Michael Haz has his say

Michael Haz said...
I picked up the old man today and took him for a drive and then lunch.

It was a beautiful autumn day here in Wisconsin; clear, crisp, sunny and warm. The leaves are turning, kids playing. Just perfect and it's the last autumn he'll see.

We drove past a Civil War reinactment. A man dressed in a Union Army uniform stopped us and driected us toward the parking area. The old man said to him "Sarge, some of your guys are going to be pretty irritated when they find out the Civil War ended a while back." Sarge didn't laugh. And we didn't stay.

He wanted lunch so we went to his regular lunch place - a Chinese buffet. We walked in and the owner saw us. "Missa John - you no eat buffet today. I cook special for you. Same price." I had the buffet; the owner brought out some wonderful looking, smelling and tasting steak and vegetable meal for the old man.

When the place opened three years ago the owner who could barely speak English had big trouble with the local jerk building inspector as the remodeling was being wrapped up. The old man found out about it, walked in the door of the place and tuned up the inspector (he knew him for years in the building business). Occupancy permit three hours later. Missa John gets special treatment even though he doesn't want it. He told the owner "I don't want anything. My parents were immigrants; I know how damn hard it can be."

He wanted to talk about World War Two today. It was the first time he did so voluntarily. "I'm not gonna tell yo about the combat stuff, just the other stuff."

He was in the Navy, spent time on Guadalcanal. The enlisted guys made camp away from teh officers area, along the beach. They scrounged tents and other things. They build a tent village, then found scrap tin to put protective covers over the tents to keep then cooler and drier. And white sheets in the ceilings, and light bulbs in makeshift tin fixtures. They planted palms near the tent area because they sprouted and grew in a few weeks.

One of his buddies decided they needed palm roof on their tents to look authentic. Rather than climbing the palm trees and cutting the fronds, they told the guys at the Army base that there were snipers in the palm trees. The Army guys shot the tops off the trees; the fronds fell to ground.

A junior officer came around to announce inspection, followed by a Captain. The officers were furious that the enlisted men had better quarters and demanded to know where thy got the material. "From the Army base", they lied with a straight face.

A major came around later that day and congratulated them for showing the junior officers exactly how to make things happen in a war.

One of the Old Man's buddies was a shoemaker in civilian life. He took everyone's GI boots and cut them down to oxfords. The company tailor cut everyone's pants short, just below the pockets.

They found a Japanese soldier who had been living in a cave for months. He didn't want to surrender because that would dishonor his family in Japan and they would be killed. After he was debriefed by an officer who spoke Japanese, it was decided that he could stay on the island. He became the company cook, fishing in the ocean, finding fruits on the forest. The old man likes mango and papaya with lime juice to this day.

There are more stories I'll save for another day.

He remains happy, funny, alert and engaged. It's hard to tell by looking at him that his days are few. He sees his friends, tells stories and puts a box of water bottles on his walker so he can water the mums he planted around the doorway of the seniors' apartment building where he lives.

When it's my time to reach for the next life, I hope I can do it with as much grace and fearlessness has he is. "We all have a purpose", he says, "Mine right now is to show my family how to die. It's not so bad as it sounds."

He is the real deal Michael. Enjoy him as long as you can. Thank you for sharing.