Morning Mark
I received this message from one of my brothers old P.O’s
Your brother was one of my two pressure welders. Both of my welders were elite sailors. Chuck was also a friend. When I saw his photo in the news-paper that horrible day in Honk Kong, I cried.
Your Dad met the PERTH in Sydney when we returned from deployment. Your Dad sat in the Chiefs mess with my son and me while the LS (leading seamen, or Leading Seaman) came in one at a time to say goodbye to him.
Everybody remaining on board was busy except me. I was there to 'keep an eye on things'. We had a well-trained very professional crew. Consequently, my job was boringly easy. My job was to ‘stay out of the way’ and sit by the telephone in case my professional expertise or major decision had to be made. As an aside, the only decision I made was to go home when the last boiler was finally shut down.
I will never forget your dad (lovely man who I had met before) watching my son and me playing Uckers with those sad haunted eyes. As each Leading seaman came in to say goodbye and say thanks for coming, I would just say ‘come in’ and I would try not to cry. I have no idea what each LS said, even though I was standing right next to them, I.e., right beside them. I don’t know if I was supporting the LS, of if they were supporting me, or if your dad was supporting both of us, or if we were supporting him.
I do know that it did not matter then, and it doesn’t matter now. A month after our return to Sydney, Chuck’s promotion to PO came through.
I am crying now.
Murray Wright
