This is a picture of my dad taken in 1944. He was standing in the yard of his parents' home in Portland, Oregon. He was on his way to war.
Being that this is Labor Day weekend - a holiday weekend in the U.S. - I have taken a break from labor and have been watching some movies and reading some books. I'll get to the movies in a bit, first let me mention a book I read in half a day yesterday. I read it straight through so fast 'cause 1) I'm a pretty fast reader, 2) the writing was very, very good - tight and not a word wasted, and 3) the story was un-put-down-able. I read Doug Stanton's "In Harm's Way."
The book was published in 2002 [the paperback] and I'd never read it. So I read it: because my dad had been a Navy man and I had also been in the Navy for a bit, and because I've always been curious to know what did happen in July of 1945 to the USS Indianapolis AND the reviews for Stanton's book were excellent and compelling.
If you are a fan of film, and know the dialogue to the movie Jaws by heart, then you know of the character Quint and his telling of the tale of the sinking of the USS Indianapolis - "...You know by the end of that first dawn, lost a hundred men. I don't know how many sharks, maybe a thousand. I know how many men, they averaged six an hour...." [from the IMDb Jaws page]
My dad passed away in 1998 and in all the years of my life I personally never heard him speak of the war. He served towards the end of World War II and during what was termed The Korean Conflict. I've looked through the photos he'd saved from those days and seen pictures of him in his dress whites, like above [he was an officer] and photos of him in full combat gear. He was aboard ship off Korea the day I was born in fact. The photo to the right is my dad taken aboard the USS Bayfield in 1951. Because of reading Stanton's book yesterday I dug through some old photos and found this one. Just now I did an online search and learned that the USS Bayfield has had a long and distinquished career. When this photo was shot in 1951, the ship was involved in the Korean War in the First UN Counter Offensive, 26 February to 7 March 1951. My dad was about 33 years old, had a wife and his first baby girl back in the states.
Reading In Harm's Way made me wonder about what experiences my dad had gone through. He was such a gentle and quiet man...it's quite hard for me to believe he could hold a gun, much less shoot it at someone else.
My dad is buried in the military cemetery in Honolulu Hawaii. When my mom passed away in 2006 we took her remains to join with my dad's. That's me in the late summer of 2006 standing before the awesome statue known as Columbia, standing on the stylized prow of a ship. The inscription is moving - the poignant sympathy expressed by President Abraham Lincoln to Mrs. Bixby, mother of five sons who died in battle, "...THE SOLEMN PRIDE THAT MUST BE YOURS TO HAVE LAID SO COSTLY A SACRIFICE UPON THE ALTER OF FREEDOM." I kind of felt that way that day. Especially since I truly hate war.
I was very glad to learn that the captain of the USS Indianapolis was ultimately cleared of any wrong-doing [as he should never have been charged in the first place!] even though it was years after his death. Doing a bit of research for this post I came across a blog, Den of Geek!, and an article there written a year ago this week which reported the trials and tribulations of bringing this tragic story to the big screen. Frankly I'm not sure it should be...and who to do it? I think JJ Abrams. And Benedict Cumberbatch as the doctor and Tom Hardy as the captain. That's my idea.
Speaking of Tom Hardy...went to the cinema with my daughter Kim and we saw the movie 'Lawless.' It is a good movie. Here's what I think:
*it is violent - Kim and I did lots of peeking-through-fingers
*the movie itself is not Oscar-worthy - I think the biggest flaw is in cutting...when Jack Bondurant starts making money, the movie gets a bit jumpy and jerky taking him from wearing his daddy's old suit to hand-tailored suits too fast too soon with no appreciable changes in his brothers' circumstances
*there are two Oscar-worthy performances in my humble opinion: Tom Hardy as Forrest Bondurant and Shia Labeouf as little brother Jack. These two characters lived and breathed.
I also [finally] watched I Am Legend with Will Smith as the scientist trying to undo the zombie disease thing. I know what you're thinking...this movie has been out a while...but sometimes it takes me a while to catch up. I liked it. I heard there's going to be an I Am Legend 2 coming out next year. What have you heard?
I also rewatched Julie & Julia last night. Love it, love it and love it. Do you think Julia Child really did dislike Julie's blog? I hope not. I have Julia Child's cookbooks on the bookshelf in my kitchen and have yet to use them. I also have this wonderful cuisines of China cookbook. Playing around with the idea of doing a foodie/cooking blog that alternates between recipes in both. What do you think?
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