News from home

My friend Lillie in Jax wrote:

> Hello, Joe, I hope life is treating you well. I
> remember you said that you had high blood pressure.
> I do hope you see a doctor to oversee you and
> prescribe you medication.
>
> Between 5:30 to 6:00 PM Nov.12, my father passed
> away.
>

Holy shit.

Lil and her fam treats me as one of the family, not merely a friend.

She adores her father.

> Papa had high blood pressure, but he did not like
> the bodily feeling when he took the medicine the
> doctor ordered him to take. Sometimes he either
> refused or ignored his medicine. Well, he ignored
> his medicine one time too many.

I respected this quiet, but warm man MUCH more when I found out he is a decorated WWII vet, and is the only chinese man that I know of who was in the US Bomber Command in an unsegregated unit doing a full tour of Europe.

It wasnt until she happened to show the picture of the smiling and cocky young man in the full wool and leather flight jacket, .50-caliber bullets wrapped around his torso bandolier-style standing beside his B-24 Liberator that I realised the enormity of what had happened to him.

Her memories was that he had brought back a bunch of souviniers that they played with as kids, losing most of them around the house and yard.

But he never talked about the war to his children.

Lil never took my suggestion to talk about what had happened in those years.

She didnt want to ask.

He was a quiet man.

> I had spoken to my papa one hour before he passed
> away .... like ordinary, no problems, no worries,
> good spirited and cheerful. In one way, he was
> lucky to go to the next life so peacefully .... no
> wheelchair, no suffering, no hospitals and doctors,
> no pain. He left this life like he was just going
> to the store ... only he is not coming back. He was
> a cheerful, happy go lucky man and warmly loved by
> all. We will miss him deeply.

My condolences Lil. I will miss him too.
-----
And I will watch my blood pressure.