A Short Story of Steve's Dad, Jess Cannon

A short story about my Daddy a WW II vet

Over the past few years my dad has told me bits and pieces of his service during WW II. When he joined the Army he met a big guy named Donahue from South Louisiana.
The two of them spent their entire service together and even came home at the same time. The two of them became MP's ( Military Police ) serving in the South Pacific at Guadalcanal and Okinawa.

Daddy said once when he was on patrol around the island of Okinawa a typhoon came up and washed him into a cave. Once the water receded he could feel bodies all around him, but could not see them.

Once again on patrol around the island of Okinawa he got jumped by some Japs. He was knocked to the ground and a rifle butt knocked out his front teeth. When that happened, he said to himself, "I'm not going to die here on some beach island."

Daddy told me that he was an MP, a cook, used a flame thrower, ran ground moving equipment, and helped in the building of the first runway for airplanes to come into Guadalcanal.

On Guard duty at Guadalcanal, daddy said he saw a kid stealing food rations from under a tent. He said he grabbed that kid up, put him under his arm, and whipped his little butt. He put him down, handed him the food and told him to get. The little boy ran a few feet, turned and looked at daddy with a smile on his face, then ran into the woods. Daddy said he just couldn't take the food from him.

Once while on Guard duty at Guadalcanal, an old woman came into camp naked except for something on her bottom part. Daddy said they had tents folded and stacked up in piles. The old woman bent over and with the top of her head picked up that big old tent and looked at him. Like with the little boy, he thought, "Old woman, if you can make it across that ditch, you can have the tent". Sure enough she took the tent and disappeared into the woods.

He said after being discharged from the Army, he and Donahue left the post with tickets for the train ride home. They had some time on hand so they grabbed their duffel bags and put on their uniforms. They went downtown to a bar. After having a few drinks, they saw some new enlisted GI's come in, all dressed to the ts; stripes, ribbons and all. The new GI's started laughing and pointing at them. Donahue asked Daddy, "Do you want to MP them?" And they did. They banged a few heads together, but knew the MP's would be on their way, so they got their duffel bags, ran to the train depot and jumped on the train heading home ( so they thought ).

After awhile, the conductor started calling for tickets. When he got to Daddy's and Donahue's tickets, he said, "Men, you know you two are on the wrong train? We're going north and you should be going south". Donahue looked at Daddy and they both just busted out laughing.

Daddy, although we're apart, I'll forever hold you and your stories in my heart. And listen in the wind for the "I love you son."

Love,
Your Son, Steve