For some reason I am having thoughts about Viet Nam too.

Sorry to hear about your brother.

"The Navy is only going to have one of my sons" - my mother

And that was the end of the Naval Academy, my father didn't say a word.

I wanted to be a submarine officer (perhaps Captain one day).

Instead, about 15 years later, I became a dive instructor and dive master...

Of course my father wanted me to be a pilot.

Having lost one son, two was unimaginable and unbearable.
I hope there were remains for your mother to bury? My USN uncle was killed
when his ship was sunk by the enemy in WWII. The family never got the body of course.

Oh I love submarines, I don't know why.
That is a great career goal, Captain of a USN submarine.

Your dad must have loved flying. He wanted you to be a Navy pilot.
That would have been neat too.
I don't know how they land their planes on these ships bobbing around in the sea.
My Dad flew combat in Viet Nam, I don't know why but I have been thinking about that time.
Like you are doing.

Glad you went on and did the diving. I was raised in a USAF family but my brother
did the water thing: diving instructor/master, worked underwater as a engineer building oil rigs in the Gulf.
Lived on a boat and sailed around the world.

he wanted to go to flight school.
that was when he discovered he was blue / green color blind.
My dad was heart broken. My brother brought all these color blind tests home. I couldn't understand how he didn't see the difference, this was years before I would enter the Naval academy. I was shorter than he was (he was 6'2" and I was 5'11&quot so submarines was what I wanted.
Plus I always love that campy TV show "Voyage to the bottom of the Sea"... and in high school I actually attended a presentation by Jacques Cousteau. So I really loved the idea of the ocean even if I had never been near one ( Kansas ).

Yes his body was shipped home. He wasn't kill by enemy fire, but there was an accident on board ship... he struck his head on something while practicing deployment on his LST... and he actually drowned before they could get him out. Technically in the war zone, but not engaged in enemy action. Even a full Navy funeral, but his name isn't on any memorial. I always wondered if my sister has the flag that draped his container that my mother put into a triangle shaped display case along with his ribbons and medals. Some of his closest mates came to visit when they had shore leave when their ship came back to port in San Diego.

Funny thing, as a possible Annapolis nominee ( named by Sen. Bob Dole!) and a high school senior, the Navy had a program for younger male (this was a while ago) relatives to join the ship on their voyage from Hawaii to San Diego... and I was going to do that too.

He was killed in a war zone doing his job.

I am glad your parents got him home to bury. Yes maybe your sister has the flag and medals.

Those LSTs look tricky and dangerous to me. During the Viet Nam war we were stationed in Okinawa next to a
marine base and we could see the LSTs line up in the water and the men would board them to deploy to Viet Nam.
Didn't look safe to me, but I knew where they were going was much more dangerous.

Oh I didn't now about the program for young male relatives to join the ships at Hawaii and sail into San Diego.
That would have been so neat. Wow nominated by Sen Bob Dole. That is so cool.

Yes people who are color blind often don't know it until they try to get into professions which screen for it and then don't
qualify. Yes they just cannot differentiate the green and blue colors. It is an inherited condition.

Yes I love the idea of the ocean and submarines. I think I have watched every submarine movie ever made.
Growing up as an Air Force kid, I loved the Navy. They had it all. The ships, the uniforms, interesting and lively personnel.

return alive.

My good friend Mike died in Vietnam parachuting into the jungle and all of them were killed. Took several days to retrieve the bodies. His dad insisted on an open casket. It was horrible. For why???? I am sorry that you lost your brother.

I'm Vietnam era Navy, but through sheer luck I was never sent there. I have two friends whose names are on the memorial wall, and I think about them often.

Memories are sacred; hang on to them.

….hold onto the fond memories of him.