Rosanne Cash - Tennessee Flat Top Box

The Holy Cross story

It was a beautiful fall day in 1942  just meant for football. Boston College was undefeated, having outscored opponents 249 to 19 and on the way to the Sugar Bowl to play Tulsa for the national championship.  The opponent this  day was little Holy Cross, with a 4-4-1 record.  Then the impossible happened --- Holy Cross won 55-12 in the greatest  upset ever in sports.

The story does not end there,  sadly.  Many fans were celebrating at the Coconut Club when a fire broke out and 492 were burned  or trampled to death.

The entire Holy Cross backfield were officers on the USS Pickens.  A the time I did not understand why they persisted in  boasting  about  beating Boston College.  The only college football team I knew was LSU.

When we were able to  relax on a vacant island we swam and played touch  football  The Holy Cross backs were on the opposite team from I and I continually created problems for them  by crashing into the backfield.  Two of them blocked me on the thighs at the same  time, against the rules but effective because I could barely walk. 

Is war in Israel beginning? Hope not

For the first time in several months a rocket has been fired at Israel.  Most attacks like this do little or no damage but they are usually followed by a revenge assault by Israel that kills numbers of helpless Palestinians.  We are more concerned than the government or the average citizen because Jessica will leave in July to serve as a missionary in Israel.

Rainstorm hits some areas hard

Forty days  and forty nights.  No, the rain has not been falling that long although it seems like it.  Texas and Oklahoma have been hit hard with flooding of record amounts.  Several deaths and missing persons have been reported.  Some of the areas flooded have needed water but not like this.

We can only pray that conditions will soon improve.

Remembering what Memorial Day means

Best wishes for an enjoyable and reverent Memorial Day.

Susan Boyle - How Great Thou Art

Summer on the Pickens 1945

The battle for Okinawa ( to end June  21) was still going on but the early summer was a  period of mostly rest and recreation for the crew of the Pickens.  I have some memory of a couple of visits to vacant islands where we swam and played touch football.  In one game the famed Holy Cross backfield teamed  to hit me and send me limping from the field.

I think it was during this time that I caused general quarters to be called and all of Saipan and Tinian put on alert.  I had picked up on  radar a  plane was coming in without identification.  It may have been during this period that I fell off the ship into a boat and injured my back.  I know it was after Iwo Jima because a stretcher was lowered to pick me up, and I did not want that, having seen wounded Marines brought on board that way.

I  will need to review earlier blogs to  restore my memory of shellback  initiation and our visit to Noumea, New Caladonia.