The last time we visited my Dad and Moms home I got to peer into my dads past a little. He isn't the type of person to get all blubbery (maybe that's where I get it), but sometimes you can tell when something really has "touched" him on a different level. He brought out an old logbook, and in it was the date journal of my grandfather, Harry, when he was aboard ship in the U.S. Navy. Dad just realized that he had it and had never looked at it before this week. It was very moving to open such an old document.

 It was very cool to see because I never really knew my grandpa much. I have a few memories of him and grandma living at Park Madison apartments, in Burlington, and needing to go see them more often than I wanted to as a kid. Talking to dad over this book was a way for me to see into the past a little. 

He would point at certain dates and tell a story about "Harry" that was relevant to the time. Then he would pause and I could tell that it was starting to choke him up. We looked at the dates and the places and we marveled at where he had been. N.G. is New Guinea. S.F. is San Fransisco. He went to Canada, and several other continents, basically all around the world. 

His ship was hit by a kamakaze airplane. He survived, and went on other ships until his tour was complete. As you can see in this lower photo, in handwriting by my grandfather Harry, he was discharged. He served from December 20, 1940 to August 27, 1945. "Home after-------4 years 9months and 12 days"

Its interesting to note that the man's hands you see in the photos are his son's, my dad, who followed his dads lead and enlisted in the U.S. Navy.

Cheers