November 11, 2006
Happy Veterans Day
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7th Generation Floridian
- Aikäne
- "Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself." - Leo Tolstoy
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8 comments:
A great big thank you to your dad, from the bottom of my heart
Kuz' you know how I feel about your father. I still have his pictures and looking at them always brings a smile to my face.
Bless you both, dear heart.
"Gone but never forgotten." Happy Birthday George and thank you for all that you gave.
Thanks for your comments. My dad will appreciate them.
My father was somewhere near yours around that same time. Dad was a Marine.
I can't thank my dad anymore, so please do me a favor and thank your dad once again for me.
Chuck, I'm sorry about your dad. I know the WW II vets are passing by the thousands now, and I am blessed to still have my dad.
Here's a little more about his service:
Boot camp was at Camp Breckinridge, Kentucky, with further training and staging at Schofield Barracks, Oahu, and the island of Kauai.
Because his specialty was needed by the Navy, he was assigned to an LCI ship as a light mortar crewman (607) firing 60 mm explosives or toxic gas. The smaller ships were fast and maneuverable, and the light mortar explosives were effective in supporting the larger battle ships. For eight months, he was in the areas of New Guinea, Saipan, and the Philippines, and his ship also escorted prisoners from the Phillipines to Hawaii. At war's end, he served three months at Osaka before separation.
I would be interested in hearing from others.
Camp Breckinridge was about an hour from where my dad grew up. He left home at 16, and used his brother's birth certificate to join the Marines. They didn't catch him until he was 19 and a Sgt. (Of course, they thought he was 22.) They busted him down and kicked him out. His CO's response was to get him a job off base. They waited three months and he rejoined. In a year he was back to Sgt. (By then there was a war on and my Dad was a very good Marine so they weren't sticklers.)
He was stationed in the Pacific. I know most of the time he worked as a fireman. Details are sketchy because he met my mom after Korea and he didn't like to talk a lot about the war.
I know he became disillusioned with the Marines during Korea and he left. He met my mom after that. I was a "late in life" baby and by the time I was interested in history he was gone.
Interesting... my brother, who grew up in Florida, now lives in Kentucky.
As I was growing up, my dad, like yours, never dwelt on his service, and he was never impressed with men who did - including veteran groups who claimed to speak for veterans on political issues.
Much of what I know came from asking questions after I became interested in genealogy in recent years, and luckily he was still around to ask. I have since visited Schofield Barracks, Ford Island, etc. Maybe one day I'll see Kawai (which the Army boys called "Cow Eye"). That should be a real chore for me, but one I really should do for research purposes. :-)
i just learned that my dad was in company "L" and was assigned to the Navy to go into combat aboard an LCI(L)because he had special training in the use of chemical mortars. He was a mortar squad leader aboard the LCI(L). the ship he was assigned to was #659. i have written Jim and we have exchanged much information. Based on what i have read in this blog, i wouldn't be surprised if all our dads knew each other or were at least in combat together. thanks to them, we are here and we will remember their lives.
"A Fellow Traveler"
Mike Deutsch
Long Island, NY
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