Once again, we are becalmed. Is there no one out there with a question, a comment, a memory? I wonder how many of you agree with me that going into the Navy was, in a sense, in our time, a step up? We had just scraped through the lean years of the Great Depression and the certainty of being well fed in a warm place was a welcome change from what many of us we had known.
Re: Deafening Silence
Posted by Bill Nicholas on April 23, 2011, 10:34 am, in reply to "Deafening Silence"
yes what a thrill going in the Navy in 1942 and seeing my first big ship and actually being able to go aboard sail with it for two years. The GI Bill PL346 was a tremendous blll for me as i was able to get Degree in Agriculture.
Re: Deafening Silence
Posted by Steve Myers on April 22, 2011, 11:26 pm, in reply to "Deafening Silence"
I'll add a sort of germane poem to this thread - because, as the French say: "C'est plus le change, c'est la mem chose."
Unfinished Business
The boy returns from war to see A man he never knew he’d be; The bathroom mirror speaks its truth, Reflecting change – and loss of youth.
He took up arms, those years before - A promise took him off to war. This small town kid of subtle charm Has seen a world of fire and harm;
Has met the monsters, down in Hell, And now, in time, may choose to tell Or, may find silence as his friend, Who blocks the hurt that has no end.
But: time enough for war on pain – The family waits: he’s home again! An autumn sun, on fiery leaf Conceals the signs of compound grief,
The boy-man, hailed by friend and kin Has not yet won the war within.
032711
As well -
The Young Veterans
When we forged Pappy’s ‘X’ on the quivering page, And secretly scribbled ‘good-bye’, In the wavery note that we hastily wrote, Not a one of us thought we might die.
The rites we endured in the Passage to Man Are mem’ries – the most of them good, How little we knew! How quickly we grew! As our Chiefs saw things go as they should.
With the movement of years so much changes in flux, And the good and the bad pass away – In a dead calm our spanker droops down as we anchor, And dreams whisper ‘round at the quay,
We were quite old enough for ‘Anchors Away,’ But too young to drink to the foam, And an item of note: we were too young to vote – But might freely on battlefields roam.
So, Shipmate, take this for a lesson of worth, After combat, the rules seem a pain: It’s damned hard – no fun - to fight, but when done Be treated as kids once again….
Posted by Roy Brown on April 22, 2011, 8:37 pm, in reply to "Deafening Silence"
Fran, You'll never know how much it meant to me to enter the US Navy! I could discuss it for some time but I will make a very painful and long story short. Until I was six years old I lived in Anderson Indiana with my Mom and Dad who were both deaf. (That also made the depression a bit more difficult for us)! At age six I had the old-fashioned measles and whooping cough at the same time and my immune system was about zero. Consequently I contracted Tuberculosis. I had a baby brother who was one year old and the doctors said that I must be placed in a sanatarium or somehow away from the baby because he would surely contract TB also. A great aunt and unle who lived in the tiny town of Kennard, Indiana offered to care for me until I was over the TB. They had never had children and were each 54 years old. The ordeal of getting well then commenced. Two hours of rest every morning AND afternoon, plenty of fresh air, sunshine, etc., etc. The TB was gone after three years! I then faced harsh RESTRICTIONS on what I could do. Exercise was very restricted. I couldn't play basketball, etc. (I'll shorten the rest of the story). You may understand when I enlisted NONE of my folks thought I could possibly pass the physical exam!!!(Ha, Ha, Ha)!!! I DID and the rest is History. (Boot Camp was extremely difficult but I never let it show and kept up with the big jocks)! So...your can see I was so happy to SUCCEED in something that was meaningful! OK Fran, does that break the silence enough!!! I'm not whining...just explaining why entering the US Navy really meant something to this former,"sickly" boy. God Bless all. Roy Brown
Re: Deafening Silence
Posted by Francis Kent on April 22, 2011, 10:35 pm, in reply to "Re: Deafening Silence"
I was sure I could count on you to break the silence, Roy, even if it took a day or two. You were lucky, or blessed, just to survive your childlhood. Tuberculosis was a very serious matter at that time; although I was never stricken with that, I had all the usual childhood ailments then in vogue. I had two sisters and a brother, all older than I, and what illness one didn't bring home from school, another did. Often there was a red "quarantined" notice on our front door.
What the Navy taught me was a sense of personal value, which as the youngest of four I had never suspected. Every now and then, on the midwatch in the radio shack, it struck me that I was the sole link between my ship and all its people and the rest of the world. A heavy responsibility.
I didn't know about Anderson. That brings us closer together, because I grew up in Gary.
