My Dad was 17 when he went to war with the US Navy in 1944.. He kept an old cigar box of mementos from his time in the service. He was an Electricians Mate on the USS Rathburne. The ship served as a troop transport and ferried UDT personnel in to places like Peleiu, and Leyte Gulf. In April of 1944 the ship took a kamikaze thru the port bow. The piece of aluminum in the box is from that plane. They got the ship into port, 10% seaworthy, dad said.
Dad told us he was attacked while he was asleep, by a Japanese soldier who had entered a barracks on an island they stopped on. The cigarettes and sash were taken from the soldier who was killed by my dad's mates. I have no more proof of this story than the items in the box. I do know that you NEVER woke my dad by shaking his shoulders unless you wanted knocked on the floor.
First glance at the box contents and you think, "bunch of trinkets," then you remember that this was a 17 year old boy who had never been more than 10 miles from home, never saw a seashell, or an ocean, and likely didn't even know Japan existed until Pearl Harbor. Dad would be 95 today, if he hadn't passed in 1990. Most of the men, and boys, who fought this war are long gone. My dad and I didn't always have the relationship I might have liked to have had, but I always loved him.
My son has been to war and wishes he could have sat and talked with him as an adult after having served.
A shout out to those who did things I was never asked to do, no matter when they were called. Thank you.
A couple things in the box are from My Grandfather who served in WWI, and on the US Border Patrol. He died in a mine cave in in 1941, so I never knew him.
And, Dad, I still love and miss you.
Robert
Dad told us he was attacked while he was asleep, by a Japanese soldier who had entered a barracks on an island they stopped on. The cigarettes and sash were taken from the soldier who was killed by my dad's mates. I have no more proof of this story than the items in the box. I do know that you NEVER woke my dad by shaking his shoulders unless you wanted knocked on the floor.
First glance at the box contents and you think, "bunch of trinkets," then you remember that this was a 17 year old boy who had never been more than 10 miles from home, never saw a seashell, or an ocean, and likely didn't even know Japan existed until Pearl Harbor. Dad would be 95 today, if he hadn't passed in 1990. Most of the men, and boys, who fought this war are long gone. My dad and I didn't always have the relationship I might have liked to have had, but I always loved him.
My son has been to war and wishes he could have sat and talked with him as an adult after having served.
A shout out to those who did things I was never asked to do, no matter when they were called. Thank you.
A couple things in the box are from My Grandfather who served in WWI, and on the US Border Patrol. He died in a mine cave in in 1941, so I never knew him.
And, Dad, I still love and miss you.
Robert
Last edited:
