This Military Service Page was created/owned by
Cheryl Baimbridge-Family
to remember
Baimbridge, Horace (Joe), LCDR USN(Ret).
If you knew or served with this Sailor and have additional information or photos to support this Page, please leave a message for the Page Administrator(s) HERE.
Contact Info
Home Town Morrow Bay
Last Address 10603 Raydell Drive Houston
Date of Passing Jan 02, 2009
Location of Interment Houston National Cemetery (VA) - Houston, Texas
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On January 2nd, 2009, at 0845 CST, Joe Baimbridge slipped his lines to this mortal coil and set his course for that eternal harbor where he dropped his anchor for the last time.
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The following is an obituary or legacy, as it is called in the Houston Chronicle, and I think I prefer that term better:
H. "Joe" Baimbridge
LCDR H. H. "JOE" BAIMBRIDGE Ret. passed away on Jan. 2, 2009 in Houston, TX. Born on Oct. 23, 1925 to Bill & Ruby in Warren, AR. Joe was preceded in death by parents; 3 brothers; first wife, Mattie & daughter, Stacy Busard & is survived by his loving wife Diana; daughters Cheryl Juarez, Melinda & Rebecca Baimbridge; sons, Wayne, Clay & Scott Baimbridge; 3 brothers; 3 sisters; 10 grandchildren; 7 great grandchildren. When his country called, Joe answered by joining the United States Navy, achieving the rank of Lt. Commander and serving in WWII, Korea and the Vietnam Wars. Visitation - Mon, Jan 5, 2009 from 6-8pm. Funeral Service - Tue Jan 6, 2009 10 am at Crowder in Webster & Burial - 1:15 pm at Houston National Cemetery.
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His full name was Horace Haywood Baimbridge.� During his first assignment on a ship in the Navy someone called him "Joe" ... which was sort of like calling someone "Bud" or "Pal" back then, but the nickname stuck and thereafter it was how everyone knew him.
Joe also became known as Diver Joe or DJ on NTWS because the thread he was most active on had three Joes, and to identify each a modifier was added to their "Joe".
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My intentions are to leave, intact, his words on this Profile, written by his own hand and in a style that represents his personality.�
It is a singular honor that I have been allowed to be the caretaker of his Profile.� For which I am deeply humble.
In checking over my comments with the pictures, I keep referring to my "Second Family". Maybe that needs to be explained. The day after my retirement, my wife of 25 years, announced that she was "divorcing me", because she "didn't want to be married anymore". Our divorce became final on November 1, 1971 (just one month after my retirement). In the spring of 1972, I started dating a college student who was 20 years younger than me. We were not going to get serious and certainly not going to have any children if we did. She was 27, I was 47. We were married on June 15, 1972 and our first of five children arrived on March 5, 1973. She is the one that I refer to as "My Deceased Daughter". My ex-wife, whom I had met at NAS Corpus Christi, Texas, where she worked at the 'Gedunk Stand". Passed away in April of 2003. That 'first child' of my 'second family' passed away in October of that same year. No, I'm not superstitious! Well...maybe...just a tad? Nah! My second wife, Diana, and I have now been married 35 years, and we had *five* children. Four of them still with us, the youngest turned 20 yesterday.
Best Moment Reporting for duty aboard a clean, sharp ship of the Submarine Force. The Executive Officer was Commander Richard "Dick" O'Kane, MOH recipient and the top submarine Captain in WWII. Am outstanding officer and person. I am/was an admirer and "buff" of WWII submarine operations (I was turned down for submarine duty in boot camp because of slight hearing loss). Commander O'Kane saw and respected my background. He made a 'tour of the ship every morning (as I did also...topside) and after awhile, we combined our tour and as we did we became lifelong friends. He was a sailor's sailor. I knew many who served under him, both officer and enlisted men and he was held in the highest regard by all. No other person in the Navy had a greater influence on me and my career. He was the first to encourage me to apply for a commission. His boat, the USS TANG was sunk by by an erratic torpedo...the last one he had, in a stern tube. He was under attack by a Japanese destroyer, in the Formosa Straits in October of 1944. The torpedo ran in a circle and hit them in the after torpedo room. There were only nine survivors and I subsequently served with and under all of them. CDR O'Kane was a POW in a secret camp near Yokohama where nearly all submariners were held (un reported). Among them Marine ace, Pappy Boyington. I can't count the number of men I have known who were at the prison...including some of the guards and one of the interagators. Three of them were my CO's after I became an officer and because of the conversations I had had with CDR O'Kane, had no problem in talking to me as if I had been there with them. I heard so many stories from them, I almost felt that I was. Food was the No. 1 item of discussion and one of them, who was later my CO when I was XO of the USS GREENLET (ASR-10) had a little stub of a pencil and would pick up little scraps of paper and write down the 'recipes' the other POW's would quote about stuff their mothers 'used to make'. Years later, while sipping saki, we decided to try some of them. Unfortunately we were drinking faster than we were cooking, so we ran out of 'steam' before finishing the project, which was taking the old shredded wheat bisquets, frying them to a golden brown in *real butter*, then slicing them open and spreading them *thickly* with peanut butter, then dipping them in hot chocholet melted in a double boiler. We did whip up a batch at a later time. Not bad, not bad. My friends in the submarines were the best and life long. Many years later, my 'detailer' informed me that I was never going to get out of the submarine force. I had wangled orders to the Underwater Swim School in Key West, Florida, which he immediately canceled. His statement was that I knew more about submarines than anybody on either coast and that I was "too valuable" to be released. Maybe he was right. His last statement to me was..."I'm guaranting you lieutenant commander." Okay, okay! Poor guy was killed in a motorcycle accident six months later (after I was already back in COMSUBPAC)
Worst Moment I just don't ever remember any "worst momments" in any assignments. There were always ups and downs, but all a part of daily routine and operations.