I was 7 years old when my Pappaw died.
There are things I remember about him, even though I saw him with only a child’s eyes.
There are things I see in myself I believe came from him, like my love of Dr. Pepper.
He was a carpenter.
He knew how to build all kinds of things, and he built things for me.
When I was young, I wanted to be a fireman.
Pappaw built me a fire truck bed.
Most of the things I’ve told you so far I told you because Sue’s prompt today is “build,” but I really wanted to get to the next part.
I’ve posted about Pappaw before, around Veterans Day probably, because he was in submarine combat during World War II.
The USS Archerfish sunk the Shinano, a Japanese aircraft carrier, in 1944, on its fifth war patrol.
Pappaw was part of its fifth war patrol as a torpedoman’s mate third class.
Yesterday I looked through a box of old papers which included some of his wartime commendations, letters and a patch of some sort.
I rummaged through the entire box.
I love history so it’s always great when I get to see it up close.
Pappaw never talked with me about his service in the navy, but I’ve heard pieces of the story.
I’ve seen copies of the submarine’s patrol logs online, and I’ve read about its encounter with Shinano.
It is wonderful to remember Pappaw as I knew him, and it’s also wonderful to know there was much more to him than what met my childish eyes.
Casey's Column 
Casey: What beautiful memories. My grandfather Swindal died when I was 15. He taught me how to fish. He was a very good carpenter as well. He helped build my parents last house. He also helped build the Church where I found Christ. My grandfather McCullough died when I was 23 and in the Army. I was home on leave when he passed. He taught me many things. He was a champion at playing Block dominoes. I think I beat him only twice in the many years we played. What great memories. Thank you for bringing them back after all these years. God bless and keep on posting.
It’s too bad that you didn’t get to hear more about his stories from him, but it is completely understandable as to why he would likely not share much with you at such a young age.
Aside from the fire truck bed (super neat!), what kinds of things did he build for you? Do you still have some of them?
We still have the fire truck bed, but it’s not in good shape right now. I have the wooden race car I mentioned in the story I linked to, and I have a stool/seat with my name on it he carved. I have a picture of a deer he carved into a cross section from a tree trunk. I had a sentence about all the stuff, but I cut it. Haha. Oops.