Eight Survived by Douglas Campbell

Author:Douglas Campbell
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780762797882
Publisher: Lyons Press

Alvin Jacobson, on the other hand, was now a qualified submariner. This meant that when he was not on watch, he could relax in the wardroom with other officers and play that peculiar game involving pegs and a board that he had learned during the first patrol—cribbage.

Or he could take out the many letters that had been waiting for him when he got to Fremantle. Rereading them made him feel closer to home.

On May 27, the week of Al’s birthday, his father had handed his secretary some tidbits of news to be typed. “Charles seems to be very much disgusted and wants to get a transfer,” Al Sr. noted of his oldest son. “Here’s hoping you run into him out there some place.

“If you remember Carl Johnson from Grand Haven, he has been sent out to New Guinea, and David Johnston is also out there some place. It would be a lot of fun for you undoubtedly to meet some of the Grand Haven boys.”

Well, that would not be happening for at least another month, the Ensign knew. Flier had more than 100,000 gallons of fuel in its tanks, most of which would be consumed before he again touched land.

His father’s letter then settled into the predictable.

“You remember Mr. Berman of the Vita Motivator Co. He was here last week conducting some experiments on some new jobs. At the present time we have $432,000 worth of business booked up for these valves and . . .”

The next letter was written four days after Al’s birthday.

“Well, how does it seem to be twenty-two?” his father’s secretary typed. “We had the usual crowd out to the cottage for Decoration Day, but we certainly missed you boys as there was no sailing.” Father said the family probably would not put its sailboat on Spring Lake this summer.

A letter on June 12 from Al Sr. expanded on this theme. “Mother and I took a ride over to the Yacht Club yesterday, and it is absolutely deserted—things look rather upset.” If Al could read between the lines, his father was longing for his boys. The next letter confirmed the sentiment. “I was out sailing this afternoon, but it did not seem like old times with you boys around here.” Then he went on to mention that “Sister is home and it seems good to have her around. She drove a car full of girls down to Church Conference near Three Rivers today—she got through with school in fine shape.”

On this day, Al Sr. was full of news. “Grandma and Helen and Russell and family and Virginia were over today, and Helen had a little hard luck—she got a chicken bone in her throat, and they are having a little hard time getting it out—she cannot lie down and has to sit up—they went back to Muskegon to try to get hold of a specialist to take it out.”

Then the father returned to the theme, the emotion that finally was breaking through all the talk of foundries and business.

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