THE BEGINNING

President Franklin D. Roosevelt spoke those words seventy-nine years ago today. At 7:55AM Hawaii time, a Japanese dive bomber was spotted above the clouds in Pearl Harbor. On December 8, the USA entered WWII. We would be involved in that war until the Japanese formally surrendered aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay on September 2, 1945.

THE END

My dad, along with about 3,000 other sailors, had departed from the Brooklyn Navy Yard aboard the USS Missouri after she had been commissioned. They were starting their war experience. How could they have imagined the significant part they would play at he end of WWII? On Sunday, September 2, 1945, John and his crewmates were on deck as they witnessed the iconic event effectively ending the war.

Whenever I see a picture of that renowned day, I Iook at the rows and rows of lean young sailors in their dress whites. As I search their faces, I am always hoping I spot my dad. I never have.

Here is a copy of the book I wrote about my father. It is entitled, “A Life Well Lived – Accompany My Father, a First-generation Italian American, as he Journeys Through the Great Depression, World War II, Fatherhood, Mentorship, Widowhood, to Family Patriarch in his First Ninety-Four Years.” His Navy days aboard “his ship” play a significant part of his journey.

You can purchase the book, or just read the first chapter here:https://www.amazon.com/author/janetdeleo

Be Safe,

Janet