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May 4, 2005

The long road home 

So, I shall regale ye all with many a tale of the sea-farin' life... when I get the pictures back sometime in the next couple days. Till then, you'll have to suck it up.

I've been home now for six days, but I had more important things to do than blog.

I had to bury Grandad.

My Grandad was a Sailor through and through. He was a veteran of Peleliu as a corpsman attached to the Marines, and retired as a Master Chief Hospital Corpsman with over 27 years on active duty. He was tattooed, salty, used nautical terms in his everyday speech, and in 1945 you could have put him on a Navy recruiting poster. He was also perhaps one of the kindest, funniest, and most caring men I have ever known. I will miss him dearly.

He wears his blues now, was laid to rest by a detail of Sailors, and was honored by a 21-gun salute from a Marine firing detail. His flag was folded tight, and almost on cue two F-18's from MCAS Miramar thundered overhead as the last note of taps faded into the distance. My brother looked at me and asked if that was supposed to happen. I told him no, but in the cosmic scheme of things... maybe...

He lays at rest, next to my Grandmother, (a veteran herself of both the Coast Guard and the WAVES during WWII) a woman I never got to meet - but who by all accounts was incredible, and the love of his life.

He has checked into his final duty station.

Fair winds and following seas, Doc. Till we meet again.
Posted by: Mike the Marine / 22:02
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