Lessons from My 98-year-old Dad: The Great Blue Whale, Part 1

by Marilynn Chadwick

"Praise the LORD from the earth, you great sea creatures and all deeps”

Psalm 148:7

It was Christmas Day and the entire family had gathered at our home. Our grandchildren gazed at their great grandfather with wonder as he unwrapped his special Christmas gift. We had just finished Christmas dinner and the children crowded around “Great Grandaddy” as he opened his present. What could it be? The mysterious gift was packaged in an unusual antique box that had to be at least as old as Harper Brame, their ninety-eight-year-old great grandfather, and my father.

Great Grandaddy still had his razor-sharp mind, a twinkle in his eye, and an easy laugh. Turns out the gift box had been the carrying case for an antique auto harp, a hand-held stringed instrument often used to accompany folk music. Our good friend George had stumbled upon this beautifully carved box in a mountain antique shop and realized it was the perfect box to contain his special, hand-crafted gift for my dad.

The dining room filled with gasps from children and grownups as my dad delicately unwrapped his gift. It was an exact replica of the USS Besugo, the US World War II era submarine Great Grandaddy had served on during the war. George, a more recent war veteran himself, had spent months painstakingly and lovingly assembling and painting the intricate model sub.

George was as excited to give the submarine as Daddy was to receive it. “Wow, I’ve never seen a real submarine before,” exclaimed little Joshua. “Tell us a submarine story, Great Grandaddy,” the children pleaded.

My Dad paused, carefully examining every inch of his new “toy.” His mind drifted back to an earlier time. He searched for a memory he thought the children would enjoy. As he told this story, other memories from his war years flooded back, leading to a collection of childhood stories, growing up years, and life lessons. Some are stories I remember him telling me in my childhood, but this story was not one I had heard before.

“Well, did I ever tell you about the time I saw the largest animal to live on the earth?” The children settled in, eager for the story. Great Grandaddy continued, “It happened one day when three of us sailors were standing lookout on our submarine deck. All of a sudden, our Captain cried out, “Y’all look ahead!” “There right in front of us was about the biggest thing I’d ever seen in my whole life...”

To be continued on Monday.

Lessons from My 98-year-old Dad: Share Your Family Stories

by Marilynn Chadwick

"Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, be courageous, be strong."

1 Corinthians 16:3 NIV

Daddy is one of the few remaining World War II era submarine veterans, and the last man still alive from his submarine, the USS Besugo. “Guess I’ll have to turn out the lights,” he smiles. He and my mom vividly remembered the war—they didn’t take our freedoms for granted. So, growing up, neither did we.

One of the ways they helped us appreciate our heritage was to tell lots of stories—especially about our family. I grew up hearing about Daddy’s submarine adventures in the South China Sea. About rations and blackouts, and brave young friends who lost their lives in the war.

Mom and Dad were also proud of our family’s long history in this country dating back to before the Revolutionary War. Captain Simon Hunt, from Daddy’s mother’s side, was one of the original 80 minutemen who fought the British in the famous battle on the Old North Bridge in Concord, Massachusetts. It was on that bridge that the “shot heard round the world” signaled the beginning of the Revolutionary War. Our youngest, Michael Hunt Chadwick, loved hearing his stories about the Hunt family and his namesake.

Education was a given in our home. Mom and Dad were both college graduates back in the day where that was not common. Mom had been the valedictorian of her small country high school and Dad was a campus leader and played basketball at his high school, finishing early to go into the navy. He qualified for submarine school and left for his tour of duty, then returned after World War II to go to college at Virginia Tech on the GI Bill.

Mom’s mother, my Grandmother Eunice, taught first grade for about 50 years. I found her fascinating. One of eight children, her parents had died when she was very young, back in the late 1800s. She left home at an early age and somehow managed to go to college and become a teacher. Then she hopped on a cross-country train going west and taught school in various places along the way. My dad’s mother, Grandmother Lois, was another special role model for me, and I adored her. Like my Grandmother Eunice, she also attended college and played on the very first women’s basketball team at William & Mary College in Williamsburg, Virginia.

But it was an episode at a recent family Christmas gathering and our grandchildren’s fascination with one of Daddy’s stories that sparked our interest in putting some of his memories into writing. I’m hearing some of my dad’s stories, especially about his time on the submarine, for the very first time. Tomorrow, you’ll read about one of those adventures.

Lessons from My 98-year-old Dad: The Roots of My Raising Run Deep

by Marilynn Chadwick

“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.”

Galatians 5:1

Daddy was always proud of his family. Not only his parents and siblings, but also his grandparents, aunts and uncles, and cousins. He often shared stories from his growing up years and said the way he felt about his family reminded him of the old country music song by Merle Haggard, “The Roots of My Raising Run Deep.”

Growing up, I was incredibly fortunate to know my dad’s parents, my grandparents, along with a wonderful collection of aunts, uncles, and cousins. Daddy often talked about his grandparents, with whom his family had shared farmland. I grew up hearing about “Mama Hunt” and “Papa Hunt” who had come from Massachusetts by way of Minnesota, to launch their sawmill business among the hardwoods of eastern Virginia.

As a boy, Daddy spent a lot of time talking with Mama Hunt during the years leading up to World War II. She was quite interested in international politics and world affairs. She stayed up to date on the unrest brewing over in Europe through the radio broadcasts by the famed H. V. Kaltenborn.

Dad was a young teen when World War II broke out, and the United States declared war after the shocking attack at Pearl Harbor in 1941. Dad’s entire family became involved in the war effort, along with families all over our nation. His older cousins served in North Africa. A favorite cousin was a nurse in a medic tent on the battlefields of north Africa. His aunts and uncles were invested in the farming efforts, victory gardens, rations, and blackouts. He talks about how the country united. As he put it, “We were all in.”

Shortly before his eighteenth birthday, Dad entered the Navy. Japan had just surrendered, but the violent aftermath of World War II continued, erupting into the Korean War, China’s Civil War, and what became known as the Cold War. After reporting to Pearl Harbor, Dad ended up in China during the turbulence leading up to the takeover by Communist Mao Tse Tung.

Dad always said that any sacrifices made by his family were to “protect our freedom” and fight against the totalitarian regimes in Germany, Japan, and the Axis forces, and other threats to our democracy. “After those difficult years of the Great Depression, the war effort united us as a family and as a nation,” he said. “Even as a youth, I knew that our freedom, our family, and our faith were well worth the fight.