Today has been exceptional. We got to Wilmington fairly early and went straight to the USS North Carolina. (Photos below) We spent hours going through the battleship. I can see how easily it would have been to fall down the ladders (stairs) if you were in a hurry. Daddy was aboard the ship when it was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine. He was mid-stairs and fell the rest of the way down. His knee was really torn up, but it didn't break the skin. Evidently, he was a little hacked because it didn't draw blood (the criteria for getting a Purple Heart). We found our way down to the ship's curator/archivist. She had several items with info about daddy. She burned a CD for me, which I will load as soon as I find what I did with it. We saw his quarters and dining room. Since he was a Chief Boatswain's Mate, he and the others dined separately from the regular sailors and lived in different quarters. I wouldn't call it luxurious by any means. But then, it was a war ship after all. The ship saw many battles in the Pacific--all the major engagements. The one really serious hit on it was the torpedo that torn up Daddy's knee. I can remember that he often used a cane, even when I was really young.
After the battleship, we headed out for Williamsburg at a clip. We tried to connect with Patsy Patterson (Sherry and David's mother), but she had a doctor's appointment and we had to be in Williamsburg by dark. We were all sorry to miss a visit with her. We had dinner tonight in Wmsburg at the King's Arms Tavern. It is beautifully restored house that was an inn in the mid-1700s. Tomorrow we'll tour the village, Jamestown and Yorktown, then on to DC. We have to put Bonnie on a plane back to Texas. I'll sure miss her.
I expected to write much more extensively about the trip, but by the time we get to our room every night, I'm whipped and just want to brush my teeth and crawl in bed. We've traveled at a pretty steady clip all week.
