Master and Commander
Posts: 1502
Location: NE Florida | Subject: Thursday Story (no obits)
https://www.facebook.com/ussvi.eternalpatrol/
https://ussvi.org/membership/eternal-patrol (USSVI members only)
The above link goes to the USSVI (United States Submarine Veterans, Inc.) Facebook page where their members who have gone on “Eternal Patrol” are noted.
I’ll keep my work here going, trying to get others who were not USSVI members. You’re encouraged to look there as well as here! Obviously, there’ll be some I miss and some I duplicate.
I couldn’t find an obit today, so I post this submariner’s story:
Just about every morning, Navy veteran Bob “Bottom Gun” McCollum would bring a bottle of water and some towels up to Mt. Soledad National Veterans Memorial. He’d clean and polish the honor walls and make sure the wall caps were shiny.
There are nearly 7,000 black granite plaques on 18 curved honor walls telling the stories of veterans. McCollum would walk around the San Diego memorial and find the walls that needed shining. He got to know the heroes honored there and would tell their stories to visitors who stopped to talk with him.
He’s been doing that since he became a volunteer caretaker at the memorial 13 years ago when he was 77.
McCollum, who is turning 90 this week, retired from his volunteer post two weeks ago.
A community celebration for his 90th birthday and his decades of service to the country and the community will be held Friday at Mt. Soledad National Veterans Memorial.
McCollum’s service began when he enlisted in the U.S. Navy Reserves in 1953 when he was going into his senior year in high school. He was 17. His mother had to sign permission for him to join. McCollum went on to active duty and served 14 years in the submarine force during the Cold War and the Vietnam War.
He worked as a launcher technician in the nuclear submarine force. “I made sure the missile launching system was in working order,” said McCollum, who later became chief torpedoman.
He completed 15 strategic deterrent patrols of 60 days each aboard three ballistic missile submarines, the USS John Marshall, USS Sam Houston, and USS Casimir Pulaski, which added up to 2 1/2 years underwater.
He got his nickname “Bottom Gun” for his submarine work. “I wasn’t Tom Cruise from Top Gun, I was Bottom Gun,” he said.
McCollum spent three years teaching at a submarine instructor training school in New London, Conn. He was later selected to serve as an elite Navy recruiter in Europe and New England before retiring as a chief petty officer in 1981.
Afterward, McCollum worked for the Department of Veterans Affairs’ National Cemetery Administration for 24 years, starting as a clerk-typist and going up the ranks, serving as director and administrator at national cemeteries and retiring in 2005 as regional director in charge of 25 national cemeteries in 10 states.
After his wife of 47 years, Judy, died in 2005, he came to San Diego. Following a stint on the Senior Volunteer patrol, he offered his services at Mt. Soledad.
“When I was stationed at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, we used to do over 50 formal cemeteries a year for everyone from the Consul General of Australia to the Emperor of Japan. So with my extensive background in ceremonies and the planning, I thought that the Mt. Soledad Veterans Memorial might like to have me as a volunteer,” McCollum said.
He started as a docent and went on to be the Mt. Soledad memorial caretaker.
“I come in the morning and pick up trash and check that the porta-potties are clean and then start cleaning the walls. I want visitors to find everything clean and shiny. I want them to come away with a good feeling,” said McCollum, who has a plaque at Mt. Soledad, along with his sons Scott McCollum, who served in the Navy, and Timothy McCollum, who served in the Air Force. “I love going up there and being with our nation’s heroes.”
Twice McCollum was named the Mt. Soledad Veteran of the Year, in 2020 and 2024. During the pandemic, he continued to come up to Mt. Soledad to make sure everything was sparkling clean.
“Bob was passionate about ensuring the appearance of memorial grounds and black granite walls are always spotless, clean and polished at all times,” said Neil O’Connell, executive director of the Mt. Soledad Memorial Association. “Regardless of the weather, he would show up to perform his duties. And he possessed an enormous amount of historical knowledge about our Veteran Honor Plaques. His dedication and passion are an inspiration for our entire team.”
At the end of 2021, he received a Lifetime Achievement Award Certificate and a Letter of Congratulations signed by the President of the United States, recognizing his milestone of over 4,000 hours of community volunteer service.
“I enjoyed every minute,” he said. “I’d do it all again if I were called to do it.”
Sometimes when McCollum helps people find a plaque, he tells stories along the way. He talks mostly about the service of those honored at the memorial, stories he knows so well from polishing the honor walls everyday. And when they get to the plaque, he often says, “If the good Lord should decide to recall me tomorrow, I will slide into heaven and say—Thank you Lord, it was a helluva ride down there.”
The ceremony to honor McCollum is at 10 a.m. Friday at Mt. Soledad National Veterans Memorial. It will feature an opening address by Neil O’Connell, executive director of the Mt. Soledad Memorial Association. San Diego city officials and military leaders are expected to attend. The public is invited.
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Thursday Story (no obits)
Robert F. 'Bottom Gun' McCollum.jpg (188KB - 18 downloads)