I handed him the pieces. About as fast as he could touch the pieces, he had them together in the right way, first time. He solved the cube about as fast as his hands would work. Had he seen it before? Even if he had, and I don’t think he had, the feat was still impressive. I think he had just fixed complicated watches for so long that it was second nature for him to think and solve problems in 3 dimensions.
Why didn’t I ask if he’d seen it before? You never were too sure about any story Uncle Chuck told you. Even when it was 100% accurate, he would have that twinkle in this eye that would make you wonder. I didn’t really understand his story-telling until I joined the USAF and discovered the beauty of the military “War Story” which really didn’t have to be, and was not expected to be, 100% accurate. But it always had to be a good story.
I noticed a couple of things working with Uncle Chuck in the store that I didn’t really understand at the time.
Just in case you have no idea what battles & engagements I’ve been in I’ll write them down as well as I can.
1. Pearl Harbor Attack. 2. Coral Sea. (In which the Lex was sunk & we rescued 500 survivors). [My note: “Lex” is the aircraft carrier Lexington.]
3. Midway battle which lasted four days, (where we lost the Yorktown.) 4. The invasion of Solomons.
5. Two or three large air attacks off the Solomons.
6. Third Sano. or Tassafaronga Bay battle [My note: part of the Guadalcanal Campaign in the Solomons], we were almost sunk that night, we lost the Northampton & had 4 other cruisers badly damaged. (Also the New Orleans)
7. After we were repaired, we attacked Wake Island & bombarded the beach. We dueled with Jap shore batteries which rose out of their cement holes, fired & went back under. We received one hit & 60 near misses, also lost one plane & two pilots.
8. We raided the Gilbert & Marshall Islands, & underwent a seven hour air attack the first night. A Jap plane straffed topside, but no one was hit.
9. Invasion of Gilberts, in which we bombarded Makin Island & helped cover the troops landing.
10. Another raid on the Marshalls.
11. Invasion of Marshall Islands in which we knocked out the shore batteries on Maleolap & also their air base. Also sunk one ship & damaged one. We then bombarded Kawajalien [My note: correct spelling is Kwajalein.] and the other small islands around it. [My note: I can’t help but observe that in my 25 years supporting Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles we have bombarded Kwaj about 80 times! But just with instrumented reentry vehicles, not real bombs.]
12. We attacked Truk in the Carolines, went through a heavy enemy air attack. Next day our ship and 3 others chased several units of the Jap fleet. We caught them. Our ship sank a destroyer & a Jap cruiser in broad daylight. We went through the survivors swimming in the water at full speed.
13. Attacked Guam & Palau, had air attacks for two nights. Shot down undetermined number of planes. (This is on the Kittson)
14. Leyte Invasion. Only one air attack for us on the Kittson.
15. Okinawa, where we had suicide air attacks every day & night. We were lucky. The second time we were there we went through three night air attacks & one day. That completes my engagements. It doesn’t in any way explain the hell & fear I went through, nor the horrible sights I had to witness. And this is the last time I ever intend purposely to talk of it.
But they are easy to find using google maps
And not just the military folks…
I am reminded of a conversation I had a couple years ago with a nice older lady right after church one Sunday morning. It was early December and the subject of the Pearl Harbor attack came up. It was a very innocent conversation, but it triggered something. I could see it in her eyes, horror. Suddenly all the pain of that tremendous conflict came back to her and all her friends and relatives hurt or killed in all of WWII. Her eyes teared up and she began to weep. “So many”, she said. “So many boys. Gone.” There really is no comfort. All I could do was say, “yes”.
Another interesting tidbit about Uncle Chuck, he was in Father Flanagan's Boy's Town's first graduating class. 1937
Excellent link above to a great description of the Japanese attack on the New Orleans. You may have to copy and past the link into your browser. Then scroll down to the start of the WWII section. Thanks Craig!
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_New_Orleans_%28CA-32%29
All but one of my uncles served in our wars including I, starting from WW I (George), bayonets & artillery made him a chair-bound old man never talking much, WW II, Eddy, first serving from WW II thru the Nam but gung ho American, Andy an artilleryman stuck at the cross roads with some rather determined engineers that ruined the Battle of the Bulge for Hitler but not stop joking all of the time, Ray who went from North Africa to the Pacific where men plating for poker and won got to shoot a jap prisoner, and Mike who never talked about the war as if it never happened. For my dad, a disabled US Army Korean vet and I from the Nam thru Gulf War I never got any of them to open up as a group. But once this enlisted kid became an officer, each on their own pulled me aside nd let it all out. In short without the details, war is hell and that is how it should be for everyone including civilians back home so we never fight another one. The Geneva Convention is what one does after the fighting is over and there are no more prisoners…no more.
I would have thought fighting the Japanese fanatics (very religious people to this very day) would have been the worst combat one would face. But WW I as the best weapon close in was an entrenching shovel locked in a 90 degree position to cleave a man in two.
Enough said … PTSD – yes, but in each man they dealt with it in their own fashion but like us all, the ghosts of those no longer are with us every night if one can sleep at all.
Note: The Afghanistan veterans and some Iraqi warriors have seen more consecutive days of combat then any WW II vet. So time will tell when these already forgotten heroes, men and women, resume a normal life and then the other comes back without notice …
Good post Charley … it made me call an old comrade and swap stories again tonight. It felt good to be around real Americans again.
Thank you. I would love to hear similar from our other readers. I know so much of this is out there, but not talked about.