Every Veteran's Day, I think about my father. When he finished high school, World War II was heating up. He worked on the railroad for a bit, and then enlisted in the Navy. He served in Japanese theater through the end of the war. His ship, the Sims, a high speed transport, was involved in Battle of Okinawa and was present in Tokyo Bay on the day the surrender documents were signed. I heard the stories as I grew up, and remember, once, on a vacation, we went to visit one of his shipmates. He was serving on a ship in the Pacific in the middle of a war with kamikaze planes crashing so close that his boat was lifted clear out of the water. And, like so many of those now serving in Iraq-he was so young-younger than either of my sons. Look at the photographs below-the size of his uniform, that small ship (the one on the right) and the boy in the picture. Like so many of his peers, he simply did what duty called him to do. Salute, to him and to all who have served and continue to serve.
A.D. Hamrick in Uniform, WW II
The Sims, High Speed Transport (right)
Dad's Uniform
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