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RevRick -> RE: The most terrifying sound in WW2..... (12/21/2004 2:53:28 AM)
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One of my parishioners was a very gentle, tall, older man who was quiet of voice, and impeccable in demeanor. At one of our Men's Group suppers, someone asked me about a trip my best friend and I had taken my son on to see the Yorktown. I told them about the carrier and the sub. This very tall, stately gentlemen said he was on one of those old diesel boats once. Looking at his age, and wondering, I asked him when. He told me about being in the Marines, and being transported by sub to scout the beaches and camps prior to the invasion of Bouganville. To him, the clanking of the Japanese troops mess kits were frightening, because they told him how close they were to get the proper counts for the camps. A couple of days later they rowed off the beach at night, but had enough of a wind problem to miss their pickup by the sub. They rowed as far out to sea as they could, and the next day were spotted by a Jap aircraft. They played dead, but didn't know what would happen. Later, they spotted a periscope looking right at them, but didn't know whose it was. It turned out to be their sub, finding them after a days search (which was incaculably lucky). But, to him, he said he hates to wash dishes because when the flatware clanks together, it makes that same kind of sound.
BTW, this is not a "sea story." We shared some of those when he was in the hospital. This was an old vet telling me things he hadn't told anyone in the church. Since my Dad was a Marine in the same area, I felt specially privileged that he would share that with me, as his pastor.
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