A Story For Memorial Day

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With Memorial Day just passed I wanted to relay a story my Dad told me about his service in the Pacific. He served in the army and was assigned to bring marines and equipment onshore in landing crafts known as LCM's during island assaults on the Japanese. One time my Dad was bringing in soldiers when they spotted a Japanese submarine. The sub fired a torpedo at the landing craft, but an American destroyer in the area intentionally put itself in the path of this torpedo. The destroyer sunk with the men on board and many life's were lost. I asked my Dad why the ship sacrificed itself, and he said "they must of believed it was more important for us to arrive on shore safely." I relay this story as I just heard on the news about a book coming out of WWII Navy pilot Jack "Dusty" Kleiss who was a hero at the Battle of Midway. The book, "Never Call Me A Hero," tells the story of Lieutenant Kleiss's heroics in bombing 2 aircraft carriers and a cruiser. He was the only pilot ever to achieve such a feat and received the Navy Cross as a result. Dusty turned One-hundred in March, and was the last surviving pilot from the Battle of Midway. He passed 1 month later before seeing the book completed. On a personal note, I give a belated thanks to all our veterans of all wars who sacrificed so much to keep us safe DB