A relative of mine, of whom I was very fond, was a 23 year-old
sailor on the USS Oklahoma in Pearl Harbor this day, 70 years ago.
When the three torpedoes hit, Marshel Moorhouse and his mates
scrambled up 5 decks to the supposed safety of the main deck.
During their journey, or upon reaching their destination, the ship
listed, then rolled over, spilling hundreds of her sailors into the
harbor. "Pud" Moorhouse swam through burning oil slicks for
the better part of two hours before reaching safety.
Days later, he and some fellow sailors were commended by
Admiral Chester Nimitz for their brave and heroic actions.
Years later, Pop Pop neither chose to revisit Pearl Harbor on
any anniversary, nor did he care to rehash any terrifying memories.
And he was perfectly fine with that, from what I gathered .
We finally got our new French Drains dug after the Hurricane Irene
debacle. With two sump pits and a 5000 watt generator for an
emergency, I'm confident we'll have no more water in the basement.
After the cement dried, the final step was to paint the floor, which I
started to do today. The color was a no-brainer: Battleship Gray.
(They actually called it slate gray) Looks like Battleship to me.
Painting the floor is the frickin' easiest thing to do. No drop-cloths,
no worries about drips from the roller, and the inevitable millions
of spatter specks that come from the roller fall where? To the floor.
I kept thinking about the fo'c's'le floor of the Intrepid and how if
it's good enough for an aircraft carrier, it's good enough for
my basement. I may even paint my oil tank red with a brass top.
Even Putt Putt had a gray interior. Shit, my Dad and Uncles
painted the oars gray as well. Note the oar leathers fastened
with brass tacks. She wasn't always rowed; there was a 3 HP
Johnson that moved me and my cousin through the gunners'
ditches that we explored every weekend like we'd never
seen any of them before. Looks like 'Vision', Dad's Lightning,
was on the mooring ball in the background. I was sporting my
white boating 'Stride Rites', and ready to row.
I used to wear Stride Rite shoes when I was kid!
ReplyDeleteSale on gray paint, eh? My dad's color was beige. Beige house, beige office furnishings, beige car. (boring!) At least we had a Blue Lido!
The only danger when painting a floor is painting yourself into a corner. Especially in a basement. :)
I had a neighbor when I was in college who had been a cook on the Pennsylvania, which was in drydock at Pearl when the attack occurred.
Before moving to Japan, I took Kimie to see the Arizona Memorial. A few years ago, we visited Hiroshima. One hopes that someday the lessons will be learned by everyone around the world, but the wars keep coming... sigh.
What kind of dog is that I keep seeing over and over again in your posts?
ReplyDeleteBaydog, I'm with Anonymo! I want to know about that DOG in the stern! What's 'is name? He seems to be running traffic and keeping it clear!
ReplyDeleteMaxie (Moxie) was a black and tan Dachshund.
ReplyDelete