If a serviceman didn\u2019t see my grandfather in the engine room at exactly that moment, he would have sealed the hatch. Fred didn’t know who pulled him out, but he was the last man out of the engine room. He spent three days alone in a life raft under the blistering South Pacific sun with a gashed neck. Tiger sharks circled below, Japanese Zero planes, above. But Fred had a dream. He would get off that life raft. He would get back to Western Massachusetts, marry his sweet-heart, and build a big family house with his own bare hands. A big comfy one for kids and, later on, maybe their kids, too.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s exactly what my Grandfather did.<\/em><\/p>\n

[tags]civil rights movement, iraq war, vietnam, soldiers, american military, us military, american empire, american power, american economy, war and pizza hut, cold war, war on terror, essay, article, narrative of american power, united states[\/tags]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For previous entries, please see War & Pizza Hut: Volume 1 and War & Pizza Hut: Volume 2 ******* The End Of The American Empire My Grandfather was in the engine room when the kamikaze happened. Zero plane shrapnel sheered through the destroyer. South Pacific waters gushed inside. Naval protocol was to close the engine […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":10659,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[259],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n