Gardenia Duty by Kathleen Varn

Author:Kathleen Varn
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Gatekeeper Press
Published: 2019-02-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 19

April, 2004

Elizabeth was buried in the trail of Statements of Personal History forms clipped in the brown U.S. Navy Enlisted Service Record file folder. She observed that her stepfather’s parents’ names disappeared as dependent family members between 1963 and 1964. His sister and brother-in-law, along with a brother, were penned in as the new emergency contacts. Seeing her aunt’s name brought back memories of Elizabeth traveling to Atlanta with Mallory many times to visit Aunt Sarah.

As she crossed into adulthood, her aunt had told her the story of her and Bobby’s parents passing while he was stuck at sea. There was no choice but to miss the funeral—they were on patrol. Daddy always had a big heart. I can’t imagine how he put the pain away, Elizabeth reflected. As much as today’s graveside service hurt, and as much as her eyes felt permanently hot and blurred with tears that still couldn’t escape, she couldn’t imagine not being there for it. She realized she had at least been blessed with the ability to say good-bye and share the grief of losing her dad with her sisters.

She turned to the next page—a newspaper clipping. It was yellow and there was the list of Operations. Operation Starlite, Piranha, Dagger Thrust and Double Eagle. As her eyes skimmed the article, she learned how the collateral efforts between the Navy, Marines, Army and VC Corps haunted the concentrations of the Viet Cong. According to the reporter, thousands of shells from the five-inch guns were devastatingly accurate. For six days, shore bombardment target results were reported by troops and helicopter pilots.

Elizabeth paused and did the math. 1965 minus 1958. She would have only been seven years old. Here was a lightbulb moment. The Cold War was morphing into the Vietnam War and both of her fathers had kept the family in an all-is-well cocoon. She looked back in her mind to where her mother was at the time. She’d yet to consider her mother’s mindset. Or even more, her emotional state. It would be three more years before her stepfather would really blend into their lives. Both fathers were caught up in the acceleration of a war and Mom was basically home alone. But at no time that Elizabeth could remember did she sense much stress. Her mom was only twenty-six, juggling four girls, running the household and Elizabeth hoped, finding some rare social time. She felt selfish, realizing how much she depended on Dan for a one child household. She couldn’t imagine–

“What are you reading, Elizabeth?” Mallory asked, waving her napkin to get her attention.

“Newspaper clipping he tucked into his file. His destroyer was involved in some Vietnam off shore bombardments,” Elizabeth said. “Can you imagine being twenty-seven years old, stuck at sea for months with your very life depending on the skills of the others?”

“Yeah, with no internet or computers,” Audrey added. “News from home only when mail found the ship.” She’d listened to her late husband’s father share stories of the glory days.

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