The Navy Saved Me

The anniversary of the date that I raised my right hand and swore an oath to the Constitution of the United States of America and became a seventeen year old sailor in the United States Navy is March 9th. This is 2023 and that was 62 years ago and I am now 79 years of age. But I wouldn't be here without the navy. I quit school in my junior year, just after the return from the Christmas and New Year’s holidays. My girlfriend and I had had a terrible breakup, almost like a divorce, the summer before, and I was terribly hurt. And I had to see her every day in band during the school week. In every sense that I understood at that age and time, I was deeply in love with her. And I was dying inside. My grades were declining, I was driving fast, drinking beer, and with the wrong friends for me. I was in a downward spiral and headed for trouble. My grandmother, Louise Lessert, who had raised me, was dying from lung cancer and was constantly hospitalized. A friend joined the navy and Jess Paul Tomey, the big Indian, as we called him, and I went to Ponca City with Charlie Edgar just to keep him company while he completed his papers. That introduced Jess and me to the recruiter. The navy was in the back of my mind while I struggled with everything that was going on. Also, the girl and I couldn't completely separate in spite of the bad break up. I got my mother's permission to enlist and I quit school and enlisted. The discipline required of me to survive boot camp, to go on to six months in radar "A" school, and then go aboard the USS Point Defiance (LSD-31) and serve there for three years, gave me the tools I needed to survive my broken heart and screwed up life. So, the navy doesn't owe me. I owe the navy. I owe the navy a debit I can never repay. I love to hear, "Thank you for your service." But then I feel guilty because it wasn't service, it was a giant life raft that saved my life and allowed me to have so many wonderful things in my life instead of becoming the eighteen year old kid killed while driving too fast because he didn't care about living. The navy saved my life and I am so grateful that it did.