24 years ago...in late October...Daddy died. He was 59.
I don't know how...but dad squeezed 3 lives into his brief 59 years. He grew up on a farm the 8th out of 16 children....born just days before the Great Depression hit. He was making a man's wage at the age of 12....and working hours none of us today would accept.
When America entered World War 2 ...he tried to join the Navy at age 15. When his parents found out....they showed up at recruit training/boot camp and took him home. They already had their older sons enlisted....and they needed someone to run the large farm. Being the only male left that was old enough to do the job...he was sent home and promised....that he could return to the Navy when he turned 17.
He did just that on his 17th birthday and soon found himself in the Pacific after Japan was bombed...going to islands with Japanese soldiers not knowing the war had ended with their defeat. (although the war had ended, the fighting didn't stop in some places since they had no way of knowing of the surrender)
He was sent to South Korea with the UN ...weeks after North Korea invaded in 1950....just months before he was set to get out of the Navy. He was one of a very few survivors out of 100's when his convoy was hit in the mountains by surprise. He was also at the Battle of Inchon on a mine sweeper. (He was sent to Korea 3 times during this conflict)
He was NUKED twice, once at the Bikini Islands and again at Johnson Island.
He tracked a USSR submarine up to the Bering Strait and had to wait 30 days without backup of fuel or food (which was rationed so they could survive) and watched them test launch a new missile system...and almost drifted into Russian waters into the arms of the Soviet fleet because dad's boat was running out of fuel. (the USA fuel ship arrived just in time)
He was one of the men who ran a Brigg in Virginia.
He ran a power plant in Alaska.
He was on the sole rescue boat that arrived when a passenger airplane bound to Hawaii had to make an emergency landing in the water. As the last passenger stepped onto the boat...the plane slipped under the water....no casualties.
He worked with Naval Intelligence getting a crazy Captain off of a ship in L.A....and later helped bring a gang of thugs ... that would beat the African American and Jewish sailors... when the ships docked at the harbor...to justice. (he was hand picked for both jobs)
He brought down another group who had been drafted into the Navy during the war...and they found they could make a lot of money ripping sailors off or doing favors...while enlisted.
He was the Naval Fire Chief while stationed in San Diego and won a friendly competition against the Los Angeles civilian fire fighters. (and was dunked in the ocean)
He was picked to build and test the newer mine sweepers since they had proved themselves invaluable to the efforts of the war....er....several wars.
He was also the Chief Engineman on a destroyer years later...and helped make the ship more fuel efficient. His idea was later implemented on other ships.
He caught a 14 foot Tiger shark while on a shorter boat in the Navy as well...a world record then. (What started as a practical joke...didn't stay one when they actually caught one and HAD to real it in to prove why they had been towed away from the ship earlier)
His 19th year...he was sent to Vietnam....with a hand picked crew to bring Special Forces up the rivers. At times, there was hand to hand combat on his little boat and it was "kill or be killed". He almost lost his thumb when they received fire...but laughed when the purple heart was offered. He knew...unless you lost a limb or use of it...there was no honor in receiving it.
When he retired from the Navy at age 37, he started the third phase of his life as a civilian. Armed with the skills and education he had from the Navy...he worked for the copper mines of Arizona and went face to face with the corrupt teamsters union there in the 1970's. (after 3 wars, 2 nukes, 4 daughters and my mother...they didn't scare him at all)
He made 2 inventions that the mines took ownership of...since he made them on their property. He was respected by his fellow co-workers and turned down a foreman job because he knew the next guy under him...could use the extra money. (he never knew Dad had been offered the job first)
After 20 years of dodging bullets, sharks, mines and nukes....he set his sights on FUN.
Dad bought a boat, a motorcycle, firearms, Cb's, a truck, camper, SUV, and made sure his family was there to enjoy all of it. Every weekend...we explored the desert and took trips to Colorado in the summer. Dad was generous with his money and his time. All mom had to do was ask for something and Dad would save for it. He was the sole bread winner of the family because he wanted mom to be there for us...his children. There was nothing we did without.
When the copper mines closed....he became an instructor for the Tech School in the nearby city. He taught 300 young men...not only a skill...but how to be MEN. He was given the convicts, the Hell's Angels, ones who were headed for jail...to turn around. He showed them by example...a STRONG man serves his family. Only COWARDS abuse women and children. Only SCUM ignores them or refuses to provide for them. He stopped the abuse they took out on their families and made them productive members of society. He was the father they never had.
When Dad died....it was unexpected. He was hit by a massive heart attack. I called for the ambulance and my mom held him in her arms until it arrived. He kept saying..."It's too late...I'm dying".
And it was true. He was dying...and he knew it.
While in the ambulance...he went home to the Lord.
It's not easy seeing a good man die. Not easy at all. But we all will die...someday. I was fortunate that my father gave so much in his life...that even today I'm reaping rewards from it. Dad loved his family more then anything in the world. He treated mom like a queen and made sure his daughters would be able to survive out there...in the cruel world. He taught us to live life to the fullest and not sit on the sidelines. He showed us through his love and tender care of our mother....what our own husbands should be like. He gives my sons...something to live up too.
