Buried my dad last Thursday, he would have been 93 this July.... Not sad, a blessing as he was bedridden the last two years and after Hospice stopped their help, he was put in a nursing home for the last 6 months... He lived with me the last 7 years of his life, and NO, it was not easy....
He was born in Portland, Oregon in July of 1929.....
The pic of him I found while going through his things and must of been after his military service and BEFORE he met Mom........ Probably the good oledays... He is the first one on the left.... Circa late 40's would be my guess.....
He was a WWII Marine, who had enlisted at the end of WWII and never saw action as the war was winding down thanks to the Atomic bomb..... FK with America, you get the HORN...
He was stationed on the USS Bairoko, an Escort Carrier with F4 Corsairs when he was on it.... He was actually in charge of maintaining the planes, which bothered me as he was NOT a good caretaker of the family cars as I grew up.... I can't imagine flying a plane after he worked on it...LOL... He must of taken his responsibilities seriously as he told me stories of working on a plane, the pilot complained about not running well, and he found most of the spark plugs were loose....... He used to tell me how many of the spark plugs were NOT visible in the Corsair twin radial engine, and they had to be installed by feel.....
Told me all sorts of specs ( when I was young and didn't care) about the amount of hydraulic fluid in a Corsair, and was apparently rated to start them to test run
the engine after he had worked on them, making sure the folding wings were operating correctly...
He did get captains mast (thats bad) as he was caught sleeping on an Corsair Gull wing, by the pilot who was a Marine Major, which I recently read was a comfortable place to grab a nap due to its "Gull Wing" build ... He had denied it for years, but recently admitted to it when I mentioned the "good place to sleep" article I read..... Busted from a PFC to Private......... Dad always called the Major who busted him Chicken Sh!t......
Dad never ate Pistachio nut ice cream as he said that was the ONLY flavor of Ice Cream on board his carrier and he had eaten enough of it for a lifetime....... LOL....
When I asked him where they were in the ocean on his ship, he laughed and said " they never told us privates" .....
Said he was on Pappy Boyingtons squadron for a short time. He told me it was very unorganized... Yes, I had to watch reruns of the Black Sheep Squadron after he moved in with me and that show was on......
Told me the new " jets" would fly by and make loops around any corsair that was in the air, made the corsairs look like they were standing still......
The Dirty Harry movie, I believe it was "Magnum Force" had the scene at the end where they were jumping the motorcycles from deck to deck of some old carriers that were being dismantled.... He swore that one was the Carrier he was stationed on ( the Bairoko), but it was sent to scrap in the early 60's so probably not.... There were alot of old ships mothballed and stored up the River from San Fran bay, so who knows????
Before he enlisted he would tell stories of seeing , From his Portland, Or. childhood home, flights of brand new B-17's fly overhead from Boeings seattle plant on their way to War... Not many left if any, that can say that .......
After helping get his funeral planned I have a hundred questions I wish I had asked him about his military service....
His military funeral was something he had planned out decades ago..........
Hope some of you enjoy this story....
He was born in Portland, Oregon in July of 1929.....
The pic of him I found while going through his things and must of been after his military service and BEFORE he met Mom........ Probably the good oledays... He is the first one on the left.... Circa late 40's would be my guess.....
He was a WWII Marine, who had enlisted at the end of WWII and never saw action as the war was winding down thanks to the Atomic bomb..... FK with America, you get the HORN...
He was stationed on the USS Bairoko, an Escort Carrier with F4 Corsairs when he was on it.... He was actually in charge of maintaining the planes, which bothered me as he was NOT a good caretaker of the family cars as I grew up.... I can't imagine flying a plane after he worked on it...LOL... He must of taken his responsibilities seriously as he told me stories of working on a plane, the pilot complained about not running well, and he found most of the spark plugs were loose....... He used to tell me how many of the spark plugs were NOT visible in the Corsair twin radial engine, and they had to be installed by feel.....
Told me all sorts of specs ( when I was young and didn't care) about the amount of hydraulic fluid in a Corsair, and was apparently rated to start them to test run
the engine after he had worked on them, making sure the folding wings were operating correctly...He did get captains mast (thats bad) as he was caught sleeping on an Corsair Gull wing, by the pilot who was a Marine Major, which I recently read was a comfortable place to grab a nap due to its "Gull Wing" build ... He had denied it for years, but recently admitted to it when I mentioned the "good place to sleep" article I read..... Busted from a PFC to Private......... Dad always called the Major who busted him Chicken Sh!t......
Dad never ate Pistachio nut ice cream as he said that was the ONLY flavor of Ice Cream on board his carrier and he had eaten enough of it for a lifetime....... LOL....
When I asked him where they were in the ocean on his ship, he laughed and said " they never told us privates" .....
Said he was on Pappy Boyingtons squadron for a short time. He told me it was very unorganized... Yes, I had to watch reruns of the Black Sheep Squadron after he moved in with me and that show was on......
Told me the new " jets" would fly by and make loops around any corsair that was in the air, made the corsairs look like they were standing still......
The Dirty Harry movie, I believe it was "Magnum Force" had the scene at the end where they were jumping the motorcycles from deck to deck of some old carriers that were being dismantled.... He swore that one was the Carrier he was stationed on ( the Bairoko), but it was sent to scrap in the early 60's so probably not.... There were alot of old ships mothballed and stored up the River from San Fran bay, so who knows????
Before he enlisted he would tell stories of seeing , From his Portland, Or. childhood home, flights of brand new B-17's fly overhead from Boeings seattle plant on their way to War... Not many left if any, that can say that .......
After helping get his funeral planned I have a hundred questions I wish I had asked him about his military service....
His military funeral was something he had planned out decades ago..........
Hope some of you enjoy this story....
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