A close call

History happens. Our family story almost didn’t.

Dad served on the USS Essex in World War II. She was the first of a new class of aircraft carriers commissioned for service in the second world war. Five days before Dad turned 20, he was on deck with his future brother-in-law Durward (Dude) Pontius when the alarm was raised for a kamikaze strike. Sailors descending the ladder close behind Dad and Dude didn’t survive. Our families came that close to never existing. I previously mentioned this event in The Tenuous Thread of Life and Edwin Frank Springsteen, 1924-2016.

Dad received two pictures of this attack from a shipmate known as Sloot, who I‘ll leave anonymous.

On a lighter note, Sloot was a real entertainer. When he was around, you had to be prepared for the unexpected. On one occasion, as Sloot and his sainted wife were leaving a restaurant in Frankenmuth, Michigan with Mom and Dad, he staggered to the ground roaring drunk, making quite a spectacle. Mom reported that he hadn’t touched a drop of alcohol.

I included a picture of Essex shipmates and their wives in my article about Dad’s life. Here are a couple of pictures of the boys. Can you tell which one was Sloot? Uncle Dude was on the left.