Say a prayer

[Kcwhippet]

My dad passed away last night. He was just short of 95 years old, and his age just caught up with him. He was a true American hero. He was at Pearl Harbor on 12/7/41, and was set to embark on the 8th for Wake Island with his unit. A lot of what Ben Affleck did in the movie Pearl Harbor was based on what my dad did - not all, but quite a bit. He made it back to the States in June, 1942 and went through flight training in Pensacola and New Orleans where he married my mom. I was born 10 months after their wedding. Verne, and maybe Gil may be the only ones here who might remember Kitty Carlisle, but she was the maid of honor at the wedding. My dad then went back to the Pacific where he remained until the war was over. He finished the war as the squadron commander of VMR-252, a transport group. I know this because he's in a book "History of Marine Corps Aviation in World War II". He won a Silver Star for two actions. He was the first plane to land at Iwo Jima and the second plane to land at Okinawa. Both times there was still intense fighting going on and both airfields weren't yet fully secured. His cargo in both cases was ammunition and drums of aviation fuel. He showed me pictures of his plane after both runs with many, many bullet holes in the fuselage. He ended up with 20 years in the Marines and then went to work at Raytheon, where he finally retired at 81 with 40 years there. His full military funeral will be Saturday, apparently with many dignitaries set to attend. It somehow seems appropriate that he should have passed on the day we've set aside to remember our American heroes. We had many differences over the years, but he will forever be my hero. If you find a spare minute, please say a prayer for his soul.