You all knew I would get bad to my hero sooner or later.
George was Gunners Mate and as such, when we aquired the
LST 914 back from Japan for use in Korea he was responsible
for finding, stealing, trading or what ever, the armament for
the ship. The first job being the Inchon landing he mounted
a three inch army cannon and a couple of 20 mm weapons.
So with this and a crew one third the size to properly operate
the ship they completed the task. The rest is history.
The most interesting accomplishment was during the ship board
contest to grow the fanciest mustashe. There was a Boatson Mate
with a real hansom handle bar mustashe. This guy was three times
as big as George. The Boatson Mate was fast asleep when George
cut off half his mustasche. The Captain said that half mutashes
can't enter the contest.
George wasn't a very big guy and was a little crippled up from his
ordeals and advancing age. We were touring an aircraft carrier
and my wife thought I should stick close to him and make sure
he could climb all around and not get hurt. I told her "He was
tough." She should go talk to Bob, the one who lost his coat. And
she did. This occurred at a ship reunion some 50 years after the war.
George is my hero too but I have to tell you he and his wife got to be OUR CHILDREN at these reunions. They were ALWAYS getting lost and late for the bus and one time George had fallen down and it took awhile to get them back to the bus. THIS WAS A LONG time after the incident Ted talked about.
ReplyDeleteWhich half of the mustache?
ReplyDeleteLike people of old age, I don't remember.
ReplyDelete