Forward

The following series of posts comprise a memoir my father, Jim Nicholson, wrote about the first twenty-eight years of his life.
If you read it, you'll see the majority of it concerns his time in the Navy; much of it about service in the Pacific during World War II. Most of Dad's memories here were reinforced by log books he kept as a radioman/ tail gunner on a torpedo plane (TBF), flying off aircraft carriers.
I've had this memoir since he wrote it in the mid-90's. I'd read it a couple of times, but was recently asked to show it to a journalist writing a story about those who served during that war. In re-reading it this time, I found the stories much more compelling than before. Perhaps because telling these stories seems to come easier to Dad now than it did earlier in my life, so this account provides detail, texture, timeline and context to some of what I've heard in more recent years. Perhaps because it's easy to realize that the opportunity to hear firsthand accounts of life in America during the first half of the twentieth century are becoming rarer every day. Perhaps it's because I'm now a father myself, and only now can truly appreciate the hard work and sacrifices of my father, my mother, and many, many more of their generation, who have made their children's lives much easier than their own.
I post this as a tribute to my folks and an archive of their stories. If you or someone you know or love find something of relevance here, I welcome your comments, corrections, additions, and personal stories.
Ed