UNCLE M.J. AT PEARL HARBOR

I was born in 1939, and that was just at the same time that my Uncle M.J. joined the navy as a 17 year old from the dryness of west Texas. As one of 14 brothers and sisters who had barely survived the misery of the depression, he was probably looking for a new adventure. He found it in the order and good food of the U.S. Navy, and it wasn't long before he found himself as a 16" gunner on the U.S.S. Maryland anchored at Pearl Harbor.


The U.S.S. Maryland was parked just inside the U.S.S. Oklahoma at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, and M.J., who was a turret gunner on a 16" gun, survived the attack. The battleship escaped from the harbor and headed for Washington state where it was reconditioned and prepared for battle. It then headed back to the Pacific where it bombarded island to island for the remainder of the war. By the time the war ended, Mike was a 23 year old veteran who had seen his great amount of death and destruction. He often told some of those stories, but I believe he kept many inside because of their depth of horror.

Following the war, the U.S.S. Maryland returned to Washington where it was decomissioned and placed in dry dock. Mike placed on a bedroom wall a 12x18 inch plaque from his gun turret on the U.S.S. Maryland. He had taken it in his duffle bag as he left his "home" for the final time. It was a wonderful remembrance of his years of service.

My uncle Mike, as the U.S. Navy named him, died on Tuesday, Septmeber 16. RL and I will attend his memorial service in Littlefield, Texas this Saturday. We will also visit the Lamb County Veterans Memorial where his name appears with those of five of his brothers. They all came home from the great wars.

Mike was truly one of the greatest generation. I will miss him.

I'll use a future blog to tell some more of his story. It is fascinating.