FRANKLY SPEAKING- Legacy
On August 14, 1945 he stood on the deck of the USS Missouri and witnessed as Emperor Hirohito signed the articles of surrender ending WWII.
On July 29, 1967 a U.S. Navy Lt. Commander sat in the cockpit of an A-4 Sky Hawk he was preparing to fly on a combat mission over North Vietnam. As he prepared himself and the aircraft for the mission he heard a loud swoosh and a low level detonation. He watched as the two aircraft in front of him burst into flame, spewing JP-5 (jet fuel) on the flight deck. He watched as one of the damaged aircraft dropped a bomb, watched as the bomb rolled across the flight deck and stopped in the middle of a burning pool of jet fuel.
In the conflagration that followed, 132 members of the ships crew would perish. Sixty-two others (including the Lt. Commander) would be injured and two would be listed as missing and presumed dead. It was the most devastating accident on any aircraft carrier since World War 2.
On October 26, 1967 the same Lt. Cdr (now recovered from the wounds suffered on the Forrestal) launched from the USS Kitty Hawk on his 23rd combat mission. The target was a power plant serving the city of Hanoi. At some point during that sortie a surface-to-air missile hit the A4E Sky hawk he was piloting. He ejected, was taken into custody and held as a prisoner-of-war for the next 5 1/2 years.
In 1972 I served aboard the USS Saratoga. The duty station was off the coast of North Vietnam. We were part of the U.S. Seventh fleet; He was in command of U.S. Naval forces in the pacific at that time.
All three of these men share much more than the service they have given the U.S. Navy and the nation. They are three generations of one family! They share their name with the other two.
One witnessed the surrender of the Japanese. His son rose to the level of Admiral and commanded the U.S. Navy in the Pacific while the Grandson was confined to a P.O.W. camp in Hanoi.
The grandson didn’t get the opportunity to, “over-achieve” like his father and grandfather did. POW camps tend to abbreviate careers not nurture them.
So he ran for the U.S. Senate and deviated from the legacy left by Admirals John McCain, Sr. and John McCain, Jr.
Which title would you prefer, Admiral or Senator?
On July 29, 1967 a U.S. Navy Lt. Commander sat in the cockpit of an A-4 Sky Hawk he was preparing to fly on a combat mission over North Vietnam. As he prepared himself and the aircraft for the mission he heard a loud swoosh and a low level detonation. He watched as the two aircraft in front of him burst into flame, spewing JP-5 (jet fuel) on the flight deck. He watched as one of the damaged aircraft dropped a bomb, watched as the bomb rolled across the flight deck and stopped in the middle of a burning pool of jet fuel.
In the conflagration that followed, 132 members of the ships crew would perish. Sixty-two others (including the Lt. Commander) would be injured and two would be listed as missing and presumed dead. It was the most devastating accident on any aircraft carrier since World War 2.
On October 26, 1967 the same Lt. Cdr (now recovered from the wounds suffered on the Forrestal) launched from the USS Kitty Hawk on his 23rd combat mission. The target was a power plant serving the city of Hanoi. At some point during that sortie a surface-to-air missile hit the A4E Sky hawk he was piloting. He ejected, was taken into custody and held as a prisoner-of-war for the next 5 1/2 years.
In 1972 I served aboard the USS Saratoga. The duty station was off the coast of North Vietnam. We were part of the U.S. Seventh fleet; He was in command of U.S. Naval forces in the pacific at that time.
All three of these men share much more than the service they have given the U.S. Navy and the nation. They are three generations of one family! They share their name with the other two.
One witnessed the surrender of the Japanese. His son rose to the level of Admiral and commanded the U.S. Navy in the Pacific while the Grandson was confined to a P.O.W. camp in Hanoi.
The grandson didn’t get the opportunity to, “over-achieve” like his father and grandfather did. POW camps tend to abbreviate careers not nurture them.
So he ran for the U.S. Senate and deviated from the legacy left by Admirals John McCain, Sr. and John McCain, Jr.
Which title would you prefer, Admiral or Senator?
posted by Frank at 12:21 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home