George has just learned that there are actual people, sitting at their computers, asking these questions.

Woah...that's amazing...do they not have jobs?

it's saturday georgie boy!

when you're unemployed &/ 94, saturdays and wednesdays seem the same.

Everyday is Sunday when you're unemployed.

Especially for a chaplain!

You should see this place Monday to Friday, 9-5, a graveyard I tell ya!

We are hoping george does not see a graveyard for some years to come.

[deleted]

Must be all the radiation!

These gosh darn whippersnappers! Back in my day, we worked ^every day!

Classic George

I bet George's grandson sure is having a good time reading all these hilarious comments. I know I am!

Damn straight. I'm printing out all of em too, so George can take them home and read them over and over...and over...

To be fair, it's Saturday.

To be fair, the weekend had not been invented in his day

thanks union.

Thanks Obama Woodrow Wilson!

Woah...that's amazing...do they not have jobs?

Age has not dimmed this mind

Yeah, I think he could probably get along pretty well here on Reddit. Don't take no shit from nobody!

[deleted]

Huzzah!

Sorry about that job thing though...that sucks...

George is toddling off to take a nap right now, but he is really enjoying answering your questions, and we will be back in about an hour to answer more, so keep asking!

I just told him about how many people had upvoted this (or "liked" as I put it, and here is the conversation, which I found very funny:

Me: So granddad, all these people are commenting, and 117 people have liked it.

Wow...woah...that is a lot of people! That's amazing...I can't believe that many people would want to hear about me...wow... That is a lot of open minded people! Do some people not like it?

Me: Well, 16 people disliked, but that isn't very many.

Well, forget about them, huh? They'll come around... I am amazed at the porportion there...so many people!

Me: Are you off to take a nap now?

Yep, and the best place I know to do that is on my bed! Bye!

Edit: Aaaaand we're back!

Reddit automatically balances up votes with downvotes. So it's possible that only a couple of people downvoted you.

I understand that, but it was just simpler to not have to explain vote fuzzing to a 96 year old, even though he is pretty good with computers. That would be a little bit much for him to wrap his head around, that a computer can automatically balance things out and make them fair even as users are still adding and subtracting votes is pretty amazing.

What did you see in your career (battles, places,etc) that left you awestruck?

That's a good question. I was in Hiroshima, at ground zero one month after the atomic bomb was dropped. The fact that I could walk around there without any danger was amazing to me. I was expecting that I would get some illness immediately. I just walked around, picked up a couple souvenirs, one of which I pocketed and took home.

Me: What about the typhoon you were in?

Which one?

Me: Fair enough (he was in the typhoon that the Caine Mutiny was based on)

First of all, everyone had to go below decks to get out of the storm. At the same time the ship is throbbing and bouncing around on the waves. I went up to the bridge to check it out when there were lulls in the storm.

I was not only in Hiroshima, but we also went across the bay to where Nagasaki was hit too, and we saw pretty much the same results. The damage was very sobering. When I got to go to shore I found a Methodist minister who lived in Tokyo, and became good friends with him and his wife, who was just as concerned about us as we were concerned about her.

"one of which I pocketed and took home."

What did you pocket?

Thank you for your service and this IMA!

One was a glass bottle and the other was a dish of some sort. They had both been in a refrigerator. I thought about the unusual combination of things, that these two things had been in a refrigerator, and the refrigerator was closed, and that the explosion had broken the refrigerator open, but not the glass, and whatever had been in the bottle and on the plate had just disappeared. Of course, there was a chance that there was nothing in there, but it doesn't make much sense to have an empty bottle in the fridge!.

I am a writer for a large online gaming community newsletter and I've been looking for a WWII vet to interview. Would he be willing to grant me an online interview of 10 questions or so for our gaming newsletter?

He says "sure".

Excellent. Would you please message me privately with a date and time? My schedule is fairly open.

