Thank you, Baz. I got busy this morning with meetings and frankly forgot the import of this day.
To my two great uncles who were Navy Chiefs at the time and served well and true in the Pacific on destroyers. They were funny and smart, easy men for a boy to fall in love with, delighted they were mine.
To my Grandfather, who left his car repair business in Oakland and became a Warrant Officer Electrician in the Navy, serving on the USS Breton honorably and well. He was also funny and smart. I have never laughed with more glee than as a child listening to he and his brothers telling stories around the dining room table.
To my wife's step father, a man I greatly admired, who left the University of Pennsylvania for Great Lakes and Navy flight school. He told me: "The flying was easy, the instruments stuff wasn't." I have his flight log book. He was right.
He left flight school and served on PT boats in the South Pacific well and honorably as an enlisted navigator.
A remarkable, kind man.
His boat:
With my son, Jack:
He loved Jack and left him some remarkable shotguns and other items.
RIP all you Navy Brethren mentioned above.
Then to all who serve and have served: Salute.