A Farm boy On A Ship
Hello everyone. Praise the Lord!
I was at the nursing home today pulling the book cart around to the members rooms. I retrieve the book cart at the sites library, load it up with books, magazines, CD's and other assorted reading items. I then pull the cart around to the individual rooms and hand out the materials to our wonderful members. I met this 92 year old man who was deaf in one ear.
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This gentleman was born and raised on a farm in Wisconsin in 1932. Being a young farm boy, he weighed 220 pounds, and was very muscular. He decided one day to join the navy, so he could see the world, as most young people have the urge to do.
He did his basic training in Chicago in 1950 , then more training as a boilers mate. After his rigorous training, he went home on leave. He knocked on his parents front door and his mother answered. She blurted out, "Can I help you?" He asked her, "You don't recognize me mom?" His mother then recognized him! He had lost 95 pounds during training. He now weighted only 125 pounds!
Finally, he was assigned to a ship. He received orders to a small destroyer that was built during WW2. Not long after that the Korean War broke out!
His ship was ordered to sail to Japan, for service in the nearby Korean War that was taking place. One day he was instructed to walk up top during a shore bombardment. The ships 5-inch twin mounts were firing at the North Koreans, and he had to see if the spent shell casings were going into the shell box properly.
He climbed outside just underneath one of the twin 5-inch mounts as it fired a salvo at an enemy target. He did this without any hearing protection! After the guns went off just above his head, he was thrown to the ground and lost his hearing for a while. The ships doctor told him after his hearing returned that his right ear was damaged, and someday down the road, he would lose hearing in that ear.
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After his service was over, he then returned to his boyhood hometown of Wisconsin. He got a job at a Veterans Home maintaining the boiler room, sewer department, and anything else that needed to be repaired. He now lives in that same Veterans Home. And yes, 70 years later, he lost hearing in that right ear!
William James Roop
Brother Roop teaches the Bible
Apostolic Church History Podcast
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