As a fellow writer, I'd suggest taking the initiative (if you really want the story) and give him a few options for times and dates. Or offer the option to send over a list of questions beforehand given the subject's age. People don't always go for setting up your interview themselves. Just a suggestion. Seriously not trying to be a dick!

Yeah, I list of questions that we could do like we are doing this AMA would be best, otherwise it is a little difficult for him. Old age and memory loss and stuff...what were we talking about again?

Indiana Jones.

Damn snakes...I hate snakes...

Why does it have to be snakes?

Because the director's a dick?

If you could go back in time and relive one moment. What would it be and why?

The moment I fell in love with Carmel [his wife, who he loved more than anything, and who died 4 years ago], and I can give anybody details about that, I will never forget it. Where do I begin? The day I met her, I was attending the first dinner of the year at the refectory at the seminary and I had a friend who was just a friend by chance, who let it be known that he was taking a girl to that first dinner, that she was a concert violinist and that they would be maybe a little late, but they would be there. His name Donald, and two minutes before dinnertime Donald and his car with Carmel in it pulled up to the refectory and my friend and I were waiting up on the second level of the building which is where the diningroom was. Together we watched them step out of their car and come up the steps to the diningroom and at the top of the stairs we ushered them quickly into the diningroom because the chaplain was about to say the blessing. When we sat down, by chance, Carmel sat next to me. Her friend Donald was on the other side. We had some pleasant conversation, and at the end of the meal, when we stood up to say goodbye to each other, all the other people at the table who were friends of mine had other places to go, leaving Carmel and me for a minute to decide what we wanted to do. Carmel spoke up and said that any of us who wanted to could come to her house in Chatham [NJ] and she would give us a violin concert. Carmel and I had a chance to chat and then when she finished playing the selections that she chose, and everybody took that as a signal that it was time to go, Carmel and I, who had talked before the group left had let each other know that we had wanted to see "Lost Horizon", a movie that was on TV, and with everyone leaving, and with I wanting to stay with Carmel, I said I would stay and keep her company. And so we watched this wonderful movie, and when the movie ended, I had no idea what to do next. It was time to leave, but I didn't want to leave, I wanted to stay with her. So I said, I would see her later and I went back to my room.

10 days my partner in my dormitory answered the phone and came and got me, and said "George, somebody wants you on the phone", and it was Carmel. And Carmel's problem was when she came to that dinner we attended, she had played the violin for the Brother's college lounge to entertain them, and then when she closed up her violin case, she discovered later on that she had taken the lute of the instrument, put it on the ledge of the piano, and she had forgotten it. And now she was looking for. So she called and asked me if I could do anything to help. And so of course I said I would go over and see if it's there. I went to the lounge and lo and behold, right there on the edge of the piano was the lute. I returned to the telephone, told her I had found it and would bring it over. I got in the car, drove to her house, and delivered the lute, and we have been together ever since. It began slowly as we got to know each other, and began to find each other being so important to each other. It is something I can never forget. We were married almost 70 years. We were together about 71 years.

George is tearing up now, so I will add some more details:

George and Carmel were madly, madly in love. More so than anyone I have encountered yet. Every day they would write each other letters, and George still has boxes and boxes. He kept every single one. Towards the end of her life, Carmel's sister told the family a long kept secret, which is that Carmel's parents had kept her age a secret, and had faked her birth certificate so she was officially 5 years younger, which allowed her to be more of a child prodigy. She got away with this because she was rather short. George cared for her so much, as she deteriorated, suffering from Lewy Body Disease, which is a form of dementia. She passed away about 4 years ago, but George still talks about her and remembers her as she was. Every email and letter he sends is signed with their nicknames "Midge and Gidge", which is Carmel and George respectively.

Edit: Mandatory thanks for the gold! Not a gold virgin anymore...I tried explaining what gold means to George, but he didn't really get it...so I just gave him a piece of candy and told him it was from the Reddit community, and he was happy.

Edit: I think it is fair to say this is probably the most important comment in the AMA for most people. However, there is a sad side to it. All of the letters and Carmel's violin were taken without George's knowledge and sold at auction. Please help us find them. Read the top of the main post for more info.

