A Veteran I Was Fortunate To Know
Veterans Day Open Thread

A couple of months ago, Dave in Texas, Gabriel Malor, Kevlarchick and I were at the National World War II Memorial in D.C. There was a group of veterans there from Wisconsin who were visiting their memorial, and in speaking with one of them we learned that a member of their group who was scheduled to be on the trip had passed away just the week before. There weren't a lot of dry eyes at that moment.

The whole time we were there, I couldn't help but think of my wife's grandfather, who on December 7, 1941, was aboard the USS California (BB-44), the flagship of the Pacific fleet, which was moored on Pearl Harbor's "Battleship Row". He fought to keep her afloat as long as he could and then swam through a deadly mix of petroleum, seawater and fire after the order to abandon ship came.

He served throughout the war in the Pacific and then remained in the Far East during the postwar rebuilding. Returned to his native and beloved Texas after that and raised a family that I was lucky to become a part of. I miss that man.

posted by Andy at 03:35 PM

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