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.
There was a similar joke made at this Midway reunion. One of the fellows seemed to be getting teased alot - as a pilot evidently he had taken off from the Lexington, Yorktown and Hornet at three separate battles and each had been sunk while he was away. They all thought that was hilarious.
I always took every opportunity to speak with these vets - now that they're gone I'm really glad I did.