Also, here is a picture of Carmel. I will try and find more of them together.

With the details sounds like i was actually there almost had me tear up for a moment Carmel sounds like an amazing woman Thank you george for this AMA. Seems like u rarely hear about true love like this anymore these days. Any input on marriage in the present differ from the past?

10 days my partner in my dormitory answered the phone and came and got me, and said "George, somebody wants you on the phone", and it was Carmel. And Carmel's problem was when she came to that dinner we attended, she had played the violin for the Brother's college lounge to entertain them, and then when she closed up her violin case, she discovered later on that she had taken the lute of the instrument, put it on the ledge of the piano, and she had forgotten it. And now she was looking for. So she called and asked me if I could do anything to help. And so of course I said I would go over and see if it's there. I went to the lounge and lo and behold, right there on the edge of the piano was the lute. I returned to the telephone, told her I had found it and would bring it over. I got in the car, drove to her house, and delivered the lute, and we have been together ever since. It began slowly as we got to know each other, and began to find each other being so important to each other. It is something I can never forget. We were married almost 70 years. We were together about 71 years.

Yup. Cried. Carmel needs help, and George delivers, thus leading to a 70 year marriage in which they wrote each other love letters every day. I would buy a publishing of those letters in a heartbeat.

Publish the letters in a book. Only remove what is the most personal.

The letters and violin were taken and sold, against his will of course and without his knowing. Read the top of the post for more info.

says something that he can't remember the incident that led to his career but remembers everything about meeting his wife. btw, 'Lost Horizon' was on the tube in 1937!

Yep, 1937. To be honest, he only remember Shangri La from that movie, so I ended up googling "Shangri la movie 1930's" and it popped up. I said is it "Lost Horizon" and he was completely blown away. He said "How did you do that?!" and I tried to explain google but gave up.

Well if you find a way to explain google to old grandparents, please do tell us.

In fact I did. Tell them to go take a nap and when they wake up you will explain it to them. Then when they wake up they don't remember anything.

In all seriousness: I told him that google was simply a collection of knowledge, from books, to papers, to pictures and videos. Just vast collection of information that is continually heing added to. Much like a huge, global library in a sense, and google is like the catalog at the library where you can search for things, with keywords and topics.

[deleted]

Damn you CISPA and your virtual flames!

Going through this thread, not sure if you've received gold yet because of this AMA, but if not, you can now try to explain to George that this story/post earned you a month of fake-internet-gold-room-blah-blah-blah benefits.

I cried.

Wow. Thank you so much for that. It means a lot to me, if not as much to George, since he doesn't really understand this whole magic internet thing...but anyways, I tried explaining what gold means to George, but he didn't really get it...so I just gave him a piece of candy and told him it was from the Reddit community, and he was happy.

Thanks for brightening up an old man's day!

since he doesn't really understand this whole magic internet thing

If your grandfather is interested, I always liked the analogy that the Internet is like a two-way television.

Instead of only being able to receive information like a normal TV, you can also send your own broadcasts to everyone who is tuned in.

He does somewhat understand the internet, but he is still awestruck by the things it can do, such as google.

I think everyone, young or old, shares his awe. I certainly do.

Same here. It is insane what we can do.

YAY!!! I figured you'd find a way to "explain". (wink, wink.)

I did my best. The whole upvote downvote thing was a little complicated. He also didn't realize that there were real people asking questions. He kept asking me if "you get in conversations with people", and I would explain that this was a conversation. I left out the whole thing about who his mom probably got boned last night by about 837 different people, but I think he got the gist.

I fucking hate romance but that made me tear up.

Good ol fashioned romance. It'll do that to you.

i want pictures of them together! that's such a good story

I will try and find some.

Beautiful! Just shows it's possible, hey? To be madly in love for more than seven decades and going strong...

Yep. Even now that Carmel is gone, he love for her has only intensified.

That was really amazing.

