I think about him alot...but being Veterans Day today, I have thought of him often! On the radio you could call in and pay tribute to a veteran. Most people had a touching patriotic story. Seeing that my dad was somewhat of a comedian, I always think of his "veterans story"...it goes like this...
My Dad, Herbert Christopher Gust (1925-1998) was in the Navy right out of school, so I would guess that would have been 1940's. He was stationed on the USS STOCKHAM, a navy destroyer, in the Pacific. Well, my dad had a deformed finger tip. It was the result of some accident...when we would ask him what happened, he told the "story" of how he saved the Admirals life one day. He was on deck, as was the Admiral, and a bullet came flying by. He held his hand up in the air so the bullet wouldn't strike the Admiral. He said he did save the Admiral, but the bullet whizzed by and took off the tip of his finger...
(it turns out there was a typhoon one time, and the turbulence caused a hatch to fly shut, and caught his finger in it, taking off the top-I just learned that this year!)
Of course as youngsters, we believed this amazing story...well, for some time anyway. As we got older, we listened time and again to the story, and smiled as if we still believed he saved the Admirals life that day! That was just one of the humorous stories my dad told over the years....
We miss him every day, but on Veterans Day, this story really makes me smile!
OH YEAH! HAVE YOU THANKED A VETERAN TODAY? You still have some time to do that :)
Comments(2)