MY DAD - MY EVERYTHING - LOST 11/3/09
My dad was a victim of the great depression. He had nothing. He had dropped out of school in 8th grade to support the family. His brother did the same. My grandparents were immigrants and knew nothing of America, they didn't even speak English. I used to ask my dad all the time about this and he told me he remembered sitting in a gutter begging, and a woman gave him her sons old shoes. He said "they had holes in the bottoms of them, but nobody could see that". He said I would never know how rich he felt. He and his brother traded the shoes back and forth so they could be employed and take care of my babka (grandmom in polish). She waited in lines that lasted sometimes for 2 days, they took turns waiting for the potatoes and flour. He said she made pierogies and potatoes and that's all they ate. Till the day he died he said "pierogies" with an accent. I can still hear him say that. I will always say "pierogies" with that accent, too. Dad loved cabbage too. Besides those two things, my mom said it was hell to get him to eat anything else. Poor guy. When he got old enough (which happened when Pearl Harbor struck) he enlisted. He gave my grandmom every penny he was paid, and it kept her alive. He told me kept enough for cigarettes. They were fed on the ship, more food than he ever saw. He served on Ryan Russel; when they were in enemy territory their ship took a hit from a kamakazi (Japanese who were trained to hit the boat even though they knew they would lose their lives). My dads ship floated around in enemy territory for 9 months. The navy could not risk losing a ship to save the men who served so hard, however they did try to get rations to these navy men who fought with literally no food. I guess what I am trying to say is nobody remembers WWII. My dad was a gunner's mate - he listened and adjusted the destroyer's perfect shot every time. I guess that was him wanting to survive, he never missed. he shot down 21 of their ships, received 21 bonze medals. My dad never said a word. His happiness lay in his family, and a good family man he was. I will always miss him, I will always remember how he never came home saying what a great soldier he was. That means so much to me. I will always miss him; if he is dead now, well then so am I. I can't wait to see him again, it will be through the grace of God. I changed my will to DNR, I am going to have it tatooed on my chest. When i lost my father, I lost EVERYTHING, -my dad's baby jayne
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