A letter to my dad (1 Viewer)

st dude

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My dad passed away a few years back. Last week my sister found this letter to him when going through some of his belongings. It is the first time I ever saw the letter.

Forrestal, who wrote my dad the letter, was then secretary of the Navy, soon to be Secretary of Defense. Its a beautiful letter, elegant in style and eloquent with words. The thought of my dad going to war as an 18 year old made me tear up a little. His dad (my grandfather) was an Army colonel at the time, a rank he achieved despite his third grade education. Nobody should have to send their teenager to war.

It was a wonderful letter and it is very true that defeating both the German and Japanese fleets was the greatest accomplishment in naval history.
 

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As someone who drove to work today on Forrestal Drive, that is really cool.
 
That's good stuff. You should be very proud.
 
thats just bad-#@$.

From the desk of the Sec of the Navy.

goosebumps.
 
That's just awesome. Ever think about trying to donate the original it to the WWII Museum Archives in New Orleans?

My late uncle collected all the family letters from WWII (five brothers in the armed forces) and bound them in a leather volume, and now it's part of the permanent collection. Great way to make sure our wacky family didn't screw things up!
 
As someone who drove to work today on Forrestal Drive, that is really cool.

I have a very good friend I rarely see who read the letter. He told me in his twenties he used to work at the Forrestal building in DC, but until he read this letter he never really knew who Forrestal was.

Things did not end well for Forrestal, he was institutionalized for mental problems and apparently took his own life. His supposed suicide note was an interesting read. Some think he may have been murdered because of views opposite to the interests of a Jewish state in Palestine.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Forrestal
 
That's just awesome. Ever think about trying to donate the original it to the WWII Museum Archives in New Orleans?

My late uncle collected all the family letters from WWII (five brothers in the armed forces) and bound them in a leather volume, and now it's part of the permanent collection. Great way to make sure our wacky family didn't screw things up!

I never thought about it, I wonder if they would be interested. I have a condo a few blocks from the museum, I may go ask them.

My son just got handed down a real cool artifact of the war from his grandfather on my wife's side. That grandfather fought on Okinawa and brought home a Japanese officer's sword. It is identical to one on display at the WW2 museum, except ours is in better condition. I wanted to see if the museum has any interest in that.

We also have his diary and letters he wrote to his dad. The fighting on Okinawa was brutal.
 
Hard to believe that 2 1/2 years after writing this letter he died in a hospital and was believed to have been crazy. How does it happen so fast....


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I have a very good friend I rarely see who read the letter. He told me in his twenties he used to work at the Forrestal building in DC, but until he read this letter he never really knew who Forrestal was.

Things did not end well for Forrestal, he was institutionalized for mental problems and apparently took his own life. His supposed suicide note was an interesting read. Some think he may have been murdered because of views opposite to the interests of a Jewish state in Palestine.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Forrestal

Yep. It was a very odd end for him. I don't know what happened obviously, but we had a CO go completely off the reservation a few years back. The pressures when you get to the flag level can be quite daunting. I can only imagine how difficult those pressures would be to navigate coupled with having just gone through a World War.
 
I am a WW2 collector... basically my collection is themed... Field HQ and I have also been collecting items that most would not find interesting or a true ww2 item. but that is not the case.... I'll post pics one day.

I think I'll start a ww2 collecting thread soon and start sharing this stuff...
 
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Although, now dismantled, in her prime, the USS Forrestal was the first supercarrier.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Forrestal_(CV-59)

She also has a connection to NOLA:

Special liberty calls serve to reward Navy personnel with a trip to other parts of the U.S. and provides Americans who would normally never see warships and planes an up close look at life in the United States Navy. CAPT Pieno being a native of New Orleans, Louisiana, decided that New Orleans, during her Mardi Gras celebration, would be the perfect location to show off his pride and joy. During her trip to New Orleans Forrestal broke another record by becoming the largest ship to sail on the Mississippi River. Also during her four days in New Orleans she accommodated tours for over 40,000 visitors. The tour included viewings and descriptions of all her aircraft, damage control demonstrations, and the crowd's favorite, a ride on one of her four aircraft elevators.

My brother-in-law was an A6 navigator and flight instruction on The Forrestal.
 

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