See the edit below.
This man is the son of the boy in the middle in the previous photo.
It sounds funny worded that way. He was my favorite cousin when I was very young, and he "took a shine" to me too. He was stationed at Pearl Harbor, and he came home on leave at Christmas and brought me a real grass skirt, coconut shell bra top, woven grass slippers and a lei. I felt like a queen with all those things, and I was only 5 years old. The next time he came home on leave, he was killed while riding a motorcycle over a bridge in our hometown. For years and years afterward, there was a huge blood stain there. His father could not bring himself to cross that bridge any more, and had to drive miles out of his way to avoid it.
Since that time, I have been no fan of motorcycles. I have seen them do much more damage than good in the world.
It sounds funny worded that way. He was my favorite cousin when I was very young, and he "took a shine" to me too. He was stationed at Pearl Harbor, and he came home on leave at Christmas and brought me a real grass skirt, coconut shell bra top, woven grass slippers and a lei. I felt like a queen with all those things, and I was only 5 years old. The next time he came home on leave, he was killed while riding a motorcycle over a bridge in our hometown. For years and years afterward, there was a huge blood stain there. His father could not bring himself to cross that bridge any more, and had to drive miles out of his way to avoid it.Since that time, I have been no fan of motorcycles. I have seen them do much more damage than good in the world.
There is a small blurb in our newspaper today for an article tht will appear in tomorrow's paper, about how many servicemen are being killed on motorcycles as opposed to dying in military service. I will post those statistics later.
Oh, what a sad sad story....Your cousin survives Pearl Harbor and is killed while riding a motorcycle. Terrible, terrible. I am with you Judy...I am not a fan of motorcycles either...as you said, too much damage as a result of these two wheelers.
ReplyDeleteWhat another terrific picture.
ReplyDeleteWhat a sad story as well!
Any pictures of that grass skirt? ;o) My girls love dress-up and they would be thrilled with such a get-up.
Very sad story. I don't like motorcycles either, we told our son at a very early age he wouldn't ever get one from us.
ReplyDeleteI guess there's a reason why they're called donorcycles.
ReplyDeleteMaybe this entry will serve as a lesson to others - and in doing so, save a life. All it takes is one.
Again from the other Michele's..
ReplyDeletedon't you love going through the old pictures.....
Motorcycles are so dangerous. People seem to ride them with the idea that they are in a car with all the steel around them and you are basically a human projectile going down the road. The cycle stops, but the body will keep going. So sad. These motorized stand on scooters are bad too. There have been a couple of kids around here who couldn't control them and ran them in front of oncoming cars.
ReplyDeleteMy mom had a cousin who died on one of the ships during the Pearl Harbor attack. It is chilling to hear her tell of Roosevelt's radio address that day.
Judy,
ReplyDeleteSometimes the parallels of our lives amaze me. I had an uncle who served in the South Pacific area during the Second World War. He also brought me a grass skirt when he came home. I was so thrilled. I remember wearing it to school over my dress. I really wanted everyone to see it.
I survived a motorcycle accident. I was riding behind my brother and we were hit by a car that sped through a stop sign. We both were badly injured and spent months in and out of the hospital. I remember that later an ER Doctor who had taken care of us told me, that they had a saying in ER, "Buy your child a motorcycle for their last birthday. Fortunately, both of us survived our injuries and went on with life.