We recently made a trip to the USS Alabama in Mobile. This is the ship Dan’s father served on during WWII making it a very special and often emotional day. We went on November 1, the day before what would have been Jeep’s (Dan’s dad) 87th birthday. Memories of the many stories he told us about his days on the ship kept coming back as we walked the same decks he would have walked.
Jeep was a Boatswains Mate and served as gun captain on one of the big 16 inch guns. It was very humbling to crawl up in one of the turrets and imagine what it must have been like to be in that cramped space when the guns were firing and you were fighting for the survival of your shipmates.
One of the most emotional moments was when we found his name on the list of sailors who had served on the ship between 1942 and 1947. Of course we couldn’t remember the names of any of the men in Jeep’s stories – everyone went by a nickname, but we knew many of them knew Jeep as a young sailor and probably featured him in their stories as well. Probably some of the men listed are still alive but the majority of them have passed on making it even more touching.
Being retired Navy Dan obviously has been on his share of ships. But visiting the USS Alabama was one of the items on his bucket list and meant a great deal to him.
No comments:
Post a Comment