Thank you!

Great story, thanks for sharing :)

Thanks for reading!

I assume that being a Naval Chaplain brought you into contact with people of many different religions. What was that experience like for you, and how did people of different faiths in the Navy respond to having a chaplain who might be of a different religion from themselves?

There really was no problem. I like people, and I respected whatever their viewpoints were. I liked them as people, even if I didn't necessarily agree with some of their ideas. I also broadened my understanding of religious differences over the years from coming in contact with all of these different faiths.

I liked people, and most people liked me. There were never really any problems that came from differing religious backgrounds. We could talk, and share, and still be friends.

As a wartime chaplain, did you feel closer or further from God during conflicts and the things that you saw ?

Well my feeling about God, was very much connected to the people I was living with and working with, and I tried to represent what I thought was God's attitude towards us, and to be a part of that. It made me feel closer to God, it made Him seem more tangible, as if he was there with us. There was one incident that goes back to the very beginning when I was being interviewed to decide if I should be a chaplain in the navy. I was asked what I wanted to accomplish and how I was going to work a lot of these problems out man to man and person to person. How should I say this...I almost had it...

Sorry, but it seems that he lost track of what he wanted to say. Unfortunately his memory is going bit by bit, which is in part the reason that I am trying to share it with the world and so we can go back and read all of his stories to him. George is going for a nap now, but he will be back later and hopefully he can finish the story.

We just lost the meaning of life. Fuck.

I think he might have scribbled some note down on the back of an envelope. I will try and find that and get a picture for you guys. I'm pretty shitty at reading his cursive, so someone might have to translate. OP will attempt to deliver.

GODSPEED!

Don't worry, we have a whole family of chaplain's on our side!

DEAR REDDIT,

My granddad has asked me to appeal to the reddit community for something. Many of you have by now read the story pf how he and Carmel fell in love. Throughout all the years that they were together, each and every day they would write each other letters, all of which they kept in chronological order.

About 4 years ago, when Carmel died granddad moved out of his house to an appartment, and during the downsizing, the boxes with letters were taking by the auction company that they had saved, as well as Carmel's most prized possesion: her violin.

Needless to say, George was heartbroken, and as he told me about the letters today, he started to tear up. These are the last tangible pieces of the woman he loved more than life itself, and now they have been sold.

The auction company is called Shirk's auctions and is based in Lebanon, PA. The auction would have occured around November, 2011. If anyone has any idea of the whereabouts of these items or what we can do to try and get them back, we would be very grateful.

Maybe reddit can find this stuff! I can honestly say it would be the most amazing thing I have ever seen on here.

Thanks for reading,

George, myself, and our whole family.

It might be a bit of a long shot, but there's this performance troupe called Mortified that basically consists of adults reading from their own childhood journals and diaries. However, I watched the documentary they put out and I know a few of the members collect love letters and the like from others.

Like I said, it might be a long shot, but maybe someone there could help?

http://www.getmortified.com/

Excellent idea. I will pursue it and see what turns up! Thanks!

No problem. Thank you. And your grandfather. Tell your grandfather that he was truly inspiring.

I will pass that along, it means a lot.

Hi! :) It sounds like a very interesting life! Where all has George been stationed at?

During WWII:

• Treasure Island, California

After WWII:

• Guam
• Chincoteague, Virginia.
• Norfolk, Virginia.
• Brunswick, Maine.
• Camp Gifu (a marine camp at the foot of mt. Fuji).
• Camp LeJeune, North Carolina.
• Cape May, New Jersey.
• Argentia, Newfoundland.
• Philadelphia Naval Hospital.

I was on two ships. The Appalachian and the Mindoro. On the Mindoro we went to the Mediterranean and took a shipload of 50 planes to the Italians, and the very boot of Italy. That was in the early 1950s, right after I was at Harvard.

Give your granddad my respects (one squid to another). I'm currently enlisted, but working on becoming a Navy Chaplain.

