Danny Boy: My Beautiful Treasure (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9798281902182)

There are stories that you've heard a million times, but on rare occasions, there is one story that somehow has imbedded itself into your very soul. It cannot escape your thoughts for very long, because it has become part of you. Generations of tale tellers whose accounts may only in fragility prevail. But, even in a fragile state, these are stories retold by those who won't let time rob younger ears of something beautiful. Some of us who are willing to sit around in backyard lawn chairs or tuck ourselves up close to an old soul and just listen, we are the recipients of a remarkable gift. The gift is in the listening to testimonies of lives lived and tales that need telling. These are gifts that have decidedly been wrapped, unwrapped and rewrapped perhaps thousands of times. I have unwrapped a tale that needs telling. This story is that story.

Running and running fast was the only way to survive the flight deck of the USS Bon Homme Richard. In 1958, he was an enlisted man, an E-3 plane director, the young sailor's title in his new role on the carrier, filled with excitement and fury. The Bon Homme was the location for new pilots to get credentialed, which meant flights were going on continuously. The carrier was leaving dry dock and going out on missions weekly and this sailor was in the midst of a schedule that no human being should have to endure.

This is the story of a young sailor aboard the aircraft carrier, USS Bon Homme Richard, off the coast of California in 1958. He entered Navy life at the young age of 17 and this tale, retold by his daughter, highlights the incredible tragedy that nearly took his life. This young Nebraska native, leaves his home to serve his country aboard a literal floating highway. It is said that working on the deck of a carrier was no different than the danger and stress of being in combat. It was just a different type of war.