Picture of the Day for 1/14/2012. I spent the day working on a write-up of my dad's Navy career that my sister Paula will include in the ward history for 2011. I listened to the tape I recorded in 2002 of my parents reminiscing about their World War ll experiences to help jog my memory. I'm glad I did as there were a lot of fascinating details I had forgotten.
Some of their most poignant memories were about my dad's brother Wayne who served aboard a hospital ship. Wayne told them that his worst memory was standing in six inches of blood and guts because they were dealing with so many wounded soldiers that they didn't have time to clean up the operating rooms. Wayne returned home irrevocably changed from his war experiences. My parents married when Wayne was already in the Navy so my mother never met him until after the war. She said that she was sad she never got to meet the happy-go-lucky Wayne that her in-laws had described to her.
My dad's most poignant memory was about shipping out to Guam. As his troop ship sailed out of the San Francisco Bay harbor and passed beneath the Golden Gate Bridge, he wondered if he would ever return home. After his discharge from the Navy in March 1946, he sailed back to San Francisco on a troop ship. My dad said this sight of the Golden Gate Bridge evoked much different feelings than during his departure.
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