Nature Lover

Going into WWII at age 17 (lied to get into the Navy) my father was no nature lover. What he loved was airplanes and flying. The Navy recognized his gifts and sent him to flying school. Thence to the Pacific to fly dive bombers off of aircraft carriers. He was also a gifted navigator. Once on a navigation exam he calculated that the test question only worked if the plane was flying backwards. He wrote that on the test and handed it in. He got an A. All the other students failed.

Sent out on missions in the Pacific everything was calculated according to priorities. The first priority was always to engage the enemy. Getting back to the carrier was never the first priority. Many times the fuel was on empty when the carrier was finally sighted. On one return mission at night the carrier was not where it was supposed to be. There was nothing more to do. If the carrier is not where it is supposed to be at the time that it is supposed to be there, then it is impossible to know which direction to fly. And of course, because of the war, the carrier was 'lights out' and 'radios out'.

Then, just up ahead, my father saw a phospherescent green stream in the water. A river of life as my father described it being churned up by the hull and by the props of the boat. He flew right up that glowing green stream in the pitch black night and slammed down on the carrier's deck.

When the war was over he developed an interest in Nature.

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