Greetings over your interweb devices
“Eternal Father, strong to save,
Whose hand does bind the restless wave,
Who bidst the mighty ocean deep
Its own appointed limits keep;
Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee,
For those in peril on the sea!”
In the early 1940s, 20th Century Fox released a film called “Guadalcanal Diary,” a dramatized version of a tough fought campaign of the still raging WW II battles. It would inspire a not-yet-18-year-old Willard Waugh to get his mother to authorize his enlistment in the Navy and his service in the South Pacific. His fascination with the film would also give him the nickname “Guady,” still used by those who knew him in those early days right up to the last years of his life. Like so many of his peers, the stories were kept inside over the years, so it really wasn’t until the last decade or two of his 90 plus years that my Pop started recounting those tales — from the goofy to the grisly. He was proud to have served during those important years, and relished the friendships he had made, particularly with the crew on his Sub-chaser. Pop also knew, though, that he was among the lucky ones. He never forgot those who weren’t so fortunate, and right up until the year before he left us, he would go to the local cemetery on the observation of Memorial Day to help put flags of the graves of those who never got to make the trip home. On Veterans Day, we salute the service of all the brave ones who served our country like my Pop, but today we salute those who gave the supreme sacrifice. Particularly in these times, let us never forget the true meaning of what they fought to defend and protect,
To one and all, Be Safe-Stay Healthy