Fallen Warriors

Just as many of you, I come from a long line of warriors. I have many of them documented for several generations back for about two hundred years. I will not list all of them in this story.

Warriors are described in Webster’s as: one who fights in a war or battle. And they come from all walks of life before they are warriors. Some were farmers, tilling the soil, others were fishermen. Still, some were just boys with no occupation at all, before they became soldiers or sailors.

This story is dedicated to all of the men/women who have served for all generations for the cause of Freedom, whether in peace time or war. 

Freedom is not free; there have been millions of gallons of blood spilled for the cause of Freedom. The Freedom; that we have always enjoyed in America. They deserve the utmost respect of everyone that enjoys the Freedom they provide.

Some have asked why men/women would join any Military service knowing they put their life on the line when they sign on the dotted line and swear an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign or domestic.

I can tell you, it certainly ain’t for the money; it is for the love of Freedom, and love of Country, love of family, and themselves. Greater love has no man than to give his life so that others might live.

The main three that I will mention in this story are fallen warriors. The first one was in WWII, the second was in Korea and the third was in Vietnam. I knew all three of these warriors personally, and their deaths left a big hole in the hearts of our family members.

Family Photo of Jack McDuffie
A Few Days Before He Left

My daddy’s youngest brother Jack McDuffie was born August 15, 1921. He served in the CCC’s before he was drafted into the United States Army. He took his training at Camp Blanding in December 1941.

He was a Pfc. Company A, 32^nd Infantry, and he was KIA by a snipers bullet in the “Battle of Leyte” on the Island of Leyte in the South Pacific December 14, 1944. He was 23 years old, and he was the apple of my eye. He is buried in Whitewater Cemetery, Holmes County, Florida

My cousin Billy McDonald was little more than a boy when he went into the United States Army. Billy was born March 20, 1933. He was a Pvt. Company B, 32^nd Infantry. He was KIA September 23, 1950 in Korea.

Billy was 17 years old, and he is buried in Calvary Baptist Cemetery, Santa Rosa County, Florida. I have no photo of Billy.

James Robert Adams
Military Photo

Next is my cousin James Robert Adams born June 6, 1942. He graduated from West Point June 7, 1967 as 2nd Lt… 

He commenced his tour of duty in Vietnam February 14, 1968. He was in Company A, 505^th Infantry, United States Army. He was KIA March 20, 1968. His name is on the Vietnam Memorial wall in Washington D.C. and Jim is buried in Arlington Cemetery.

Numerous other family members have served in various branches of our Armed Forces, most have come home safe.

Two of my granddaughters are currently serving in the United States Marine Corp.

Nicole Villareal Bastian, born June 14, 1981, graduated the Citadel 1999-2002 Corp of Cadets, Captain 4401 MOS Judge Advocate, currently serving.

Three Marines
Nicole Villareal Bastian, Amber Marie Haven, Warren Villareal

Amber Marie Haven, born August 24, 1990, graduated Boot Camp, Parris Island as Pfc. April 23, 2010. Promoted to LCpl. October 1, 2010 MOS Combat Camera. Currently serving.

Kaitlynn M. Lewis

One more family member currently serving on active duty as well is a paternal cousin. Kaitlynn M. Lewis, born May 29, 1993. She enlisted in the United States Navy January 6, 2012.


Kaitlynn is a Seaman, Career Field, General Ships Maintenance
Stationed aboard the USS Leyte Gulf at Virginia Beach, VA.

The Cuban Missile Crisis

John F. Kennedy was our President of The United States of America, and in September and October of 1962 the “Cold War” was heating up fast. 

Russia was supplying Cuba with missiles. Cuba was denying they had missile bases in Cuba. But a U-2 spy plane flew over and filmed four missile bases being built.

President John F. Kennedy

President Kennedy was considered to be a soft touch as far as Russia was concerned, but they totally underestimated him. 

Our President was far from it, he ordered a blockade across the Atlantic and he told Russia "You will not send any more missiles into Cuba." He firmly took this stand, and he would not back down regardless of threats of a nuclear war!

