happy belated father's day

deb's post made me realize: i had not thought about MY father, only my grandchildren's father...this is the post card my father sent home to let his family know he had survived pearl harbor after all. in October 1968 he returned to hawaii for a job; we were going to follow in January. on November 23, 1968, he died. massive heart attack. i was 13; my father was 49.

dad's last diary entry, written as the lexington was about to sink. from this last page: Two carriers went down with all planes. Five Jap planes were shot down in 4 attempted attacks on our forces. Our losses in all these operations were one scout Bomber and one fighter destroyed. 5 planes were damaged. The "Yorktown" lost a similar no. of planes. No damage was inflicted on our surface craft.[the end of an entry dated 5/5/1942].
May 8, 1942:
Our planes took off at 09:30 to attack two enemy carriers at approx. 90 miles distant. We went to GQ at that time. Jap planes attacked us at 11:15 with

and that's as far as he got...he was on a sinking ship.

i'm the blonde in the daddy's lap. this is to my knowledge the only picture i can recall of my dad and i together, other than some other, color, family portraits taken about a year later. by the time my brother john and i came along, my parents had bought a movie camera...very few stills survive if they ever existed in the first place.

happy dad's day and every day dad...give my girl a hug and a kiss from me too...love

PEACE

my sailor son will be on the USS Pearl Harbor in january 2006...ironic, huh?
- posted by barbara @ 6/20/2005 05:25:00 AM