BOOK SEA BAG OF MEMORIES(BOX50)

 COURTESY OF GIBSONS TACTICAL TAVERN                                                                       MILITARY SURPLUS LISTING INDIVIDUALLY PICTURED

SEA OF MEMORIES: IMAGES, POEMS, THOUGHTS AND CRAFTS OF THE SMALL SHIP SAILORS OF WORLD WAR TWO

AUTHOR  WM. J. VEIGELE

**WHEN THE JAPANESE STRUCK PEARL HARBOR, MANY PEARL HARBOR, MANY AMERICAN MEN JOINED THE U.S. NAVY AND COAST GUARD.  SOME BECAME CREW MEMBERS OF SMALL SHIPS THEY CALLED THE DONALD DUCK NAVY.  THESE SHIPS GUARDED AMERICAN COASTLINES, STALKED SUBMARINES, AND ESCORTED CONVOYS ACROSS THE OCEANS. IN EUROPE AND IN THE PACIFIC THEY SWEPT MINES AND ALSO LED LANDING CRAFT TO INVASION BEACHES.                                                                    LIFE ABOARD THE SHIPS WAS CROWDED AND CRAMPED WITH NO PRIVACY. THEY PITCHED, YAWED, AND ROLLED VICIOUSLY, DECKS AWASH, FORECASTLES, PILOT HOUSES, AND FLYING BRIDGES BURIED UNDER WATER. THEY WEATHERED THE WORST OF NATURE AND THE ENEMY AND THEIR CREWS ENDURED AND FOUGHT THE WAR AS BRAVELY AS DID OTHER SOLDIERS. THESES YOUNG MEN WERE A SPECIAL TYPE, MOSTLY RESERVISTS WITH NO PREVIOUS SEA DUTY.  THEY LEARNED FAST AND PERFORMED ALL THE MISSIONS ASSIGNED TO THEM.                                                      LIKE MANY SAILORS, THEY PLAYED MUSIC, WROTE POETRY, PAINTED, AND CRAFTED ITEMS THAT WERE ORIGNAL AND ARTISTIC.  IT IS AMAZING THAT THEY HAD THE MENTAL AND PHYSICAL DISCIPLINE TO DO THIS UNDER CRAMPED AND BRUTAL CONDITIONS.  THIS BOOK IS A TRIBUTE TO THEM, AND IT HELPS TO PRESERVE AND RECORD SOME OF THOSE ORIGNAL CREATIONS.