Showing posts with label pacific ocean. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pacific ocean. Show all posts
Thursday, October 4, 2012
War Is Dull
Watch a war movie and you'd think World War 2 was non stop hell. The reality was that most members of the military were support personnel and for them the conflict was more boredom than terror. My father was a ninth grade drop out who could do complex mathematical computations in his head. That skill got him four years in a darkened room breaking codes. He was stationed in England so he was able to get out and about, but he still spent most of his time on base. In the Pacific, the island campaigns were about capturing islands with airfields. The marines would land, fight for a few days, a few weeks, or a few months. After the island was taken, the air corp would move in. For the air crews, there were missions over Japan. For the ground crew, it was servicing the planes and waiting for the war to end. If they were lucky a USO show might come through. If not, they had to amuse themselves. It looks like these guys decided to put on a show, and in the all male environment of a Pacific island air base, someone had to play the girl.
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
The Epworth League Album 19, By the Sea



In my imagination this lady and her family got on a train in Iowa or Missouri, and travelled west over higher mountains than they could ever envision. They got to southern California, set up their new home and then one weekend, put on their best clothes, got on the street car and went to see the Pacific, and they were awed. I grew up in the age of photography, movies and television and knew what to expect when I saw the Pacific Ocean for the first time. I wasn't awed, and that's a terrible thing.
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