Editor’s Note: I have some shipmates I am eager to see at the Fleet Landing on the other side of the Styx. Well, not that eager. I am happy to take my time if I am granted it. My family had river sailors in the Civil War- Union, of course, part of Operation Anaconda- but the rest were all soldiers, from the Revolution forward. It was Uncle Dick, pathfinder pilot of The Mighty Eighth over Europe in The Big One that made my Dad decide to be a Navy pilot, since carrier landings were the only thing that could hold a candle to what Dick did. As for people like Marlow and me? We did what we could. See you at Fleet Landing, if not before.

– Vic

Author’s note: I am my family’s generational contribution to a long line of mariners. We stretch back to the 19th century’s Imperial Prussian Navy and beyond. Against the daily chaotic and perhaps neglectful backdrop of the bridge team members who pilot our ship of state, the recent loss of life in this former WESTPAC sailor’s domain caused me to reflect on conversations — real past ones and imagined future ones.

– Marlow

The last good word I heard my grandson say
The last good word I heard my grandson say

If I die, if I die in a war at sea
Ship my body to my ma
If my mother can’t take me, ship it to my pa
If my papa’s gone, ship it to my girl
If my girl refuses me, shove me into the sea
Where fishes and sharks will fuss over me

If they’re too far away from the sea, don’t let them bury my poor soul
Just leave me out, let the worms eat me whole

When you hear I’m comin’ home on a train
Go to the depot, be patient, I’ll have no pain
Don’t cry if on time it don’t come
There’ll still some things to be done

My grandpa told me, just before he died
The Pacific Ocean, you know, it’s deep and wide
His son (my pa) fought the Japanese on that ocean’s other side
He said I shouldn’t feel shame for cold fighting commies with quiet pride

What life has done to me never got out of me
I fought the Germans in the Great War across the Atlantic sea
I’ll see you later, after you cross life’s deep blue sea

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