On to the story of Curtis...  My main father figure in this life...  

This is a branch onto my unusual road of life, by a dear friend... It forever helped shape my life...

Many are the times; when I have "shot myself in the foot" so to speak...  When will we learn to live life using our GOD given intelligence?? How many times does it take for us to see the hole that we keep falling into?? Such is the process of life, for one and all, but crystal clear thinking is the key, dear friend... You have to think... HUH!!

Some years ago I had the good fortune to meet and work with a splendid individual... He became like a father to me, in place of the one I never really had...  He was a friend and mentor... He has long since passed on to Eternity, but his example and teachings are  memories that will remain forever in my mind... I will share some of these with you...

He was born somewhere around WWI, I would guess...  He spoke of growing up near St Augustine FL...  He said that he remembered the first cars that came down the Ole Dixie Hwy, near his home... They would be lucky to go 15MPH...  He spoke of fishing and hunting in North Fla... With the depression, he eventually joined the Army, but figured that the Navy would be a better bet;  in the late 1930s... 

He was trained as a radioman on a seaplane, and was serving at the Corpus Christ Naval Station near Galveston Texas, when Pearl Harbor was attacked...  Well they were sent out to the South Pacific...  Strange and wonderful things happened on his road of life...  BTW: The PBY was a seaplane, the same one Jacques Cousteau flew from Clysiso...

They got out to Hawaii just a few days after the Jap Attack... Then they were sent on down to the Solomon Islands; approx. 500 miles North East of Austrilia...  On Florida Island... The Japanese had fortified many of these islands... Guadalcanal was near by... Read up on the Battle of the Coral Sea 1942, and you will get an over view of what was happening then... 

Well one thing they did was patrol and pick up downed pilots, both Allied and Jap... There was a large Jap base at Rubaul & on Turk Island to the North...  His job was to man the 50 Cal Machine gun on the rear of the aircraft, when needed...  Of course the PBY was not fast and would be lucky to do 225 Knots in a free dive...  The Jap Zero's could do 400 plus knots and were very manurable... Not something you would like to tangle with on a warm sunny day in the south Pacific or any other place for that matter...  That is what we call a DUD !!

This was early Radar days, so when they saw a group of fighters, not knowing who they were the SOP was to pull up into the cloud cover and circle until safe to preceed...  One day after returning from a run, they had avoided a group of a dozen Zero's staying in the cloud cover... Upon returning to base a new Lt Jg had the crew written up for cowardliness in the face of the enemy...  The next morning at Quarters the base commander called them all up front and center...  He read the charges, and ask what happened??   Upon the reply that they were avoiding a squadron of Zero's in the cloud cover...  He Said " Good Work Men" then ask the Lt Jg if he wanted to retract the charges or get sent back to the States...  The Commander said " I can get more Jg's;  but aircraft are hard to find...  They took the best action, by staying in the cloud cover...  A real smart move.. HUH!!

He told me many other surprising tales of danger and suspense filled stories...  One about a three plane bombing run on a supposed deserted island airstrip, another about the ships on the" Tokyo Run"  and yet another about German 109 fighters and the US Navy Cruiser USS Atlanta...   I am writing a book on these happenings so you can get the full details later this fall...  

He was a good example of a true hero, not boastful or proud...  He was a Quite man who went about his business until he saw someone rubbed the wrong way then he would respond and or act...  A real gentleman...

  Will pick up there is a bit...  There are many keen and very interesting stories to hear, so come on back... Curtis was quite a father figure for me, even though I was in my late twenties...   see Ya... Kermit 

Add This Entry To Your CureZone Favorites!