At his funeral...which was filled with grown men he had taught... openly sobbed and told me how much Dad had meant to them. He believed in them. He gave them a purpose and challenged them to meet it. When dad died...he just didn't leave a grieving family...he left a grieving community....a grieving school.
But that's how a GREAT MAN is remembered at his passing.
To me...he was just Dad.
To them...he was a hero.
When my sisters and I talk about dad...everyone thinks he was 6 foot, a brute of a man. He was never over 140 lbs..and just 5'8. He was stronger then the muscle man....he was larger then life. He had a strong moral compass without being arrogant about it. He had grown up dirt poor and was never going to rub his earned financial stability in the faces of those still "trying to make it". Although we were one of the richest families in the area...you would have never known it. Money was something we never talked about...and never looked down upon to those who didn't have it. You can't judge someone for what they don't have. You judge those who have it...and misuse it
Dad never talked about his Navy career. Those days were over in his mind...and he was always a man who looked FORWARD. No sense in living Glory Days from yesteryear...when you can MAKE glorious days...AHEAD. You would have never found Dad in a bar with old Navy buddies talking about "the good ole days"......because he was making better days for us...in the present.
Although I miss dad...and ache from the fact that my boys didn't have the chance to know him....I am at ease with his death. We all die....there's no getting around it.
He went out the way he wanted too. Suddenly...after working a full day's work. He and mom had been loving right to the end and when he left this world...I don't think he had many regrets.
He did exactly what he was suppose to do.
Take care of his family and SHOWED it with ACTION.
That's a rare man. That's a REAL MAN.
That was MY DAD.
I don't know how...but dad squeezed 3 lives into his brief 59 years. He grew up on a farm the 8th out of 16 children....born just days before the Great Depression hit. He was making a man's wage at the age of 12....and working hours none of us today would accept.
When America entered World War 2 ...he tried to join the Navy at age 15. When his parents found out....they showed up at recruit training/boot camp and took him home. They already had their older sons enlisted....and they needed someone to run the large farm. Being the only male left that was old enough to do the job...he was sent home and promised....that he could return to the Navy when he turned 17.
He did just that on his 17th birthday and soon found himself in the Pacific after Japan was bombed...going to islands with Japanese soldiers not knowing the war had ended with their defeat. (although the war had ended, the fighting didn't stop in some places since they had no way of knowing of the surrender)
He was sent to South Korea with the UN ...weeks after North Korea invaded in 1950....just months before he was set to get out of the Navy. He was one of a very few survivors out of 100's when his convoy was hit in the mountains by surprise. He was also at the Battle of Inchon on a mine sweeper. (He was sent to Korea 3 times during this conflict)
He was NUKED twice, once at the Bikini Islands and again at Johnson Island.
He tracked a USSR submarine up to the Bering Strait and had to wait 30 days without backup of fuel or food (which was rationed so they could survive) and watched them test launch a new missile system...and almost drifted into Russian waters into the arms of the Soviet fleet because dad's boat was running out of fuel. (the USA fuel ship arrived just in time)
He was one of the men who ran a Brigg in Virginia.
He ran a power plant in Alaska.
He was on the sole rescue boat that arrived when a passenger airplane bound to Hawaii had to make an emergency landing in the water. As the last passenger stepped onto the boat...the plane slipped under the water....no casualties.
He worked with Naval Intelligence getting a crazy Captain off of a ship in L.A....and later helped bring a gang of thugs ... that would beat the African American and Jewish sailors... when the ships docked at the harbor...to justice. (he was hand picked for both jobs)
He brought down another group who had been drafted into the Navy during the war...and they found they could make a lot of money ripping sailors off or doing favors...while enlisted.
He was the Naval Fire Chief while stationed in San Diego and won a friendly competition against the Los Angeles civilian fire fighters. (and was dunked in the ocean)
He was picked to build and test the newer mine sweepers since they had proved themselves invaluable to the efforts of the war....er....several wars.
He was also the Chief Engineman on a destroyer years later...and helped make the ship more fuel efficient. His idea was later implemented on other ships.
He caught a 14 foot Tiger shark while on a shorter boat in the Navy as well...a world record then. (What started as a practical joke...didn't stay one when they actually caught one and HAD to real it in to prove why they had been towed away from the ship earlier)
His 19th year...he was sent to Vietnam....with a hand picked crew to bring Special Forces up the rivers. At times, there was hand to hand combat on his little boat and it was "kill or be killed". He almost lost his thumb when they received fire...but laughed when the purple heart was offered. He knew...unless you lost a limb or use of it...there was no honor in receiving it.
When he retired from the Navy at age 37, he started the third phase of his life as a civilian. Armed with the skills and education he had from the Navy...he worked for the copper mines of Arizona and went face to face with the corrupt teamsters union there in the 1970's. (after 3 wars, 2 nukes, 4 daughters and my mother...they didn't scare him at all)
He made 2 inventions that the mines took ownership of...since he made them on their property. He was respected by his fellow co-workers and turned down a foreman job because he knew the next guy under him...could use the extra money. (he never knew Dad had been offered the job first)
After 20 years of dodging bullets, sharks, mines and nukes....he set his sights on FUN.
Dad bought a boat, a motorcycle, firearms, Cb's, a truck, camper, SUV, and made sure his family was there to enjoy all of it. Every weekend...we explored the desert and took trips to Colorado in the summer. Dad was generous with his money and his time. All mom had to do was ask for something and Dad would save for it. He was the sole bread winner of the family because he wanted mom to be there for us...his children. There was nothing we did without.
When the copper mines closed....he became an instructor for the Tech School in the nearby city. He taught 300 young men...not only a skill...but how to be MEN. He was given the convicts, the Hell's Angels, ones who were headed for jail...to turn around. He showed them by example...a STRONG man serves his family. Only COWARDS abuse women and children. Only SCUM ignores them or refuses to provide for them. He stopped the abuse they took out on their families and made them productive members of society. He was the father they never had.
When Dad died....it was unexpected. He was hit by a massive heart attack. I called for the ambulance and my mom held him in her arms until it arrived. He kept saying..."It's too late...I'm dying".
And it was true. He was dying...and he knew it.
While in the ambulance...he went home to the Lord.
It's not easy seeing a good man die. Not easy at all. But we all will die...someday. I was fortunate that my father gave so much in his life...that even today I'm reaping rewards from it. Dad loved his family more then anything in the world. He treated mom like a queen and made sure his daughters would be able to survive out there...in the cruel world. He taught us to live life to the fullest and not sit on the sidelines. He showed us through his love and tender care of our mother....what our own husbands should be like. He gives my sons...something to live up too.
At his funeral...which was filled with grown men he had taught... openly sobbed and told me how much Dad had meant to them. He believed in them. He gave them a purpose and challenged them to meet it. When dad died...he just didn't leave a grieving family...he left a grieving community....a grieving school.
But that's how a GREAT MAN is remembered at his passing.
To me...he was just Dad.
To them...he was a hero.
When my sisters and I talk about dad...everyone thinks he was 6 foot, a brute of a man. He was never over 140 lbs..and just 5'8. He was stronger then the muscle man....he was larger then life. He had a strong moral compass without being arrogant about it. He had grown up dirt poor and was never going to rub his earned financial stability in the faces of those still "trying to make it". Although we were one of the richest families in the area...you would have never known it. Money was something we never talked about...and never looked down upon to those who didn't have it. You can't judge someone for what they don't have. You judge those who have it...and misuse it
Dad never talked about his Navy career. Those days were over in his mind...and he was always a man who looked FORWARD. No sense in living Glory Days from yesteryear...when you can MAKE glorious days...AHEAD. You would have never found Dad in a bar with old Navy buddies talking about "the good ole days"......because he was making better days for us...in the present.
Although I miss dad...and ache from the fact that my boys didn't have the chance to know him....I am at ease with his death. We all die....there's no getting around it.
He went out the way he wanted too. Suddenly...after working a full day's work. He and mom had been loving right to the end and when he left this world...I don't think he had many regrets.
He did exactly what he was suppose to do.
Take care of his family and SHOWED it with ACTION.
That's a rare man. That's a REAL MAN.
That was MY DAD.
4 comments:
What a beautiful, loving tribute to your dad. he sounds like he was one heck of a man. Thank you for sharing his story. XO, Pinky PS, My Dad died when I was 4 years old so I never got to know him........
Holy cow, Envoy-ette. Your father was amazing. After I read everything he went through in the Navy and then read this, "When he retired from the Navy at age 37" I was floored. I wasn't expecting all of that to have happened BEFORE HE WAS 40!
You weren't kidding, he did squeeze 3 lifetimes into one. Amazing man. I can't imaging what it would be like to lose my father so young, but I can say that I feel like he obviously accomplished what he was put on this earth to do and it was his time to go. He seems like he did so much to help others. You are a lucky woman to have someone like him as your father.
xoxox
Beautiful recollection of three lives well lived. <3
So jealous of you ... I had a dad taht was a less than honorable man . reading your story makes me wonder what it would have been like and think how wonderful it must have been to grow up with such a wonderful person to look up too... I was enthralled. ever thought of making this into a novel , I bet a good publisher would Dance circles to get a story like this in our times when good writing is very sparce and stories like this very rare... what a refreshing read. Makes me wish I knew more of my familly. I know my mom's dad was a war vet from both wars and that he died in 74 , but I know nothing more than that. I don't like to pry because it seems mum isnt interested in sharing this stuff with me. I dunno why.
Anyhow Keep publishing stuff like this ... For kids like me ( well 37 now ) who grew up without a dad or escaped violent ( or worse) homes it'v verry illuminating to see and read about how life was with such men and what life can be if you learn lessons from people like him ... I know its probably weird to hear fro an utter stranger , but man am I jealous of you !
What a life and what a wonderful person !
DJ ... Alberta Canada.
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