No real questions, just wanted to throw an e-salute his way. (Had to repost - the bot killed my initial post)

I would like to return equal salute right here!

(he did actually salute you, just so ya know)

My family was from Chincoteague, VA maybe he knew Lawrence Beebe or Charlie Huffman, both stationed there, my grandfathers

Wow! small world! What was their ranks? My grandfather is George Thomas, and my grandmom is Carmel. My Dad and his brother are John and George. They were there from 1948-50 about. At that time granddad was a lieutenant.

Not sure to be honest, I know Lawrence was up there though. I never got to meet him he passed before I was born.

So I talked to granddad, and when I said Lawrence's name, his face lit up and he exclaimed: "Lawrence! Why yes, I knew him quite well!".

Amazing.

What was his most frightening moment while he was at WWII ? If he doesn't want to answer that I totally understand. What was his ''best'' moment there? What does he think about the wars that are currently going on in Crimea ?

Scariest moment:

Gee it is hard to remember. I didn't really find anything particularly frightening. At least I don't remember anything. I always had so much fun getting to know people and getting acquainted and playing volleyball and all that. I remember when I first arrived in Hokkaido, I asked for some refferalls, and I called a Methodist minister, and I will never forget what he said: "It has been a century". All the suffering and destruction and war, that he had endured, and it seemed so long and it was weighing on him so, that it seemed like it had been a century.

Best moment:

Hmm... I was no great hero, so nothing along that line. I would say my greatest experience was climbing Mount Fuji.

His thoughts on the current wars:

Well I am so far off out of those circles, they are so far off, it is hard to keep track of. They are so stupid. I wish there could be peace. I find that most people who are not witnessing these things, are drawing conclusions that are more emotional than anything else.

Thank you and your granddad for answering. :)

Our pleasure.

All I can do is share what I know and reply honestly. Hopefully everyone can learn a little something.

Thank you for doing this. It's always so incredible to talk to and learn from those who have experienced so much. As a native Philadelphian myself, I'd love to know what it was like growing up in the city in the early 20th century. I assume South Philly since you're Italian?

We lived in what was then the suburbs of Philly, now part of the city. Wissahickon and Rocksburrow. I loved sports, and so I played baseball with my friends. I joined the Boy Scouts. My father was the pastor at a Methodist church in the country. I will never forget the wonderful gardens that we developed and worked. We had a small greenhouse, and that wound up being the 9 big greenhouses, right before the great depression hit. It's a big city now. I guess it was fairly big to begin with, because it had such a great history as far as the origin of our country. At one point it was the 3rd largest city in the U.S. We had a lot of good schools, lots of sports, great shopping - my mother always loved to go downtown and poke around the stores. My father was a farmer, and then worked as a printer, and finally as a minister. I was in 9th grade when he became a pastor. That's when we started moving around to churches in various places. One of the things that I will never forget is that both of my parents were very involved in the church and the youth program, and the district superintendant and all the members liked them so much that they always arranged to have their annual meeting at our house because they enjoyed us so much, and then would stay after dinner to listen to Amos and Andy, which was a radio show at the time and they all listened to it, and it was always "shh shh shh we are trying to listen!".

I had a brother who was 2 years and we were good friends, but always competitors. We both liked baseball. Bill was the better athlete, but I was always better in school than he was. He went into the Navy two years before I did because I was studying to be a minister at that point. He graduated from Dickinson, and he had established a good reputation as a baseball player, and couldn't wait to get out and play professionally. He was in the Navy for 20 years as was I and he was part of my motivation for going into the Navy.

My grandfather served in WW2 and would have likely been one of the first soldiers on the beaches of Japan had the invasion been attempted.

What are your opinions on the use of the atomic bombs in the war seeing the effects first hand?

That is a very good question. Those bombs probably saved my life...Was the dropping the bomb justified? Well, it was war. Win however you could. It killed so many. I'm not in favor of that, but I was in no position to stop it. All I could do was help the people who came to me. If we had to do it all over again, I would not have dropped the bomb. It saved lives, but it took so many others. War is war. When you are in the military, you go where you are hired to go, and you do what your orders are. You make the best of it and minister to all who want to be ministered to, even to some who don't want, but need help.

