And One More Update....Veteran's Day!!

The U.S.S. Indiana


And finally, a brief nod to Veteran's Day.

I was driving out of the parking garage this afternoon to take a short walk (beautiful, fall day here in Rochester) and have some lunch. The little retired gentleman in the ticket booth was moving fairly slowly, and I noticed that he was wearing one of those baseball caps with the logo of a Navy ship on the front, in this case the U.S.S. Indiana.

So more to make conversation than anything else, I complimented him on his hat.

(Truth is, I was confusing the Indiana with the U.S.S Indianapolis, the ship sunk by the Japanese after she had delivered the A-Bomb, and in which only 317 survived of a crew of 1196 for a variety of terrible reasons). He beamed, and told me how proud he had been to serve on the Indiana.

"She was a fine ship, a great ship!!"

"You mean you actually served on her?"

"Absolutely!! Seventeen years old!! Lied to get in at that age. Proudest years of my life. You know, she was the second ship to sail into Tokyo Bay at the end of the war!! I'll tell you what, when we sailed in that day, the Japanese knew the real meaning of Pearl Harbor!!"

No politics. No cynicism. No obvious statements about the waste of war. I just thanked him. I'd like to say that in some small way I'd made his day, by noticing his hat and chatting with him about it. The truth is that in no small way, by seeing how he was lit up by the still vivid memories of some of his proudest days, he'd made mine.

All the best to everyone, more to come and love from us both!!

-- Paul