PATRIOTISM

There seems to be a bit of patriotism floating around this blog area. It makes me question my own. Do I have national pride? I do indeed. I don't outwardly show it. But it is there. For years, I've wanted to have a flag on our home. And years ago, we got the flagpole at least. But alas, laziness prevailed - like it often does. The flagpole rests in our garage today.

My late-grandpa fought in two wars - WWII and Korea. He was a commander in the Navy. He never much spoke about his days in the service. But every now and then again, a story or two would emerge. To this day, I regret not probing him for more. because I don't think he had any problem talking about it. He just wasn't a big talker in that regard.

Some things I do recall. I remember him telling me about swimming in the middle of the ocean, while a couple of the other sailors would stand guard and watch for sharks. He also told me that his ship once ran smack dab into a Japanese mine. Fortunately, the mine was a dud. For had it exploded, his ship would have sunk.

My grandpa was in the pacific during WWII. One of his jobs was to pilot the great big ships that would carry troops, tanks and supplies to land. He would drop them off, then head back out for more. Picture the beginning of the film "Saving Private Ryan" to get the idea of his duties. The only difference was he was in the pacific, while the film shows similar actions in France.

He did tell me once that while on patrol on an island somewhere, he accidentally stepped on a dead Japanese soldier. His ship also had to deal with the onslaught of kamikaze pilots. For the record, he said the kamikazes were mostly ineffective, as they could simply shoot them out of the sky (for the most part) before they were able to crash into the Naval vessels.

Lastly, in early August, 1945, my grandpa's ship (among countless others, no doubt) received new orders. They were to proceed to Japan and launch an attack on Tokyo. To this day, I have never heard any news story that told of this plan. But my grandpa insisted it was true. While he wasn't a captain onboard the ship, from what I understand, he worked closely with him. So he was privy to some information that not everyone else was. The assault was expected to be a very tough one. Anyway, they set sail for Japan. However, prior to their arrival, the United States apparently had a different idea. On August 6th, they dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Three days later, they dropped another one on Nagasaki. Based on same, the Japanese surrendered, thus ending the war.

And that's about all I know. My grandpa fought in two major wars, and lived to tell about it. I only wish he would have told a little more.