Chuck, center, nearest camera,
on the deck of the USS Grenadier SS 525
in the Key West harbor March 1962

My husband was a submarine sailor and at the time he was stationed aboard the USS Grenadier SS 525 based in Key West, which is located across a 90 mile stretch of the Atlantic from Key West to Cuba.

On an early morning in late October, he’d had the duty the night before so he was aboard the Grenadier. I still can not remember the date, but I vividly remember the day! The phone rang, and woke me up. Our conversation went like this:

Me - hello

Chuck – Baby Love get my sea bag packed, and get it down here within 30 minutes, if you don’t make it in that time I’ll be gone!

Me - Where are you going?

Chuck - I don’t have time to tell you, just do it!

Me - But how long are you going for?

Chuck – Just get it down here, bye!

I rushed to get it done as quickly, as he had asked, and drove as fast as I possibly could to get his sea bag to him, with a gauntlet of emotional thoughts assaulting my heart and mind.

When I arrived he was standing on the dock, he ran across and grabbed his sea bag gave me a quick peck on my lips, and yelling over his shoulder as he ran for the gangplank, “We are sailing under sealed orders, don’t know where to or how long I’ll be gone, you won’t get any mail while I’m gone, take care of our kid’s, I love you, bye!” As soon as he crossed the gang plank it was pulled in and the Boat got underway.

When I arrived home and opened the door my phone was ringing, I answered and it was my daddy, he said, “Get yours and the kids clothes packed Ted (his sister), and I are coming to get you.” I asked, “Why?”

Daddy asked, “Haven’t you heard the news?”

 “No I’ve been too busy getting Chuck’s sea bag packed and taking it to him since he called early this morning and woke me up.” He answered, “That crazy Cuban s-o-b Castro is on T V, threatening to blow Key West off the map with a missile, you be ready to leave when we get there.” The time was now 8:00 a. m...

They arrived at my house about two o’clock p m. They made an eight to ten hour trip in six hours, and I am happy to say I was glad I was not riding with them on the way down!

I was all packed up and ready to go when they arrived, we loaded up and headed out. It was a really scary situation, from Key West north, to just past Moore Haven, it was a solid bumper to bumper convoy of Army and Air Force moving south into the Keys with all equipment needed to set up our own missile sites along the Keys!

The trip back to the mainland and home to Dade City was at a slower pace, you could not have passed a car in front if you had wanted to. There were no breaks in the solid convey. I stayed with my folks for about three months.

An Old Missile Launching Pad
Somewhere in the Keys

Castro never shot off the missile at Key West; I decided it was time to return home. And still, the entire Keys were solid with missile sites and they remained for quite a long time.

When my husband returned home, he could not tell me where he had been, all of the men aboard had been sworn to secrecy. I did not know where he had been till about ten years after he retired from the Navy and all this information had been de-classified, he then shared it with me.

Some of the Officers and crew having
Thanksgiving dinner on the dock 

Officers and crew of USS Grenadier SS 525
 having Thanksgiving dinner
on the dock in Gitmo 1962

During this time the Boat was one of the Boats that took part in the blockade that President Kennedy ordered. 

Along with the Balao SS 285,Threadfin SS 410, Trutta SS 421, Chopper SS 342, and the Quillback SS 424. Numerous surface Ships also took part in that blockade.

Then the Boat was sent to Guantanamo (Gitmo) in November, they were the only Boat in the Harbor at that time. They had their Thanksgiving dinner on the dock they were tied up to.

Chuck said, “Sitting on the deck of the Boat many times during this time I would have the loneliest feeling come upon me that I had ever experienced in my life.”

Photo by Wekipedia

Up until this time Guantanamo had been a busy sea port, and now it was deserted except for one Boat in the harbor; with the threat of a nuclear powered war hanging over it!

