Geezus. Talk about regrets

[scottcolbath]

When I was a kid, I never asked my dad about his service in Korea, or my Uncle Paul's service in WW2, nor any of the vets I was friends with at the Amvets club that those two people (dad and uncle) were members of when I was a kid. It was just not appropriate. My dad died in 1975 when I was 13, so my uncle Paul became the replacement dad. He was totally cool and I learned a lot from him about life.

Much later (2004), I heard from an aunt, that my dad went to Korea and came back a different person. I also heard that my uncle (who died in 1986) was a member of the few who were tasked with manning the B-17s in the Pacific. I never gave any of this a second thought.

Then tonight, I'm watching PT-109 and I decided to look up my uncle. Here is what I found:

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=28563279

The friggin' guy was flying Corsairs off a carrier!!

Anyway, I loved both my dad and my uncle. They were very close to me. I lost both of them too early. To find out what I did tonight about my uncle is awesome.

I will never forget flying a Cessna many times with him as a kid, and one time barfing all over the floor of the plane on our way to Maine in 1974 due to turbulence. He brought the plane down to just above the water along the coast of New Hampshire and Maine on our way to Cherryfield, Maine to avoid the turbulent air and keep me OK. I had to scrape the barf out of the plane with a scrap chunk of 2X4 I found at the air strip.

He gave me lots of advice growing up after my dad died. He and my dad were very close. I cherish those lessons and many memories spent with him.

The picture on that link above is perfect. A glass of Chivas Regal and a cigarette. The smokes eventually took him down, but he was a cool guy and badass to the end.

I spent the summer of 1980 as his chauffeur due to his suffering from lung cancer and going through chemo, and spent much of the next six years helping him in any way I could.

In the winter of 1986, I moved from Massachusetts to Colorado Springs. At that time, uncle Paul was back in the hospital due to the cancer. I went to the hospital to say my goodbyes and went on my way. When I arrived at my new house a few days later in Colorado, I put the phone on the wall, since the service was already activated. The phone rang ten minutes later with the news that he had died. It was OK. He was younger than the average dead dude, but he had lived a life like few others.

I could go on, but I think I've said enough. Uncle Paul was an awesome guy.



S.C.