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Edwird -> My uncle went on this boat trip, and ... (8/22/2016 2:32:52 AM)
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It didn't turn out well.
He was on one of the first ships hovering around an island in the South Pacific (the crews' ignorance of position, to this day, per instructions, which is why he could never tell us exactly where), two weeks or so after Pearl Harbor.
Somebody on watch heard a noise, notified Captain. Captain instructs deck to turn on searchlight and aim to the noise. Noise is then immediately obvious as coming from from a Japanese war ship ~ 500 yards away. As it turns out, the Jap ship had heard a noise too, and was just waiting for somebody to do something stupid, which the US Captain happily obliged in doing with providing the spotlight for perfect target.
A minute later, there is a US cruiser in midst of destruction, with no hope of giving meaningful response. "Only" three sailors died, all the rest were swimming to the nearest island on the back side of the destruction. It wasn't too far away, but my uncle said that the swimmers helping the non-swimmers made it take two hours.
They all thought for sure that the Island was inhabited by the Japanese, but in fact it was empty at the time. Imagine the human mind vs. the unknown, though. In complete dark, soaking wet, no military arms or defense. He said they spent the night in absolute terror, -knew- they were going to die, etc.
Three days later, a US escort ship came and got them. My uncle did the rest of the war, in the thick of it, survived, etc.
Got married at 62, first child at 63. Daughter got her master's degree and has had job as child counselor at a school ever since, was 33 when dad died, not unlike many others, not much out of the ordinary, other than having a grandad for a dad. And, boy he treated her just as that. Quite a wonder she wasn't a spoiled brat, but she absolutely wasn't, and never was, to her credit.
He survived bouts with alcoholism (from which he was long past at this juncture) to get to the point of providing society with such a valuable contributor.
-Does everybody or anybody have to die to be considered a hero, or whether they were in a war or not, or in the military at all or not?
How many people do or have done many heroic things, but weren't in the Army or Navy or Marines or Air Force when they did it?
I see more heroism out of some homeless people than I do out of he numerous chickenshits I run across elsewhere in everyday life.
I'm not asking for prayers from or for anybody. That's not the family way, here.
Mere acknowledgement that some people (outside my or your family) have still to get through struggles on a daily basis that most of us could never imagine.
I don't ask for a vet card to throw whatever two bills or sometimes a fiver to the guy or occasionally gal sitting on the cardboard in the alley or on a public sidewalk.
Be thankful for your own somewhat sane head, which you were born with; quit your bitching about those who never had a chance.
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