Years after he retired and we had moved to Cedar Key, he met two guys who had also been there during this same time. One had been in the Seabees Construction gang; they were building bunkers, laying down roads on the top of the mountain separating the Base from the rest of Cuba. He became Chuck’s nephew-in-law, A J Brown.

The other was a Marine, Arnie Bible who was up on top of the mountain; he and his Company were on guard, just in case an attack came from this direction. They could both look down and see the Submarine in the Harbor, but at that time none of them knew each other. They all came home safe and eventually met, and shared their experiences!

Old Cedar Key School

This is just one of my many stories of being the wife of a sea going sailor till he retired. And though he was born in Lake Wales Florida, he spent a lot of time in Cedar Key when he was growing up; it is located on the central west coast of Florida. 

He also went to High School there till he joined the Navy in December of 1947 and then he went to Submarine School.

All wives or husbands of Military service active duty men/women spend a lot of long lonely time waiting for our mates to come home. This is just one of the sacrifices we all make for our country to keep America a FREE Nation.

It saddens me to see the state our nation is quickly falling prey to. The only way it can be changed is for America to become a praying nation again as it did during WWII!

Alan J Shapiro

Note:  Photos of Chuck and the USS Grenadier were courtesy of Alan Shapiro. He donated them to the USS Grenadier SS 525 web site, and he also gave me his permission to use them in my story. Mr Shapiro served aboard the USS Grenadier SS 525 as an enlisted man and as an Officer 1960-1969.

More Extended Family

USS Grenadier SS 525

Chuck was transferred from the USS Marlin SS T-2 March 19, 1962 to the USS Grenadier SS 525 and served aboard her till October 21, 1963

USS Grenadier Insignia Patch

USS Grenadier Plaque

Jim Bainbridge was also stationed aboard the USS Grenadier SS 525 and Chuck had served with him briefly on the USS Quillback SS 424, but I didn't meet him or his family at that time.

They came over to our duplex on Truxton Road one night to have dinner with us. At that time their youngest was Christopher, and he was a baby. Besides Christopher they had Jimmy, Allen and Laura (Biffy) and she was a toddler.

Living with them was Meme, Molly’s sister and her daughter Bonnie. Housing, in Key West at that time was a critical situation, and you had to take whatever you could find that was available just to have a roof over your head.

They were all living in a one and a half bedroom trailer at Big Coppitt Key with one tiny A C window unit. Key West climate is like living in a steam room. They were on the list for a four bedroom duplex unit in Sigsbee Park, but had no clue as to how long they would have to wait.

Our duplex was a three huge bedrooms, with central air and heat. We invited them to stay with us till they got their own unit. Molly was bowled over; being from Newfoundland, she was not familiar with southern ways. 

They took some of their beds out of storage and moved in with us for three weeks till their unit became available. Navy folks are extended family, but then most Military folks are that way. 

All of us are a long way from home, and we had to make home wherever we were at any given time. Molly and I became best friends, and we still are best friends forever. 

It worked out great, I did all of the cooking, Molly and Meme took care of doing all of the dishes. We all did laundry. They shared the grocery bill, we had enough space no one felt cramped. And the best part for them was staying cool.

Molly makes the very best German Chocolate cake I have ever eaten. It became a tradition. She made one every year for us at Christmas, and she always decorated it with a Candy Cane poked down in the center, and a sprig of Holly with red berries.

A German Chocolate Cake

She and Jim would bring it over on Christmas Eve and have coffee and cake with us, after we got all the kids to bed, and while waiting till they were all asleep. Then they went home to put presents under the tree; like we did after they went home.

Besides God, and my husband Chuck, Molly was a great support to me during my recovery from alcohol and drug addiction, and she did not even realize at the time that I was recovering. She was my best friend and I could talk with her and Meme about anything at anytime I needed to talk. She lived one street over in Sigsbee Park.

The tradition of the German Chocolate cake and having coffee and cake together on Christmas Eve continued even after we all retired and lived in Cedar Key, for many years. 

I no longer live there and I really miss spending that time with her on Christmas Eve and having coffee and her delicious German Chocolate Cake and chatting. We talk on the phone, but it is just not quite the same. The memories are priceless!

