![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Seven years
Apr. 16th, 2009 09:44 amSeven years ago today, my father simply didn't wake up one morning.
A little about my dad
Dad ran away from home and enlisted in the Navy in 1948. He was 17 years old and lied about his age to get in. When he told his father what he'd done, Pop's response was "Just don't get a tattoo." Up until that point, Dad had no intention of getting one. Since he didn't really want a tattoo, he decided to get his signature inked across the back of his left calf, where he wouldn't have to see it.
His first job in the Navy was manning a radio. He loved it.
He served as a communications officer aboard the USS Kidd during Korea.
He was the first commanding officer for the Persistent II in 1956.
He was a commanding officer on the Floyd B Parks in 1962.
He was the commanding officer aboard the USS Bittern when it was decommissioned in 1965; the ship's nameplate hangs in the den over his desk today.
From January 1970 to September 1972, he was leading officer for Destroyer Squadron 31.
In 1972, he was in charge of laying 11,000 mines in Haiphong Harbor over the course of several months of tense negotians with North Vietnam.
In 1974 he was selected to serve the Joint Chiefs of Staff as a member of the Joint Staff. Among his duties was ensuring the Red Line was open and operational at any point in time.
He retired from the Navy in 1977.
After retirement, he became a NJROTC instructor at Guntersville High School. After the school phased out its ROTC program, he went on to work for TRW at the Huntsville, AL facility, supporting NASA projects from the Marshall Space Flight center. After retiring from that position in 1984, he moved to Gainesville, GA to be close to his parents in Athens. He was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease in 1995. He died in his sleep from complications on April 16, 2002.
Most of the people who attended Dad's funeral had only known him after retirement. Many people there had no idea he was a decorated war hero.
Along the way, he had four children of his own and stood in as a surrogate dad for hundreds of others. My parents were married for 49 years. Dad was ill with the Parkinson's for at least 15 years; for the five years preceding his death, his dementia was severe enough he no longer recognized family members.
A little about my dad
Dad ran away from home and enlisted in the Navy in 1948. He was 17 years old and lied about his age to get in. When he told his father what he'd done, Pop's response was "Just don't get a tattoo." Up until that point, Dad had no intention of getting one. Since he didn't really want a tattoo, he decided to get his signature inked across the back of his left calf, where he wouldn't have to see it.
His first job in the Navy was manning a radio. He loved it.
He served as a communications officer aboard the USS Kidd during Korea.
He was the first commanding officer for the Persistent II in 1956.
He was a commanding officer on the Floyd B Parks in 1962.
He was the commanding officer aboard the USS Bittern when it was decommissioned in 1965; the ship's nameplate hangs in the den over his desk today.
From January 1970 to September 1972, he was leading officer for Destroyer Squadron 31.
In 1972, he was in charge of laying 11,000 mines in Haiphong Harbor over the course of several months of tense negotians with North Vietnam.
In 1974 he was selected to serve the Joint Chiefs of Staff as a member of the Joint Staff. Among his duties was ensuring the Red Line was open and operational at any point in time.
He retired from the Navy in 1977.
After retirement, he became a NJROTC instructor at Guntersville High School. After the school phased out its ROTC program, he went on to work for TRW at the Huntsville, AL facility, supporting NASA projects from the Marshall Space Flight center. After retiring from that position in 1984, he moved to Gainesville, GA to be close to his parents in Athens. He was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease in 1995. He died in his sleep from complications on April 16, 2002.
Most of the people who attended Dad's funeral had only known him after retirement. Many people there had no idea he was a decorated war hero.
Along the way, he had four children of his own and stood in as a surrogate dad for hundreds of others. My parents were married for 49 years. Dad was ill with the Parkinson's for at least 15 years; for the five years preceding his death, his dementia was severe enough he no longer recognized family members.
