I Wish I Knew More

Happy Memorial Day from a proud WWII Navy veteran’s daughter 🇺🇸! Anchors Aweigh!⚓️

(Top photos from the North Atlantic near Belfast, Ireland December 1942)

Once the war ended Daddy came home and married my waiting mother. I am one of those post-WWII babies. Because my father died when I was 8 of suicide, all my memories are mostly in photos and stories.

How young my father (second from the left) looks. I wish I had a hundred photographs and memories, but I don’t. He was a 6’4” and stout. He served as petty officer and gunner’s mate among other roles I was told. He wasn’t a West Point officer serving on the bridge. He was all about saving America from the bad guys.

He had never left home until he was shipped out overseas. His education was rudimentary, and I doubt he knew much about other countries or the news before he left his sweetheart for war. I doubt if my mother knew much more except she loved him and prayed he would return safely to marry her. She waited.

When he returned without physical injury, my mother and he continued their courtship and married. My grandparents gave them an acre of land on a lovely hill near them. By the time I was born, my father had built but not finished a small house. It took him a couple of years or more after work and on weekends after I was born to finish it. It was simple but built with sweat and love.

I laid out the photos on the bed today. The ship below is the Queen Mary 1942 according to the back of the photo. The only good photo of my father and mother hangs on my wall. It was taken early in their marriage and shows their youthful joy and love.

Dear subscribers,

If you have loved ones who served in the military, search out your photos and medals if any exist. Write about them for your grandchildren or great-grandchildren. I wish my mother had. However, I was young and in my own little youth bubble and didn’t ask her enough questions. That’s painful to admit.

Have a good 🇺🇸Memorial Day 🇺🇸remembering how strong the United States stood against tyranny. We need the military to join the citizens against the abuser of the military, Trump and his DOGE, MAGA, and pro-Russian Republicans.