Going to war, living in peace

Going to war, living in peace: He was both father and officer, bound by duty
The Oregonian
By Guest Columnist
on November 12, 2012
By Eric Schuck

It was a sliver of a battle in a war few people wanted and fewer still understood. It was the summer of 1967, and it was his second trip to Vietnam. The first time, in 1964, he had been idealistic about it all. He and his ship had raced across the Pacific in the firm belief they were coming to the rescue of another destroyer. This time there were no such illusions. Shots would be fired in anger. Men would die. And yet he still went.

Such was the youth of my father. I've often wondered about how he accepted that knowledge the second time around. When he spoke of it -- which was not often, not by a long stretch -- he basically shrugged it off by declaring it his duty as a naval officer. That's a difficult word for most of us, duty. To some, it implies an unthinking and unreasoning obligation. For him, it was anything but. At his heart, he was ever the Catholic schoolboy. He could reflect and question and challenge the most complex moral questions, but only up to a point. When he reached the spot where answers themselves became questions, he accepted and endured. This was one of those cases. The Navy and the people of the United States had trusted him to lead their sailors into harm's way. If he did not lead them, someone else would, someone who might himself be killed, or worse, who might lead to the death of his sailors. That he could not accept, so he went. Again.
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