MONDAY THOUGHTS: AFTER "RED TAILS"

My family and I decided to go to the movies to see "Red Tails". 

Sitting in the theater next to my Dad, became more and more of an honor as the movie progressed. 

I was so glad he was enjoying himself. 

He said he hadn't been to the theater since, "that Jesus movie". 

I assumed he meant "The Passion of the Christ".

When it was over, other movie goers smiled at him and waited patiently as we got out of our seats and walked down the stairs. Someone held the door open as we headed to the lobby. People were being so polite. I wonder if they saw him, took note of his careful gait and white hair, and wondered if this elderly gentleman had been a Tuskeegee Airman, too.

As we were leaving the building, he asked me how much the tickets had cost. I told him that for him, a senior, the cost was $8.50, and $9.50 for the rest of us. He promptly told us how he used to go to the movies every Saturday when he was a kid, and it only cost a quarter. On Sunday, however, he and his friends would always have to stand in front of the congregation and "beg the church's pardon" for going to the movies. Back then, anything that was remotely fun was considered "worldly affairs". 

I wondered what he was thinking yesterday afternoon sitting in Theater 6 of the AMC Hoffman not too long after he'd heard a benediction...wearing his church suit...on a Sunday. 

He said that there were a lot of things that seemed hypocritical to him when he was younger. The minister would preach for a whole hour about Joe Louis, his boxing reels, and what a credit he was to his race, but a young man in their own community, who tried their hands at boxing (as Daddy did while in the Navy) were chastised and discouraged. 

Daddy told us of a Mr. Minor Jones who, other than the preacher, was THE biggest critic of movie going. 

When my Dad got older, he said he asked Mr. Jones, "How come we couldn't GO to the movies, but you could be IN one?" Apparently, Mr. Minor Jones had been asked if he could drive a mule when Hollywood came to Addis, Louisiana to shoot the Clark Gable film, "Band of Angels". 

Mr. Minor Jones told my Dad that the difference was that he wasn't involved in "worldly affairs", he was "working".

When we got into the car after we left the Hoffman Theater, my sister asked Daddy how he liked the film. He said it was good, "a really good flick". Then he started reminiscing about his time in the Navy.
I'd heard about the great icebreaker USS Edisto AGb2 for years. I'd even contributed to the Edisto website on behalf of my Dad, happy to report that he was "still sailing". 

He'd often spoken about being a part of the military at a time when many people would have preferred that Black men not enlist at all. 

Yesterday in the car, I found out that the Edisto wasn't the ONLY ship on which he'd served. He rattled off the names of aircraft carriers, The Bennington, The Wasp, and The Hornet. He'd served aboard different aircraft carriers within a 9 and a half year period during his 20 or so year-long Naval career. 

There are super 8 movies on reels that we probably should have converted to CD's as soon as possible. 

Funny how it takes only one thing to trigger memories. I remember the screen, the camera, and footage of miles and miles of icy ocean; the stories about trapped scientists, rescues, enormous waves, and the never-ending mission to prove one's Black self worthy and competent.

So, I was still awake during the wee hours of this morning, all because I found out information yesterday that I'd never known. I'd seen the flags, souvenirs, and photos, and heard the names of the places to which he'd traveled, but somehow I assumed he had always been aboard The Edisto. 

I was fascinated as I searched the internet, then I couldn't stop staring at what I'd found. The 1953-54 Mediterranean Cruise Crew Roster of the USS Bennington has been online for I don't know how long. Page 048 begins the lists all of the crew from the state of Louisiana. There on page 050 of the pdf is my Dad's name. (http://www.uss-bennington.org/pics/1953-54_med_cruise-crew_list/Pg-050.pdf) 

 He was only 26 years old. He wasn't married to my Mom yet. My grandmother's name is listed as next of kin. Their address, at the time, in Plaquemine is there, too. He had re-enlisted. 

It's only words, but I sat transfixed for a while. "That name right there. That's my Dad", I thought. He was aboard the Bennington. He'd survived the explosion that had killed and injured so many including, the dear family friend who lived in Indian Head whom we affectionately called "Uncle Highe" when we were children (even though we weren't related). 

I'm so curious now, and so grateful for the internet. I want to know all I can about The USS Bennington, The USS Hornet and The USS Wasp. I've always loved History, but I have to attribute my newest bout of curiosity to an excellent film called "Red Tails". 

It was so well made, and evoked so many emotions. Perhaps it's excellence was enhanced because I was seated in the theater next to an 85 year-old Black man who knew about segregation and discrimination all too well at home and abroad; A Navy veteran, born in the deep South in 1926--who just happened to be my Dad.