Great story about a great man. I have one: Back in the early ‘90’s, we’d just moved into a newly finished subdivision. The guy next door, Gene, was in his ‘70s, and had a couple of cats and an engraving business out of his garage. We hit it off, and I often hung out with him. One day, I noticed he’d put up a map of the world, with different colored push-pins all over it. “What’s that?” “Oh, just me remembering my time in the Navy during the war, and where I went.” “What do the different colors mean?” “Green means memorable shore time. Yellow means we sighted the enemy. Red means we engaged the enemy.” Red pin on Pearl Harbor. At the time of the attack, the Captain of his ship was ashore. Gene and one other sailor were sent in a skiff on a mission to locate him, and bring him back. After a thorough search, they returned without him. All the while, the attack raged around them, with bodies and wounded men everywhere. Gene was in the Navy 12 years, including six months in a hospital out in the countryside (somewhere in North Carolina?) to ‘ease my nerves’... He had a career in sales with the Falstaff Beer company, and did good by both his family and his country. I miss Gene, and all the great guys like him.
They were both great, unassuming men, may they RIP.