Page 144 - Anthology

I wrote and received letters from home all throughout my service. We were taught about what we could
and could not write in our letters. Every letter was censored. We had to be careful. I didn’t really like that
they were reading my personal mail, but it was the rules, so we went along with it.

Part of message obliterated by indelible pencil

I think I continued to serve for about six months after the war was over. I was discharged in Long Beach.
I got a Ruptured Duck pin and mustering out pay. I also got a train ticket home. I was excited and glad to
be back home. I went to see my folks first, but that first night I also went to see my girlfriend Mary Jane.
She was a pretty blond. I didn’t marry her though. In fact, a bit later, I went to see my cousin in Frankfort,
and he had a date lined up for me. She was pretty, and I married her. I was smitten from the day I met
her. She had blue eyes and black hair. She only lived to be sixty-one. I later married again to a girl I had
known for a long time.

I went back to farming when I got home. Later, I got a job working in a garage in Frankfort.

A couple of things stand out in my mind about my service in the Navy during the war. The ships have
these blackout curtains. We were out one night and this ole boy was standing near the door with the
blackout curtain and all of a sudden somebody shot him. We think it came from a Japanese ship that was
nearby or maybe from the island. We never did find out. Somehow, they could see him. All of a sudden,
the war became real, very real. We also had a guy (a close friend) that got killed in Manila. He got drunk
and got in with the wrong crowd. A Philippine gang killed him.

I just wanted to forget the war. I didn’t talk a whole lot about it. I shared some things with my wife, but
that was about it. After the war I stayed in contact with James Roberts from my boat crew. He lived up in
northern Kentucky.

In the service you see so much that you can’t remember all of it. But I do know this; my service changed
me. Seeing that man killed and having my friend killed and those dogs, and of course all those Marines.
Death changes you. I had nightmares and would often recall the things I’d seen while in the service.
Before joining, I was a free spirited, hardworking young man on a farm – then the war changed
everything.

My message to today’s kids is do the best you can with what you have, study and make the most of your
life. I don’t think I could recommend they go into the military.

To my family I say:

Take what life gives you and make the best of it. Take it as you get it.