Golden Shellback

In response to my question, LL (Virtual Mirage) indicated my father was a Golden Shellback having crossed the International Dateline, the Pacific Equator, the Indian Equator and the Atlantic Equator lines during WWII. He did this as a soldier.

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.

Pain Dulls But Never Goes Away

My father, Robert T (Bob) White died this day in 1985 in his sleep. Over the years the pain has dulled but never gone completely away. Probable cause of death? We believe congestive heart failure brought on by untreated sleep apenia.

He was born in his grandmother's home in Sunbeam, Moffat County, CO. That caused him some good nature teasing when he was in the Army/Army Air Corps in WWII, especially when his home of record was Skull Creek, CO.

Flat out the best horseman I've ever seen, his only competition was his elder brother.

My biggest regret, or loss, is my sons weren't able to grow up around him.

He sent me a letter when I was in Germany in the Army threatening to disown me if I volunteered for Vietnam. His point, "I fought in a damned Asian war. I didn't raise a son to fight in one". As it was, the Army only accepted USAREUR volunteers if they were fluent in French. I wasn't.

Speaking of languages he had a gift. He was completely fluent in Hindustani as spoken in the Assam area and was passable in Mexican and Dine (Navajo).


His shooting skills were outstanding. I was a good shot, won several competitions as a Junior NRA member, and came within two rounds of maxing qualification at Ft. Leonard Wood. At the range killing paper I beat him every time (which pissed him off - he was not a gracious loser). Hunting, putting meat on the table, I was wasting ammo while he didn't miss. That is when he got his back (and I'm not a gracious loser either).

We went in together on a Piper J4 which we both learned to fly. Later he owned a C-182. The man could fly but was damn careless and I called him on it. Those times weren't especially pleasant.

His death was especially hard on my sister who is much younger.

He gave me a good example of what a man should be and it has served me well. I hope my sons will say the same when I pass.

Happy Birthday, Dad

Today would have been my father's 92 birthday. Sadly, he passed at 64.

We had a strained relationship. What I most admire was at age 60 he started reinventing himself. It was as though he was taking each facet of his makeup and thoroughly examining it.Most parts he kept but some he discarded.

My biggest regret is we didn't have the time to reconnect and reestablish our relationship. My next biggest regret is my sons didn't grow up knowing him. He was an awesome grandfather. As an uncle and great uncle he influenced many nieces and nephews.

We don't get to pick our parents but, if I had that option, I would have picked him.