Reviewed March 2, 2011
October 2009
Recently returned from a trip to Corpus Christi, Texas where we visited our son and family in Odem. I also went aboard USS Lexington.
I received a surprise and welcome "personal" phone call from Rear Admiral Robert Reilly, Commanding Officer of the Navy's Military Sealift Command in Norfolk, Va. This has never happened before!! The admiral stated that he thought Sealift owed me a more personal response from my request to ride shotgun aboard one of the Kaiser Class ships, just for the thrill of it. Due to my medical condition, the request was turned down, which I told the admiral that I understood. We had quite a conversation that lasted 20 to 25 minutes. He said he would email me too, and below is that email:
Here are photos of my League City, Texas visit
in July with Grant Westmoreland who accompanied me.
Boy, isn't this a sad mug?!!
League City Trip 2009. George Bailey and wife, Grant Westmoreland and
me at Joe Lee's Seafood in Kemah, Texas.
George Bailey, USN, serving with the Marines as a Hospital Corpsman in
Vietnam. Photo from National Geographic, Vol. 131, No. 2, February 1967.
George is the guy with the shouldered weapon.
Okay, who is this boot camper? He's a person I put in the Navy back when I was on recruiting duty in Corpus Christi, Texas. Go to the heading that reads "Merchant Mariners, Navy. Interesting story indeed!!! Including his sister!!!!!!!
Grant Westmoreland, age 15, Marshall High School
Grant Westmoreland is me and Charlotte's church family son. He is the youngest of three children of Dare and Gayle Westmoreland of Marshall, Texas. Grant was given an assignment in school to interview someone 60 years old or over. Because Grant is our dear friend, he chose me as his subject. The following is only a portion of his really neat report file that he turned in. He got a grade of 97 on it. I was greatly impressed with his efforts and I wanted everyone who looked at my
website to read his work:
Wait a minute----did Grant call me "Goofy"? Well, Mr. Grant, you'll be hearing from my lawyers soon...all five of them!!! Looks like I'm just gonna have to "Bust you up some!"
Grant Westmoreland (left) with me and...heck...can't think of the kid's name
now. Well, they say the mind is the second thing to go when you reach age 67!! Humm, no wonder
Grant referred to me as "goofy", huh!
Charlotte and our Rottweilers, "Annie" and "Lucy" the Louse.
Unfortunately we recently lost "Annie" (on your left) to cancer recently. It
was a hard pill to swallow!! She was a sweet and wonderful pet.
See "Home Page" for reader comments on my novel.
I received via e-mail that a short story of mine I wrote back in about 1981 or 1982, is published. This same tale won 3rd place in an International short story writing contest and reaped me $50, but it was never published. I shelved it for 26 years, then entered it in a present day contest. Whoa, it won again!! The story is in the 2008 NETWO Anthology entitled A TREASURE BOX, an elite book of short stories and poems. Here is the front cover and back cover for the book:
VISIT THE NETWO WEBSITE @ www.netwo.org to order the book, or write to:
Northeast Texas Writer's Organization
P.O. Box 411
Winfield, Texas 75493
I Received e-mail from Chaplain Mike Halley (
mhalley@juno.com), who had info passed to him about USS Jouett CG 29. I encourage you to visit
.
I have also transferred a story, I wrote the last year of my Navy career, that sold for $327 in 1980, to my computer. While the project did not work out for the company that purchased the story, they did pay me for it. In copying the tale to my computer, I did revise a tiny bit of it, and reading the story again after all these years (28 years to be exact), I plainly see why they bought the story. Not bragging, but I guess I am, it is a well plotted tale that ends nicely; however, it leaves the reader trying to guess what happened to him after he reached his goal, which he did. In short, this is really the start of a good novel. It was entitled "Piece Of Cake", but I changed it several days ago to, "Red, Right, Returning"---the story of a 16 yr old boy and his beagle who escape from his stepfather's island in a row boat.
USS Compton DD 705 reunion, Branson, Mo April 2008
I am working on a ship's model that I will use for my book display table. Here are a few shots in the progressive work putting it together. A lot of hours, believe me!! If you would like a ship's model for your own home or display (they have many models of Navy ships to select from), please write to:
BaD Ship Models
134 Stronghill Road
Westford, NY 13488
Various shots of my model: