[skeeter]

I was able to attend a reunion of Battle of Midway survivors on the 55th anniversary of the battle aboard the USS Hornet at Alameda which, luckily for me, was open to the public.

Those guys were a breed apart - even in their old age they radiated strength & good humor. It was an honor to have met some of them.

[Pan_Yan]

In the early 90’s a submarine I served on stopped in Fort Lauderdale while undergoing a shakedown cruise. There was reunion of WWII submariners in town and we took them out for a cruise. I was standing up topside with a few friends while they were coming aboard.

One old guy looked at us with a twinkle in his eye and asked “Hey, you guys feeling lucky?”

“Sure,” we replied. “Why?”

“Because the last three boats I went out to sea on were sank out from underneath me.”

At that point a bunch of dumb 20-somethings grew up a little. We realized we were in the presence of heroes.