all of us think about on a routine basis as we come to work and recognize the importance of the work we do. Especially in protecting our sailors and their families. Everyone here at Electric Boat, we are sorry for the loss of your grandfather and the losses suffered by all of the Thresher families.
Thank you very much. It means a lot to me that I’m able to share my family’s story. It’s hard to put in exact words the emotion that’s there and how it does affect generations later. My mom…it breaks my heart that all the memories she has of her father are just in a box. There’s photos, Thresher newspaper clippings, a Thresher book that was given to the families—everything fits in a box. But I’m beyond grateful, and I know my family is beyond grateful to be able to talk about this and make sure the Thresher is never forgotten and my grandfather is never forgotten. And for everyone to understand the effect that a tragedy like this has on all of the families involved and that it doesn’t just stop that day.
I’m thankful for you sharing the story and recognize the impact that’s had on your family. But I think in some ways maybe you’ve found a bit of a family here at Electric Boat given our sense of community and the common purpose I think we share as a team. Rest assured that the Thresher will never be forgotten here at Electric Boat.
So thank you Megan, for joining the EB team and for your willingness to share this difficult story. I can only imagine the painful emotions that come up, but please know your words have a great impact on everyone who hears your story and on the work we all do every day to ensure our nation’s submariners come home safely to their families.
Thanks everyone; we’ll talk again soon.
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