Every Moment Mattered – The Life and Death of Cassin Young, Captain, USN MOH Recipient – Chapter Nineteen: Into the Battle. Every Man a Hero

Chapter Nineteen Into the battle. Every man a hero The Marines that landed on Guadalcanal were about to write a page into history that would be written with blood. This tiny island in the Pacific should not have been the place where the allies would start their long drive to Tokyo. But observation planes had […]

A Great Reunion – Well, Mostly Great

The 2024 Gathering of the Saints is finally over. I have been absent from the keyboard for a while as we executed our latest reunion in Charleston SC. The planning for the reunion started at the end of 2023 and was non-stop until the very last day of the event. One thing about reunions is […]

Sudden Impact… Forever Impacted

Sudden Impact… Forever Impacted It was a cold and freezing night. (I’ve always wanted to use that line ever since Snoopy used something similar in one of his attempts to be a novelist. Cartoonist Charles Schulz made Snoopy use this phrase because “it was a cliché and had been one for a very long time”. […]

Nautilus to Columbia by James C. Goodall

Happy December. This is the time of year when we get presents in the mail and for me that includes the latest project by my friend James. C. Goodall. Jim is a former Air Force guy (Retired) who combines his photographic skills with his passion for submarines and other technical platforms to create valuable resources […]

December 6, 1942 – The Navy Reveals the True Damage at Pearl Harbor

Within hours of the attack on Pearl Harbor, news started filtering back to anxious families on the mainland that something horrible had happened to the country. The banner headlines from the eighth of December would forever be changed with news of the encroachment of the Empire of Japan across the vast reaches of the Pacific […]

The Short Life of the USS Juneau – February 14 to November 13 1942

A fast ship for a new kind of war As the Japanese were crushing their opponents all across the western Pacific Ocean, the USS Juneau was commissioned on February 14, 1942, with great fanfare. Captain Lyman K. Swenson was her first commanding officer. Little could anyone have predicted that less than 9 months later, the […]

Prepare to launch

“Take a chance. All life is a chance. The man who goes furthest is generally the one who is willing to do and dare. The “sure thing” boat never gets far from the shore.” From the writings of Dale Carnegie Today is one of those days where you stand on the edge of the cliff […]

Holiday Routine – U.S.S. Vestal Daily Employment Schedule for Sunday, 7 December 1941

Holiday Routine – U.S.S. Vestal Daily Employment Schedule for Sunday, 7 December 1941 The document I discovered during my research on Cassin Young was yellowed and tattered with age. Some sailor had the presence of mind to keep a copy of it in his personal possession as a reminder of the day that would live […]

Remembering January 8 – USS San Francisco SSN 711

SSN 711 – That fateful day on January 8th We can never forget how truly dangerous submarine life can be. Rest in peace Shipmate

Every Moment Mattered Update (April 2021)

I have been working on a book project now for about five years. My first go at publishing was put on hold when the publisher asked me to include some stories and ideas that were in line with the publishers needs. Last November, I was doing a web based presentation for the McKeesport Heritage and […]