First off he traveled from the West Coast on a converted passenger liner to India via Australia. After the war ended he traveled from India on a Liberty ship with a stop in South Africa to the East Coast.
He didn’t enjoy his voyages. The troop ship was overcrowded. On the Liberty ship, underway from South Africa, the bow split open. He said they made the rest of the voyages traveling astern at around three knots and nearly ran out of food.
Drafted into the Army, he was trained in Chemical Warfare at Aberdeen, Maryland before being sent overseas. In India, he was transferred to the Army Air Corps where he was assigned to Graves Registration at a base in the Assam Valley. He has a gift for languages (and math, do they go hand in hand?) and soon became fluent in whatever dialect of Hindu spoken in the region. You may have seen pictures of elephants loading barrels into airplanes. He supervised the crews doing that.
As an aside, somewhere around 1950 my parents took me to the circus. We were walking by a row of elephants when my father walked up to one, started talking to the handler, and was soon stroking the elephant. He had a way with animals.
A sister and brother in law owned a longshore service company in Portland. While he was visiting them they were invited to dinner aboard a Indian crewed merchant ship unloading in Portland. This was around 1970 and my father immediately made friends by speaking Hindu. When asked by the brother in law, the ship captain affirmed my father was completely fluent in Hindu. He was also able to speak and understand Rocky Mountain Spanish (Mexican) and Navajo.
He was a man of many talents who would try his hand at anything, something he passed on to his children. What he wasn’t, was a graceful loser, especially when his children won. When we played chess, he conceded by kicking over the board. When my sister beat him swimming, she immediately got in the truck instead of getting dressed as she didn’t want to walk home.
He died in his 60’s from undiagnosed sleep apnea. My biggest regret is his grandsons didn’t have his influence growing up.
12 comments:
Everyone needs that context that grandparents bring to young people. Your dad sounds as though he was an interesting man. sic transit gloria mundi.
I never knew my paternal grandfather but knew both maternal grandparents. He, along with some great uncles shaped my upbringing. Principal lesson? Finish the job, don't quit.
Very interesting! And yes, supposedly math/languages DO go hand in hand.
BZ!
Old NFO
The adventures brought about by military service are fascinating. A cowboy from Skull Creek, CO becoming a Golden shellback purely by chance is an example.
EdB
He did his duty.
HI WSF!!!!!,
I would say,"Been there , done that..." ... But I missed out on the Indian Ocean part!! Got the "Date line... from sandyeggo to sing-a-pore a few times... crossed the equator out of Singapore (first time) 09/68 and twice more 05/69 and 05/70..... USN!! out of Hawaii heading dead nutz SOUTH!!! Great stories... both trips!! MEET ME @ the BAR for more details!!
Closest land at any time was 5 miles away!!!!!!!...... STRAIGHT DOWN!!!!
skybill
shybill
Good on you! My sole ocean adventure was an all expense paid 14 day cruise on the General Maurice Rose, Brooklyn to Bremerhaven 1964. I doubt trips on the Washington and Alaska Ferries qualify.
They were made of stern stuff, I think, and most definitely "got out there." Respect to him, may he rest i peace and rise in glory.
LSP
Thank you. He was a good and moral man.
Attended the Army's "NBC" school (Nuclear, Biological, Chemical) in '78. I cannot speak for how the curriculum changed over time, but that school was one of the harder schools I attended.
Your Dad had to be pretty damn sharp.
The distance between "The Greatest Generation" and what we now see with young people is as distant as the International Dateline.
One day our Father was shoeing a draft mare. She weighed North of 1500#. She kept leaning on him as he worked and he would prod her to stand up straight. On the last hoof, he lost his temper (remember he was very kind to animals until they pushed him too far) and he stepped back and worked her front to back and back to front with a 10" rasp (file). Then he told her to "stand up, damn it" and she held her hoof up for him to finish. She did and he did. As he stepped back to have a cigarette, he apologized to the owner for losing it on his mare. The guy said" Bob, I wouldn't have put up with her that long. I do have one question though. I know that you were cussing but I didn't understand a single word". Dad looked at me, wondering, and all I said was Hindi. The mare could translate without any problem.
GB
He was very intelligent. Left school after the eighth grade because his father died and there were younger siblings. He went to work to support his mother and siblings.
Sisty
He certainly could string together a long string of Hindi curses!
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