"zuke's gooks, USS Coral Sea. HC1 crew member. Flew with your dad."
This was the simple message that popped up on the screen. In my mom's living room as she was talking to me I look down and this msg stared back at me. Fixated and in shock I began to write to this man who had just opened a space in my soul.
Mr Owen I said, are you saying that you knew my father? I wrote back without saying a word to my mom.
"yes I flew with him from July 1967 to April 1968 off the coast of Vietnam."
Flushed with all sorts of emotions I carefully constructed something to tell my mom who I have purposely kept from knowing throughout the years that I wanted to know about the other side of who I had become. Don't know why I kept that to myself but it's part of who I became, closed off.
I sent Mr Owen my phone number and waited.. My phone rang and I could see it was an area code in California but I wasn't ready. This was going to be an emotional thing for me and one of the secrets closed off people like me try to keep out of site is our deepest held feelings.
I came home and wrote out a long thing with some questions and decided the next day I would call Mr Owen and get this started.
A three and a half hour conversation ensued the next day with a man who helped me put together "the image of my father." Strange as it may seem the similarities between the father and the son who only met once or twice many decades ago was like looking in the mirror and seeing him instead of me.
There are people now to contact and more information to be had, and then there will likely be the question at the end of, OK now what? This all will only matter to me and to what end I don't have a clue.
Already I know I think I would have liked this guy my father, and this is how Mr Owen put it to me:
"I can tell you that I would not be alive today if it was not for your dad. He made sure his men were taken care of. I know nothing about his family life. I search the Internet for guys that I deployed with to Vietnam. My search came up with your name and the picture of the Chief with his dog. I recognize his face. I read your blog and there were things in there that only a person that was deployed with your Dad in HC 1 would know. I can tell you he was a no-nonsense person and he called everyone a Son Of A Bitch.. You did not want to get on his bad side. He would get in your shit but he loved us. We use to say that the Chief was in the Navy so long he was a cabin boy on Noah's Ark."
Thank you from the bottom of my heart and sanity Mr Owen, the journey for me will continue-
