[SAMWolf]

Thanks for sharing that story with us taxman. We thank your father for his service.
"Fighter Two - Guadalcanal"

[MistyCA]

>Battle of the Eastern Solomons, August 1942

A Japanese bomb exploding on the flight deck of USS Enterprise (CV-6), just aft of the island, on 24 August 1942. Note: According to the original photo caption, this explosion killed the photographer, Photographer's Mate 3rd Class Robert F. Read. However, Morison's "History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II" (volume 5, page 97) states that Read was killed by the bomb that had earlier hit the after starboard 5"/38 gun gallery, which can be seen burning in the upper left. Morison further states that the bomb seen here exploded with a low order detonation, inflicting only minor damage.

[Taxman]

You are welcome -- though it was my uncle, not my dad. But I appreciate the thanks. He liked to think that he had done his part to keep America FRee.

Knowing what I know about jungle warfare in the Pacific Theater during WW II, I'd agree with him! For example, he (and many thousands of other young Marines) left San Francisco in late 1942, and did not return until the war was over.

[The longest I was ever deployed, just to show you how "things" have changed, was for 10 months during the Vietnam War. And I was in an aircraft carrier, not in a vermin, disease infested jungle. And there were no snipers!]

My dad, BTW, was born in 1903 -- too young for WW I, and too old for WW II. He tried to enlist, and was turned down, and for whatever reason, was not able to wrangle a commission as a JAG (he was a practicing attorney when the war broke out) officer.