Posted on 11/26/2013 4:31:17 PM PST by Blood of Tyrants
After signing my Pop, EM2 Bud Cloud (circa Pearl Harbor) up for hospice care, the consolation prize I’d given him (for agreeing it was OK to die) was a trip to “visit the Navy in San Diego.”
I emailed my friend and former Marine sergeant, Mrs. Mandy McCammon, who’s currently serving as a Navy Public Affairs Officer, at midnight on 28 May. I asked Mandy if she had enough pull on any of the bases in San Diego to get me access for the day so I could give Bud, who served on USS Dewey (DD-349), a windshield tour.
The next day she sent me an email from the current USS Dewey (DDG 105)’s XO, CDR Mikael Rockstad, inviting us down to the ship two days later.
We linked up with Mandy outside Naval Base San Diego and carpooled to the pier where we were greeted by CMDCM Joe Grgetich and a squad-sized group of Sailors. Bud started to cry before the doors of the van opened. He’d been oohing and pointing at the cyclic rate as we approached the pier, but when we slowed down and Mandy said, “They’re all here for you, Bud,” he was overwhelmed.
After we were all out of the van directly in front of the Dewey, shaking hands and exchanging pleasantries, Petty Officer Simon introduced himself and said as the ship’s Sailor of the Year he had the honor of pushing Bud’s wheelchair for the day. Unbeknownst to us, they’d decided to host Bud aboard the Dewey, not at the Dewey. And so they carried him aboard. None of us expected him to go aboard the ship.
(Excerpt) Read more at idrivewarships.wordpress.com ...
Wow, just wow.
Gotta go and get myself together now.
WOW
Very touching...
The Wiki WWII battle history of DD-349 is impressive.
May Jesus grant him “Fair Winds And Following Seas” for all eternity.
Sailors being sailors.
Whew. Got a little misty there for a moment. What a story. Fair winds and following seas, EM2.
Fair winds and following seas, Bud.
Gotta get a new computer screen. This one’s out of focus.
I’m sorry, but I can’t stop crying. What an exceptional story.
A Sailor’s Dying Wish... to drain the oceans!
Nah, it would be a poor Navy man that resented his one earthly master. The sea formed them and made them the superior humans they have always been.
Great story.
Must be a virus in the story that makes computer screens blurry cause it made mine, too.
The transferred the ship’s bell from the old Dewey to the new one.
Did thy? An interesting factoid.
We used to christen babies in our ship’s bell and then inscribe their names. Navy tradition was the bell went to the oldest living person christened in it when the ship was decommissioned.
Picture of the bell is the last one in the series.
http://www.navsource.org/archives/05/349.htm
http://www.navsource.org/archives/05/0534914.jpg
I reckon.
....as a former “sailor” myself (without us the Marines would have to join the Army to fight!), thank you for sharing this wonderful story with all us vets on FR (and non vets!)..................
Also, it goes without saying we all appreciate your “Pops” service. What a man!
Yepper, got that blurry screen virus too. What a great story.
Step on over to the fundraiser thread and get a cleaning by contributing to the venue that allowed you to see it.
What a wonderful story.
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