Monday Musings: Memorial Day, 2010
Sunday, May 30, 2010 at 20:38 My father, Richard James Shields, a U.S. Navy (CPO) veteran of WWII and Korea, died on Memorial Day, 1993 near his home in Alaska. He served in the South Pacific, seeing action in the Phillipines ( the Mindanao River ), New Giuinea and The Solomon Islands on a PT boat and toward the end of the war on the Yangtze River in China. Dad was on the last ship out of Shanghai harbor in ‘45. He also served briefly in Japan, post war, then the Korean Conflict and finally with Admiral Byrd in the Antarctic. Richard J. Shields is buried in Salt Lake City, Utah.
I was conceived while he and Momma were stationed at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii Territory.
Today, I remember him and all the other veterans of this country, who served selflessly.
I wish also to honor Col. Dion E. DeCamp, USAF, buried in Arlington National Cemetary. Dion served throughout the world as a C-130 pilot - and flew USO shows, including Bob Hope across the Pacific in the 1950’s. Dion had great tales to tell. He served in the California Air Guard, in addition to being Nevada Wing, Commander of the USAF Civil Air Patrol - and my commanding officer. Dion died in an airplane crash in 2007.
