My father-in-law passed away this last weekend at 94. He was a child of a broken home during the depression era. He raised himself. During WW II, he celebrated his 19th birthday on the U.S.S. Nevada firing shells at Normandy Beach on D-Day. Nevada deployed to the South Pacific, where it was at every major battle. Nevada was the target of several Kamakazi planes. The gun turret next to him was blown apart by a Kamikaze and dozens of men blown to bits. I was with him a week ago when a caregiver asked him he was ever in an explosion or a fire, and he said, "No." I then said, what about Nevada he said that was just war.
He returned from the war and like many a G.I.'s settled into civilian life. In the mid 50"s a devastating tornado leveled his home. The family had to struggle to recover. Rebuild they did, of course — that's what they did with no government assistance.
I married his oldest daughter and got to be part of his family and his life for 38 years, I knew him best in his final years, when we moved close to him to be together in his last years. I am saying flatly they don't make them like that anymore.
He was just as unsinkable as his ship. The following video is so much similar to his life story.
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