Lest I Forget

One morning, as I was getting ready for a trip away from home. I sat down with my boys to give them instructions work that I wanted them to do while I was away. They started whinning and complaining - and I lost my cool. Later, I regreted the things that I had said to them, and felt compelled to write an apology letter.
This is what I wrote:

Help me to remember my youth and the awkward trial and error approach to maturity. Please renew in my mind the joys and disappointments associated with this turbulent time of growth and change. Remind me that this was a period of search for meaning, for relevance, for identity -- a period of strong frequently mixed, and sometimes frightening emotions -- a time for criticizing status quo and for challenging authority.

May I be reminded that outwardly I knew everything and secretly was afraid that I knew nothing. I would remember the importance of approval, the eagerness with which I sought to please, and the frequency of my failures. I also need to remember the patience and understanding of people who accepted me for what I was, and invested in my future with their kindness. I need to be constantly aware of the strong significance of these investments and the important role they have played throughout my adult life.

Most of all I need to be aware and thankful that these young people are sharing this beautiful period of their lives with me. Please grant me the wisdom to make the proper investments!

USS Thomas Stone

Before I met Rita, my first tour in the Navy was aboard the USS Thomas Stone. We practiced maneuvers with the British Army troops, early November 1942. We set out to make the invasion of North Africa.

As we entered the Straits of Gibraltar, we were torpedoed by an aerial attack. I saw the plane as it circled the convoy. Evasive action was taken by the ship, and the torpedo almost missed us. However, it did hit and exploded, ripping a large hole, which destroyed the propeller and navigational system.

To learn more about the attack read the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships account.

The Woman of My Dreams

In the meantime, I've finished my minority hitch of four years in the Navy. I was discharged and went back home and worked with my uncle and was in the town of Brunswick, Georgia for a short time.
I decided that I needed more education, and I thought another hitch in the Navy would offer that. So I rejoined the Navy, and was stationed Norfolk Naval Shipyard. I called Rita and asked her if she could come down to see me. Much to my surprise, she responded in the affirmative, and we spent a beautiful time together touring the old city of Norfolk, riding the ferry and getting to know one another.
When the time came that she had to leave, I told her that I did not want her to go. She told me that she couldn't stay, but could come back again. So with that thought in mind, I began preparing for what I hoped to be our wedding. I rented a little house in Alexandra Park on the Portsmouth side of the river and started fixing it up. Stocking it with food and other necessities that I could think of and waited impatiently to hear from Rita.
She did return, and agreed to marry me. The wedding took place in Navy shipyard chapel. I can remember we had a wedding supper of sardines and crackers and it seemed as though we were having fillet mignon. We had guests from the wedding, who apparently wanted to spend the night, Rita seemed agreeable. I did not. So finally, we were left to ourselves to well you know.....

The Beginning of a Beautiful Relationship

I returned to the United States for reassignment in 1945. I went to Providence, R.I., to meet with recruits who had just completed boot camp. From there, me and the other recruits went on a shakedown cruise to test the performance of the ship down the Gulf Coast and stayed for a few nights in Galveston, Texas.

"We were sitting there in the Galvez Hotel coffee shop when Johnnie Beis nudged me and said, 'Look, Atch!,"' he said. "And there were two beautiful women coming down the stairway."

I immediately hit it off with one of the women, her name was Loreta (Rita) Sheppard. Loreta had never seen the ocean and was on vacation with a friend. She was from Kansas City, Kansas in Wyandotte County. We spent the day together and agreed that I would continue writing her while I was at sea. About a year passed before I saw Loreta again.

Saved by the Navy

I always wanted to join the navy, but they weren't too interested in me, because I was only 16 at the time. So things begain to develop that would change my future. I moved to Macon, Georgia, and worked at a service station. I was servicing an automobile, and had it up on the rack and let it down with all the old drained out of it. I was called out to the front to service customers. When I came back the car was gone, the owner having been use to getting special service took the car without even telling the people.
He drove about 14 miles to a little town of Gray, before he noticed anything out of the ordinary. He was a valuable customer and I was expendable, but I was going to be able to keep my job if I paid five dollars a week until a replacement engine was paid for. I'm been thinking about joining the Navy again, so I did.