http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/history/...years-old/

Too bad he was mistreated. You get commendations, they should be permanent, as should benefits.

What a great story. I thank him for his service to our nation.

Daniel Inouye, the senator from Hawaii who just died a few days ago, frequently remarked how the spirit of unity and shared-sacrifice the country experienced -- from the attack Pearl Harbor until the Japanese surrender on board the Missouri exactly 45 months later -- has never been matched in all the years since. It was a spirit that motivated 12-year-olds (!!!) like Calvin Graham to do things that 12-year-olds today wouldn't even dream of doing.

I admit I was one of those people who thought that the attacks of 09/11/01 would instill a similar spirit of unity in the current generation. That -- to put it mildly -- did not happen.

I still think this was the best line from the story:

Quote:Quick-thinking quartermasters managed to save the captain’s life—his jugular vein had been severed, and the ligaments in his arms suffered permanent damage—but some onboard were aghast that he didn’t hit the deck when he saw the bomb coming. “I consider it beneath the dignity of a captain of an American battleship to flop for a Japanese bomb,” Gatch later said.

(12-21-2012 07:48 PM)T-Monay820 Wrote:  I still think this was the best line from the story:

Quote:Quick-thinking quartermasters managed to save the captain’s life—his jugular vein had been severed, and the ligaments in his arms suffered permanent damage—but some onboard were aghast that he didn’t hit the deck when he saw the bomb coming. “I consider it beneath the dignity of a captain of an American battleship to flop for a Japanese bomb,” Gatch later said.

Personally, I was very displeased at that. If the Captain gets killed then the rest of the crew is at much greater risk. His pride is not supposed to trump protocol. Leaders establish rules, and then follow them.

(12-22-2012 11:03 AM)DrTorch Wrote:  

(12-21-2012 07:48 PM)T-Monay820 Wrote:  I still think this was the best line from the story:

Quote:Quick-thinking quartermasters managed to save the captain’s life—his jugular vein had been severed, and the ligaments in his arms suffered permanent damage—but some onboard were aghast that he didn’t hit the deck when he saw the bomb coming. “I consider it beneath the dignity of a captain of an American battleship to flop for a Japanese bomb,” Gatch later said.

Personally, I was very displeased at that. If the Captain gets killed then the rest of the crew is at much greater risk. His pride is not supposed to trump protocol. Leaders establish rules, and then follow them.

I'm guessing if you heard him giving the quote in person, it probably would have come off as a joke. But then you must really not like Stonewall Jackson as a leader then. I also don't see what rules he violated.

(12-22-2012 11:03 AM)DrTorch Wrote:  

(12-21-2012 07:48 PM)T-Monay820 Wrote:  I still think this was the best line from the story:

Quote:Quick-thinking quartermasters managed to save the captain’s life—his jugular vein had been severed, and the ligaments in his arms suffered permanent damage—but some onboard were aghast that he didn’t hit the deck when he saw the bomb coming. “I consider it beneath the dignity of a captain of an American battleship to flop for a Japanese bomb,” Gatch later said.

Personally, I was very displeased at that. If the Captain gets killed then the rest of the crew is at much greater risk. His pride is not supposed to trump protocol. Leaders establish rules, and then follow them.

I served as a company officer in the fire service for over 15 years. I fought a ton of fire and other harrowing situations in that time. To my crew I was God. I was the first one in, and the last one out, and I never showed an ounce of fear to my crew. I might have felt it inside, but as someone leading men and women I had to put that aside. Had Captain Gatch cowered from the enemy fire his crew would have never had an ounce of respect for him. The last leader we have had in this country was Chesty Puller. He was there in the mud and blood with his troops.

(12-23-2012 12:01 AM)catdaddy_2402 Wrote:  The last leader we have had in this country was Chesty Puller. He was there in the mud and blood with his troops.

What?