Another year has rolled around ... I am in my 80th year. I will explain that, it was explained to me recently. I just had, in September, my 79th birthday ...... but, I am presently in my 80th year .... because, you live for one whole year before you are 1 ......... so, from birth to your first birthday, you are in your first year .... so, I am in my 80th year.
I can get two years worth of uhs and ahs, this year and next year. "How old are you, Joe?"
"I am in my 80th year."
And, "How old are you Joe."
"Turned 80 last September."
Veterans Day.
My Grandfather, Caleb Dooley, was in the Civil War. My Father, Ralph Dean Dooley, M.D., was in World War One. My Brother, Dean Shannon Dooley was in World War Two.
I was in the Navy during the Korean War, Son Dean was in during Viet Nam, and Son Brad served during Desert Storm. A long family line of veterans.
My Veteran story, which I have told here before, but will repeat, as I often do.
OSU-Navy football game a few years ago. I wore a hat my son Brad had given me. Navy hat BMU-2 STINGERS ...... Dooley on the back. I wore it to that game. At the Varsity Club a Navy Captain approached me, looked at my hat, extended his hand, and said, "Thanks for your service."
That happened a lot that day, first day I really felt like a Veteran.
I had a good four years in the Navy. Spent two years in San Diego working in the Discipline Office for the Eleventh Naval District, discharged the "Bad Boys," and there were quite a few of them, did a couple of months on Shore Patrol in Tijuana, and spent two years on the USS William Mitchell, hauling troops and dependents to Japan and other points East. So, I had a good four years.
I remember WWII well, had a Victory Garden, collected cans and grease, we had ration cards, and a sticker on Dad's car for gasoline purchases. I remember sugar being scarce, neighbors coming to our house to say hello when they were home on leave. Bob Shook spent time in the water when his aircraft carrier sank, and came to tell us about it. We had a Stromberg-Carlson radio, which you could record on little white records. We used it a lot, neighbors and friends would stop by and make a record to send overseas, and often, people would bring records they had received for us to play for them.
I remember spending many hours in front of the radio listening to war news. I did get to see FDR In a parade in Dayton, riding with Charles Kettering and Orville Wright.
I will never forget, and it is as vivid in my memory now, as it was that morning, when the Navy Recruiter drove his gray Navy vehicle, up Montgomery Road, to pick up our Son, Brad, and take him away, to serve in the Navy. A sadness and emptiness that is hard to explain, and so many people have gone through similar experiences.
My Dad often told the story about looking back at his Father, Caleb, the Civil War Veteran, as he left on a train in Marion, Indiana, to go to his basic training in World War I. Caleb had lived through the horrors of war, and knew what his son was heading towards.
Just think what this country could be like, if it were not for veterans, and those who gave their lives.
