Meet & Greet Part 2

As you can see, the room was packed.


Had some wonderful conversations last night. Got to catch up with Bryan Mackinnon in person after having emailed and talked on the phone with him for several years now. He's just as nice a guy in real life as he is in email :^)

Turns out quite a few members of Edwina Morton's family lives in Cypress, Texas not far from me. We have even attended the same church for a time. What a small world!

Thoroughly enjoyed meeting the family of Oscar Finklestein. Oscar was a plumber in New York before the war. He was lost prior to meeting his son who is attending with his extended family. Was able to pass along an anecdote regarding Oscar written by Forest Sterling in the afterword of his "Wake of the Wahoo" reprint. Below, the Finklestein family views the memorabilia display.


The Bowfin Museum created a 6 x 3 foot wooden display case with photos of all the men lost in Wahoo. It was a wonderful display -- and very heavy. At the end of the night we hauled it up to our room for safe keeping.


Guest reporter Jeff Porteous checking in here with an overview of the proceedings: Several amazing things strike me about our interaction with this group, but chief among them is the newly felt "Paul and I are not alone" syndrome. Till now, I really had only Paul and pal Rick Cline ("Wake/Wahoo's" current publisher) with whom to share my Wahoo passion. Right now, right here, I'm suddenly surrounded by dozens of others who are just as informed and/or excitable about the subject -- though for obviously different and mostly tragic reasons. Still, I definitely feel I'm among "my own kind." But remember, all this keen interest is related to people involved in an event which took place 64 YEARS ago tomorrow -- truly a mind-blowing concept for me in and of itself.

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Meet N Greet

The flight through LAX to Hawaii went well. But the aisle seat I had prevented me from seeing anything much out the window. The gentleman next to me on the plane did point out a few seconds of sights as we flared out for landing. And I was in Hawaii!

Charles Hinman of the Bowfin Museum picked me up along with Jeff Porteous, a great friend, fellow Wahoo aficionado, and personal friend of Wahoo's Yeoman Forest Sterling. He took us to
the museum where we got to see the sights briefly and help with the preparation for the night's event: a meet and greet with the Wahoo family members.

As you might imagine, things moved pretty rapidly while picking up rental wheel chairs for the guests, transporting a six foot wooden display with images of almost all the men lost aboard Wahoo, and checking into the hotel. We were honored to help Charles prepare.

The event was formally kicked off by a short explanation from Mush Morton's son, Doug, who related how the loss of his father still impacts his life. He explained how the events this week would give him and the rest of those who lost loved ones aboard the boat time to connect and express the feelings they've shared for so many years. He concluded with a smile, "Let's talk."

His sister Edwina then passionately reminded the group that each man lost on October 11, 1943 was a true hero and the event was to celebrate the entire crew, not just her famous dad. "Wahoo could not have done what she did without the heroic work of every man aboard," she said. Her gracious words were enthusiastically affirmed.

More to come after some shut-eye.

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San Diego Surprise

My trip started today with a flight to San Diego. Tomorrow will be a work day with some local accounts. I will continue to Honolulu on Tuesday morning. For the long flight (with layover in Dallas) I took "Treason's Harbor" the 11th book in Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Matrin series. The series was the basis for the Russell Crowe movie "Master & Commander," a film I enjoyed enormously. The book proved to be another good read, I've read the previous ten so far, and really made the time pass quickly.

By the time I got to the hotel it was early afternoon. So, I flipped through the brochure rack in the lobby for something to do and found the Maritime Museum of San Diego. Lo and behold, one of the five ships they have on display is the HMS Surprise, the actual frigate used to film "Master & Commander". A little further down the road was the WWII era aircraft carrier USS Midway. Needless to say, I was shortly on my way.







By the time the afternoon was over, I had toured six ships including a carrier and a soviet Foxtrot class submarine. I'm looking forward to adding another submarine and battleship to the list by the end of the week.

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Current Stats

In talking to Charles at the Bowfin Museum things are really coming together for the planned events. Close to 200 people are planning to attend the main ceremony on the 11th not including Navy dignitaries and the press.

My good friend Jeff Porteous and I have volunteered to be bus captains for the museum trips on Wednesday. That will be fun. And we'll get to help set up the displays on Tuesday for the family meet and greet at the hotel. We consider it a privilege to contribute to the event in some small way.

I'm getting pretty excited. This is a trip I've imagined making for close to 30 years.

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