USMC Dad
You were one heck of a tough Marine Dad. It’s too bad that you had three daughters, I bet you would have loved to have had a son.
When you were in Vietnam, we never heard about the bad things. You told us about the Da Nang 500 with go carts driven by Marines, about cracking an enemy safe so everyone could see what it contained, or about a famous person who visited the base. The truth was much harder in that Da Nang was an air base that the Marines were protecting. Many times the enemy would try to bomb the air strips out. You would send us tapes instead of letters from Nam. My one Aunt said that your tapes were so scary in that you would hear the bombs blasting in the background. In all the tapes I listened to, I don’t remember that part.
As a Staff Sargeant, you were in charge, but not really. You were not educated but you had a sharp mind and could figure out anything mechanically. When you left Vietnam, they gave you a wooden plaque to hang on the wall saying you were, “A Jack of All Trades.” So true.
Anyway, you been gone for years now, and I do love and miss you. My sister gave me your hat and T-shirt as keepsakes. That tough guy skeleton ball cap you wore into your 80’s said it all. I don’t know how you did it, Dad, but you managed to die in your sleep in your bed. Good One Dad. Ooh-rah!
