Alabama

The Alabama Crimson Tide beat the Texas A&M Aggies today. During the game, a friend asked me what A&M stood for. I took a guess that it was Agricultural and Mechanical. Later I looked it up and guess what … that is exactly what A&M stands for. I just can’t help it. I’m always right. About everything. You can argue with me, but if you do you’ll be wrong, even if I can’t prove it. I guess it’s the one and only gift that God gave me. “Mr. VirtualWayne, you will always be correct.” But then, I could be wrong about that.

My dad was born in Greenville, Alabama. He was always a fan of Crimson Tide football. But he didn’t attend that university, or for that matter, any university. He was pulled into the U.S. Army when he was about 16 or 17 years of age. Here’s what happened.

My dad and his brother loved camping, so they joined the Alabama National Guard when my dad was 16 or 17. In order to join the Guard, they lied about their ages. And they had their share of camping with the Guard. But then a little thing called “Pearl Harbor” happened, and the Alabama National Guard was pulled into the U.S. Army. And suddenly my dad was in the Army. Then he was sent to Virginia, to what was at that time called Camp Lee. Today it’s called Fort Lee. That is where he met my mother.

After some training, my dad was sent to the South Pacific to fight the war with Japan. He was a radio operator. He sent and received messages by Morse code. Side note: when I was about 14 years old I was an amateur radio operator (a.k.a. “ham” radio operator). I communicated with other “hams” around the USA using Morse code.

My dad fought the Japanese in places like New Guinea and the Philippines. He never talked about it much, but once in a while he would share a story about the war. Today I have friends who fought in Vietnam. They don’t talk much about that either. I can understand. You do what you have to do. Talking about it just brings back unpleasant memories.