And now I truly admire you. Wow. Just wow.

Thank you, it truly means a lot.

How did seeing the devastation at Hiroshima effect you spiritually?

I was really bowled over by it. I hated the situation. I hated what had happened to so many people. I cared about all the people that had been put in the situation and that were hurt so badly by it. I was always open to them, and they were always open to me. I guess one leads to the other. Seeing these people, and their strength helped to strengthen my spirituality even more. It opened my mind as time went on, as I worked with them, as I cared for them and they needed help, so I helped.

Fascinating AMA! Thank you!

My question is:

Who is your favorite president, and why?

Thanks again for the AMA and for your service!

Abraham Lincoln! I think he faced the biggest problem our nation has ever faced, and even at the risk of his own life, which was eventually taken, he made the best nation that he knew how, to bring us together to work together.

Gettysburg address is the greatest piece of American literature ever written.

/r/murica needs you!

What's the best piece of advice you have ever received?

Huh...it is hard to choose...you get so much advice when you have lived as long as I have. I guess after some problem, maybe some incorrect solution to a problem, I was encouraged to go ahead and keep on trying, go ahead and keep on trying, find a better answer. That's the best advice I have heard.

What made him join the army in the first place? Was it because he was forced to or was it because he want to serve? Also how well is his memory at 96 my gramps barely recognized me at 85. Anyways thanks for the ama

Here is the answer to the first part of the question from George.

I guess it was the great need at the time for chaplains. It was the last two years of the war. My brother, who was 2 years younger than I had gone in 2 years before I did, so that influenced me. And we were both fascinated with ships and sailors. Before joining the Navy, I had never been on a ship and it was amazing. I felt like I was somebody, and was doing something. It gave me a great sense of purpose.

This is me answering, not George, as he is napping, so the first parts of your question will have to be answered when he wakes up. However, I can tell you about how his memory is doing as I have been seeing him age.

For the most part, his memory is very good. He remembers his childhood, and much of his wartime experiences. His friends, people he met, all of that. As you might expect, it is fading a little bit, and over the last couple of years, we have seen the decay to pick up a little bit, which is sad, but not unusual or surprising for a man of his age. His long term memory is what is most difficult, although for the most part he does pretty well, sometimes it just takes him a bit longer to remember and put all the pieces together to tell the story.

With my dad, who is nearly 70 here, it becomes easier because we can prompt George a little bit and help him piece things together from the things that my dad lived through and what my dad and I were told about.

Hope that answers the memory part of your question. The rest to come later when George wakes up.

Being 96 years old he has obviously seen a lot in his life, what do you think is the biggest threat to society today?

Ooohh hahaha...I sometimes think that we are the biggest threat to ourselves because of the foolish things we do. There is no ruler anywhere that has any control over good or evil. They all do what they think is best for them in the long run. I don't know if that is the answer to your question, but it's such a big problem. I guess everbody is called upon to do the best thing for himself, his family, his country and the world. It depends where his interests lie.

Hi, George! Greetings from Brazil. What do you think of the ladies today and how do they differ from the ladies back in the 1940s?

I always loved the ladies...still do...but Carmel was always the only one I had eyes for!

Details here

[deleted]

Only in the sense of questioning all the time how best to express my faith.

The most beautiful thing I have ever seen was my wife, Carmel

More on that here

Dad interjected that it was his birth, but George said "That came later. And you were an ugly baby anyways!"

I would not do anything differently.

Hi, George! Thank you for your service! What advice would you give to the younger generations?

Grow up! Just kidding. There is need out there all over the place for people who care about their fellow man. Always help people, however you can.

Thank you for your service sir. What advice would you give to a young medical officer starting his career?

