Megan G.

Man (Almost) Overboard!


During the Korean War, between about 1950 to 1953, my grandfather was an American Navy Sailor on a destroyer ship. At the time, Dwight Eisenhower was president. My grandfather, or Papa as I called him, believed in Eisenhower and his country and was patriotic. William Holmes, my grandfather, was a rather small statured man with a young face during his early years. He had short brown hair with brown eyes. He and his sister enlisted in the Navy as soon as the war began. My grandfather was from a military background, and loved fighting for his country.

When he was about 25 years old, he was stationed on the destroyer off the coast of the Philippines. The destroyer was named U.S.N.S. Fred C. Ainsworth. It was rather small compared to some of the ships of its day. He complained of the terrible food, like the same plain rice and bread everyday, the cramped smelly living quarters, and that basically every part of the ship was painted the color gray. He was a very low-level sailor, but he was also one of the ship’s electricians, as that was his trade. One of his jobs as the electrician was to change the movie reels when the sailors were watching films during the night. When one reel ended, he would put the next one into the movie projector.

One fateful night, a storm was rocking the destroyer. Almost everyone on the ship was inside watching movies. My grandfather was in charge of changing the movie reels, as usual. After swapping the reels, he went outside onto the deck to have a look at the storm. The lightning bolts flashed all around the sky, blinding him. He could hear the thunder clapping and the waves beneath him colliding into the side of the boat. The sounds of the storm were deafening, and the rain pounded him until he was soaked thoroughly through. Before he could go inside to safety, a huge wave came out of nowhere and crashed onto the deck of the destroyer. My grandfather was swept off his feet and almost into the open ocean!

Luckily, at the last moment, he reached out and grabbed a rope of some kind that was hanging off the side of the boat. If he had not done that, he would have been whisked away into the water never to be heard from again. But, he was not safe yet. As he hung from the rope like a monkey, he realized that no one knew of his terrible situation. They were all inside watching the quite long movie! A sense of dread poured through him, as he hung on for what seemed like years. He knew he was probably going to die, as he couldn’t hold on forever. He tried yelling for help, but no one answered his calls.

Fortunately, inside, the movie had ended. After waiting a couple of minutes, the men came to look for him when no one changed the reel. Surprised, one of them came and rescued my grandfather off the side of the boat before it was too late.  As he was so close to death, my grandfather must have felt like he’d just received all the money in the world when he was pulled to safety. His ordeal was over. He soon went inside to put the next movie on, and to rest and recuperate. My grandfather continued serving the Navy until the Korean War ended. He came home a proud man with lots of stories to tell.      

This story reflects my grandfather’s bravery. He risked his life to fight in the war. Even though it is not fun to think about, if my grandfather had not held on until someone came to save him, he would have died. That means my mother would have never been born, and neither would I. My family is lucky that my grandfather had such heart to hold on for so long. Sadly, my grandfather died from a heart attack two years ago. I am proud to have had such a courageous man as my grandfather.

 

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