Recovery

My system was so saturated with alcohol and drugs, withdrawal was very difficult. I had the shakes so bad much of the time it would take three to six tries just to get a teaspoonful of sugar into a cup of coffee.

And at times I had mild convulsions. I should have had medical treatment, but back in those days that kind of recovery was not a valid reason to be hospitalized as it is this day and time.

Day by day it got a little easier, God, and my husband was my greatest support system. The first six months were the roughest. Sometimes the compulsion to drink and pop pills would come upon me so heavy, and I would wrestle with it awhile.

Just when I would reach my breaking point and I started to pick up the phone and call someone to bring me something or take me to get something or find my car keys if I had the car to go myself, the compulsion would lift instantly.

Later I came to realize this was the working of the Holy Spirit teaching me how to resist temptation.

1963 was a hell of a year; so much happened in this year, but it was also one of my best, all of it came as blessings in disguise, although at that time I didn't recognize them as such, but later looking back over my life I did realize this.

My deliverance came in March; then in April I was hospitalized and had surgery, while Chuck was at sea. In September I made a trip with my neighbor to Kansas to take her daughter to enroll in college there.

Bahia Honda State Park
photo by The Real Florida

On the way back; she was driving at the time, just as day was beginning to break she fell asleep at the wheel on the mainland end of the old Bahia Honda Bridge and wrecked her Volkswagen micro bus. 

There was a fairly steep embankment from the roadway down to the little pond that you can see in the photo. 

When she left the road she woke up and jerked the wheel, the vehicle flipped, and we rolled over two and a half times before we skidded to a stop, with the right side of the vehicle down, and driver's side up.

My children and I were in the back, I was laying on the back seat and they were sleeping on a mattress on the floor; we had removed the middle seat so we could put the mattress down for sleeping.

I had just dozed off, but I woke up when she left the road, I vaguely remember a big steamer trunk hitting me in the head and it knocked me unconscious.

When I regained consciousness two brothers on an early morning fishing trip had seen her headlights where there should not have been any lights and had stopped to investigate and help us; they were first to stop.

They got my children out to safety and then helped me out, but they could not help Maxine, one of her legs was threaded through the steering wheel and the other knee was jammed into the dash. When the emergency crew arrived they had to cut her out.

We were taken by ambulance to Fisherman's Hospital in Marathon because it was the nearest. The Highway Patrolman took my children to the hospital in his car. 

Chuck was called and while I was still conscious I asked them to call Bobbie Hickman who lived in Marathon, to come and take care of my children till Chuck arrived because it would be at least another hour and a half before he could get there.

There were several places on my body where I had no skin left, and the Dr’s at Fisherman's had conferred with the Orthopedic specialist in Miami and told Chuck I would never walk again due to Compressed fractures; three upper and two lower, and the severe trauma to my spine.

Every moment that I was conscious I was praying; asking God to heal me. We were later transferred by Navy ambulances to the U S Naval Hospital in Key West, and seventeen days later I walked out of the hospital. I was in a full metal body brace, but thank God I walked out and I am still walking.

One thing that really touched my heart was Chaplin Reese, from the Boca Chica Naval Air Station read about the wreck involving two Navy wives in the newspaper and he made that 110 mile round trip every day for fourteen days to come and visit and minister to us, and he didn't know us from Adam, till he came. 

Neither of our husbands were stationed at Boca Chica, they were both attached to the main Navy Base in Key West. I think this was the first time I had ever experienced the love of God in action, and I knew it at the time. As long as Chaplin Reese was stationed at the Chapel at Boca Chica; Chuck and I took our children to the services there.

I had my first meltdown of emotion when the two Hospital Corpsmen and the two Navy nurses walked in to transport us back to Key West, I was so happy to see Navy uniforms again! 

I had two years of physical therapy three times a week before I could finally take that metal body brace off and walk free. I also had the best Orthopedic Dr. at the Navy hospital, Dr Benivedes.