Daniel Decker Jr

Daniel Delos Decker passed away at his home in Hailey on August 15th, 2012. He was 91 years old.

Dan was born on February 10, 1921 in Elmira, New York. He grew up in Auburn, N.Y., attended Auburn High School and was an Eagle Scout. Summers he'd help his grandfather at the family flour and feed mill. When he was very young, they delivered flour sacks by horse and carriage. Dan's family also spent much time at their rustic camp on Owasco Lake, swimming and canoeing.

In 1939, Dan enrolled at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland where he met his future wife, Jean Duncan. After graduating during June week 1942 - a year earlier because of the war - he and Jean eloped to Nevada that September. Then leaving Jean behind in San Francisco, he shipped out on the destroyer, USS Coghlan as Gunner Officer in the Aleutian Islands for the next fourteen months.

Upon his return, Dan had an opportunity to attend submarine school in Connecticut. They drove across country in their first used car to start married life in New London. A year later, Dan was off to Mare Island to help put in a new boat, Spadefish, in commission.

Dan spent the next two years from 1944-45 making five patrols on the submarine as a Gunner Officer in the conning tower. He received two silver stars, a bronze star, the presidential citation unit and several campaign medals.

As the war ended, Dan received orders to new construction, USS Sarda in Portsmouth, N.H. He was on the shakedown cruise as acting Exec, visiting ports in the Caribbean.

As a request for flight training came through, they moved to Dallas where Jean gave birth to son Daniel III. Training continued in Corpus Christie, Pensacola and finally Jacksonville.

After flight training Dan was assigned to Bermuda then Wales, as an exchange pilot for the Royal Air Force.

Their short tour in the UK ended with orders to the Naval Academy where Dan taught Chemistry during the school year and flight training for midshipmen during the summers.

In 1953, the family moved to Villefranche sur Mer halfway between Nice and Monte Carlo. This was the home port for the Sixth Fleet Command. Dan's duties were Aide and Flag Secretary to the Vice Admiral. They were in the Med to "show the flag" in our friendly nations. These included visits to Spain, Italy, Istanbul, Rhodes and Beirut. On board the fleet it was the "champagne Navy" entertaining visiting dignitaries and officials in return.

From the French Riviera, they went back to the States first to Jacksonville, Florida then to Brunswick, Maine where they adopted daughter Julie.
A three -year stint in Japan followed stateside living. Dan was Administrative Officer for the Commander Naval Bases in the Far East at the Naval Air Station in Atsugi. In his spare time, he organized a little league team integrating Japanese school boys with the American kids on base. Prior to this, the Japanese boys hadn't played with a real baseball and regulation field. The program was great for the kids and a successful cultural melding.

For Dan's final year in the military, he was transferred to Long Island, New York where he did research until his Port Washington retirement in 1964 as a Commander.

For the next five years, Dan headed a research team at Columbia University, designing anti-ballistic missiles. He attended night school earning his Master's Degree and most of a Doctorate degree in Industrial Engineering.

In 1969, when the research job was winding down, Dan moved the family to Island Park, Idaho to run Pond's lodge with his brother. He went to school to become a snowmobile mechanic. He and Jean ran the lodge for ten years, retiring in Island Park for a third time. They stayed another five years.

In 1985, Dan and Jean moved to Hailey to be closer to Danny and Julie.

Dan was an avid stamp and coin collector. He loved spending hours building furniture in his shop. He enjoyed reading history, science and politics, smoking his pipe and a good glass of bourbon. His poker group of over twenty years was a great Thursday night getaway. For years he drove to Las Vegas to meet friends to play blackjack. He loved watching sports, especially baseball, solving Sudoku and crossword puzzles and wrote essays on books he thought were important social commentaries.

Earlier in his life he played bridge and joined bowling leagues in many of the places they lived.

In 2006, author Stephen Moore contacted Dan and others to write a book about the Spadefish patrols. In 2010, a Japanese film crew traveled to Halley to interview Dan about an incident in which the Spadefish sunk one of the largest Japanese cargo ships with over 4500 troops on board. A documentary was started to tell this story including commentaries from two Japanese survivors.

Dan is survived by his wife, Jean, son Dan (Pam) and daughter Julie. He was preceded in death by his parents, brother and sister.

At Dan's request there will be no service. He was cremated on August 18th. In lieu of flowers, please consider making donations to Hospice & Palliative Care of the Wood River Valley, P. O. Box 4320, Ketchum, ID 83340.