Archie Lives On

Category: History and People | Posted: Sun Sep 06, 2009 1:06 pm

I always find a way to tell people about others who are now gone. It's a way to honor them and keep them a part of our lives. Even though I never met Archie, I especially like to tell about him. He was my dad's best friend and was a couple of years younger, about the age of my dad's younger sister. Archie, Robert (my dad) and Margory (my aunt) were inseparable.
When they were children, my grandma (Lucky 13) would take them places and would often be asked if Archie and Margie were twins. She'd smile and say, "No, they're six months apart!", and leave it at that! Granted, in THIS day and age, a mother could pull that off, with the help of some doctors and incubators, but THEN?!
Archie was one who loved to gross people out. He put together a sandwich of grape jelly, abalone, gravy and white bread that turned the stomachs of all who witnessed him eating it. That's why he did it! After a while he actually enjoyed them. Hey, don't knock it, as they say...
The trio continued in their childhood rich with fun, friends and promise, until WW11 hit. Archie was 17 and he talked his folks into letting him join the navy. He was stationed at Pearl Harbor and was trained to be a gunner.
On that fateful day, long before I was born, Archie manned the gun turret on one of the doomed ships in the harbor. As one of the Japanese pilots realized his plane was going to crash, he aimed it straight for the ship. He hit Archie directly. The ship sank soon after.
I'd like to meet Archie someday. I know I would have liked him a lot. I even thought to include him in my parents' 50th anniversary celebration. We had a big graffiti board that people signed and added comments to. I put a little something down on Archie's behalf, thinking that Dad would be touched by it. Unlike me, he feels better trying to forget. The memory is too painful, even to this day. You have to really tune in to see when my dad is upset. He won't out and out say so, but I know he was. I'll respect that.

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