This story hit home because it reminded me of my dad.
He had lied about his age to join the Navy and escape working in a paper mill. As a teenager he saw pre-communist China's poverty and once told me, If I were Chinese, I'd be a Communist.
After the war he reupped to go for 30. He was captain of a supply ship serving Guam and nearby islands. One day he and his crew rescued natives from a burning ship. He was a local hero.
However, the Navy had a different view. He had put his (white) men at risk to rescue mere (brown) natives. Dad was reprimanded. That was the last straw for him and with 22 years in, he bagged a Navy career.
What would my life have been like if he had stayed for 30? I wouldn't have grown up in Pasadena, for one.
Read the story
He had lied about his age to join the Navy and escape working in a paper mill. As a teenager he saw pre-communist China's poverty and once told me, If I were Chinese, I'd be a Communist.
After the war he reupped to go for 30. He was captain of a supply ship serving Guam and nearby islands. One day he and his crew rescued natives from a burning ship. He was a local hero.
However, the Navy had a different view. He had put his (white) men at risk to rescue mere (brown) natives. Dad was reprimanded. That was the last straw for him and with 22 years in, he bagged a Navy career.
What would my life have been like if he had stayed for 30? I wouldn't have grown up in Pasadena, for one.
Read the story
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