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The only stories he had were good stories - he never saw any action. I have a stash of his letters to my mom and his parents from the war - interesting to go through them. He was sure in awe of the Marines and others.

In one letter he wrote about a Marine that was a brother to one of his shipmates and spent the day and night with them. The Marine was telling them how cushy they had it - my dad acknowledged that.

“He left this morning - I'm sure that you'll have read all about it in the papers by the time you get this letter.” (Obviously never gave names of where he was or where they were going).

From the date of the letter I surmised that the Marine had gone off to some battle that we lost a bunch of guys on - and that latter history would show was an island we should have just skipped. I believe it was the Battle of Peleliu.

After looking up that info, I went through the letter again, thinking about that Marine, and if he made it. Brave men those marines. My dad was very kind and mild-mannered - I'm not sure how he would have done in real battle. Although I did see a few episodes where he came unhinged when he was dealing with what he figured was defending the honor of his wife or his family or business.

Hmm, I know this other guy that is also very meek and mild and now does pottery. He was Special Forces in Vietnam! You never know!