Reaching Across the World

My article from a week ago:

My Father the Sailor

A few days ago The Suburban Times posted my article about my father being a sailor during the Second World War and keeping a log. There were a couple of comments about writing letters and even about the state of Missouri where my father was born. In today’s news 10/4/2024 there was news about Kwajalein, where my father had sailed.

Kwajalein is not something you read about and consider every day. But today, I ran across an interesting sentence or two: “For the latest season of Marketplace’s climate solutions podcast, “How We Survive,” host Kai Ryssdal trekked across the Pacific to understand how climate change is impacting this vulnerable part of the world as well as U.S. national security.

In their reporting, the team visited with Susan Underbrink, senior archeologist on Kwajalein. Underbrink has uncovered everything from human remains from World War II to hundreds of Coca-Cola bottles.

“The president or CEO of Coca-Cola, he was a smart man,” Underbrink said. “He made a deal with [President Franklin Roosevelt], said if you don’t ration my sugar, I will guarantee that soldiers anywhere in the world can get a Coke for 5 cents.””

Underbrink said that during construction on a pier two years ago, more Coke bottles were uncovered. “I found 150 Coke bottles and one Pepsi,” she said. “That just shows you how Coke got to be so popular.”

I love how one small comment can bring about more interesting comments. It’s like sharing all around the world. I salute my father who delivered oil across the Pacific to the ships and sailors that helped us win the Second World War and how we became friends with Japan. I have two granddaughters that studied the Japanese Language. One of them lives in Japan teaching the English language.