Veterans Day

Of all the veterans in my extended family only a couple are from my generation.  One has been gone for fourteen years already and I would like to introduce him to you and a strange but true story.
 
Quite awhile ago Jill and I traveled to San Diego for a business conference.  We added some vacation days to hang-out, see the sights and take-in what the southern California city had to offer.

Highlights of this short trip included time with my cousin Pete and his family along with a concert and terrific food.  We also spent the better part of a day climbing all over the USS Midway.  The first of the Midway Class of carrier, CV-41 was commissioned at the close of WW II and decommissioned in 1992 following a deployment in Operation Desert Storm.  It is a museum ship nowadays.

San Diego has so much to offer.  It is easy to hop on the city bus or the train to visit all sorts of other points of interest on Terra Firma.  If you were to take a bus to the end of the line - Point Loma - your destination affords the casual observer one of the most stunning panoramas of San Diego Bay.  It also happens to be home to Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery.  One of the most picturesque of veteran cemeteries rivaled only by the Normandy American Cemetery at Omaha Beach and Arlington National Cemetery.

Unable to attend the funeral we took the opportunity to visit the resting place of my cousin Rob.

Rob was the third son and fourth child of my mom's older brother.   We were the closest in age of these four siblings.  As a member of the 'west coast family' my time with Rob was limited to his visits here and my visits there. 

One of my fondest memories of Rob was a beer-soaked Summerfest weekend in 1977.  What a pair of young Turks we were.  I was just out of college and working on my Masters Degree while Rob had graduated college OCS and was embarking on a career in the US Navy.  On a short visit to Milwaukee we seized the opportunity to make up for lost time.

Our contacts over the next three decades were rare yet we kept in-touch - but never seemed to find enough time to talk.  Once someone is gone for good the nagging regrets about sharing more conversations never seems to go away.  

Rob made a career as an active duty sailor and served for a period of time on the Midway.  With enough years under his belt Rob eventually retired from the Navy.  Regrettably, his adjustment to civilian life was fraught and just like an outlier number of veterans he ultimately took his own life.  Our personal family tragedy is just one of many excess veteran deaths relative to the general population.  An appalling and persistent problem. 

Back to the aircraft carrier.

When visiting a museum I often avail myself of an audio tour.  With a headset the disembodied voice provides the details of the impressionist painting I am gazing-upon or some long dead pharaoh wrapped in crumbling linen.  The Midway Museum allows you to do the same with five dozen interpretive points throughout the ship and a couple of dozen restored aircraft.

While strolling-about the flight deck I approached a static display of an aircraft poised for launch.  Pressing the appropriate code the narrator had this to say –  'Here is Lieutenant Commander Robert McNulty to explain the operation of the forward catapult.'  Holy crap!  It was Rob speaking to me.
 
In his own recorded voice - cousin Rob began detailing the preparation and launch routine for fixed wing carrier aircraft.  Including how the timing of the launch had to precisely match the momentum of a pitching ship at sea.

I suppose the dead really can speak to you.

Happy Veterans Day cousin.