Science is such a complicated thing, and each person can only find his own little niche where he fits in and can do the most good. If you are going to be a doctor, your heart and soul is in helping the people who come to you. You share with them their problems and their needs. I could go on forever, but I think that is the tenure of it all.

Hey George! Thanks for doing this. Do you watch movies, if so what's your favourite movie and which movie has depicted war most accurately in your opinion?

I haven't watched a movie for several years. I love the movies, I used to see almost all of them, but I just don't have the time anymore to take care of the immediate problems and needs that I have. I'm at the age where I have to depend upon a few people to get through day by day. I love people. Almost every person I have ever known, I care about. The people who work for and with me, the people who doctor me, everyone. Because I need people and love what they can do for me and what they can do for so many others. As to which movie best depicts war, I simply can't remember. The older I get the less important those things are to me. It more important that I do the best I can for me and for others.

Thank you for your service and for the AMA. I would just like to ask what made you serve in the Navy? Is there someone you met during your servive in particular that sticks with you? If so, why?

Why he joined.

There are so many people...as chaplain I dealt with the commanding officer, and all down the ranks to the lowest seaman. I remember the first time our ship was hit by a plane, and I went to the sick bay where the pilot was being treated before he died. I will never forget it. There isn't any one person that sticks out in my memory. There were just so many wonderful people, it is hard to choose!

Hello there!

First of all, as always, yhank you for your service!

Now, as a chaplain fulfills duties far beyond the tasks of a "normal", civilian reverend, with all the counselling you do, could you have seen yourself, after retiring from service, becoming a civilian reverend/priest/whatever. If so, did you do so, and again if so, did you notice large differences between military and civilian chutchgoers?

Once a chaplain, always a chaplain. After 20 years in the Navy, I spent 20 years teaching at a highschool level, and was a chaplain for those schools. I had lots of great students. Bill Masters Simmons, and all of his great movies, and he would always point at me, and tell me he made them because of me. We are still great friends. In the situation that they are in, yes. In the military, your relationships, it is almost all men. In a civilian military it is women and men on an equal basis. There were very little relationships that I had with children in the military, except with my own and their friends.

How was the spirit onboard the ships during WWII?

Well it depended upon the crew, especially the officers. Mostly, it was always a gun-ho type of thing. You were going to the best you can, and so were your shipmates.

Thank you for taking the time to do this! I was selected as chaplain for my outfit this upcoming school year. Do you have any advice for me? How did you prepare for this role?

Just to be aware of what is going on in the world and the needs and find the place where you fit as a solution to that need.

What are your feelings about military service? Do you see it as an honour and privilege? a duty? an adventure? Is it something you would recommend or approve of for others?

America has many foes. Who do you see as America's staunchest allies?

Yes to all three questions. It is an honour, a privilege, a duty, and an adventure. I would recommend it to others, but it is not perfect for everyone. Think of how hard it is for a homosexual, even now.

Any good stories about Guam?

Well at one point my dad and his twin wandered into the woods, found a huge bucket of puke-yellow lead based paint and decided to swim in it. They then had an oh shit moment, ran home and had to be scrubbed for hours with terpentine. I always found that one pretty funny.

Hi George!

What do you consider to be greatest experiences of your life? and Im particulary intrested in the experiences we all share as humans, as a young man I want to know what to look out for, what not to miss while everything seems so ordinary.

Falling in love with Carmel.

Here is the link to an earlier comment that goes into all the juicy details

Does George watch any TV? What does he think of Game of Thrones?

Go Phillies. What the heck is a Game of Thrones? We always just played chess...

I'm just curious, it's not a malicious question. Have you thought about the innocent people who died in Hiroshima (or other seen city/country)?

All the time. It saddens me so much. But war is war. You do what you must to win. I don't think it is right what we did, but we did it.

I am retired and I do this site for laughs and amazement on the thoughts of folks. As the end is coming for us seniors, do you still believe or has life caused you to question your faith basic premise?

He still is very deeply religious.

Did all the horrors that you have seen change your view on religion?

They made my faith deeper.