Combat Loaded -- Amphibious Forces of WWII/USNTS Sampson

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Subject: Combat Loaded

Author:
Thomas Crew

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Date Posted: 17:47:00 12/29/06 Fri
In reply to: Russ Padden - Webmaster 's message, "COMBAT LOADED - Across the Pacific on the USS Tate" on 13:39:52 12/23/06 Sat

Russ--Thanks! This project would have never been possible without the unselfish support of so many people like yourself. At the Tate's first (and so far last) reunion in 2003, Paul Leahy (navigator) stated that the Tate was a lucky ship during the war and that this good fortune was again manifesting itself through the "Combat Loaded" book project. It made my hair stand up to think that this noble man was suggesting some sort of divine intervention of which I was a part. Paul went home to Boston where he died soon after, but I'll never forget what he said or how he said it. Another veteran, Albert Doresy gave me the advice that really sustained me, he said, "Take your time and make the book as good as you can, so that it will last forever and represent us all. And don't worry about those of us who won't be here when you finish." Not wanting to claim (nor deny) divine intervention I came up with another theory as to why so many pieces to this complicated project just fell from the sky and into place. When everyone beleives in achieving a well defined goal they don't question the many obvious steps that need to be taken--one at a time. You all just shove off and keep moving forward--kind of like sailing across the Pacific. Just set your course and start steaming. This behavior is truly a trait of the WW II generation. They didn't know how the war would turn out, they just knew that their country needed defending. Today, we are so poisoned with protection that we usually demand to know the results before we take the risk. If there is a lesson to be learned here, it is to just start doing the possible and sooner or later you will have achieved the improbable or the impossible--such as saving the world from Facist tyranny. We all owe more than we can ever repay to the Greatest Generation--so I consider "Combat Loaded" to be only a partial repayment for the great life I have lived in the good old US of A.

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Replies:

Subject	Author	Date
Book now available from publisher	Russ Padden	17:14:33 01/11/07 Thu