Stories

While driving to the Memorial Service on Monday we told our kids about their Grandpas'. I will have Ben post the story of Grandpa Davis who served and was captured in World War II but today I wanted to post about Albert Melrose Williams Jr. or 'Bud' as everyone called him. He was also known as Grandpa Honey Bear because he kept bees in the backyard. I grew up with him and have so many good memories of him playing games (we couldn't play until we were eight and when you are seven it seems like a really long wait!) Monopoly, checkers (which turned into give-away if we started to win) and farkle were some favorites. We rode our bikes to his Chiropractic office every day after school and I use to go with him at nights as his 'secretary' to help with his papers. He was over the missionaries for a long while and he would hand out Book of Mormons with certain verses marked. When we were old enough we were allowed to help. I remember trips to Disneyland, the Hollywood Bowl, and various restaurants. Christmas was huge and no presents were ever under the tree until Christmas morning when it literally looked like it had snowed packages. I think every year he was still alive I got one present from Grandpa and about five from Santa Clause (Santa was suppose to only bring one gift in our house). I remember doing the garden with him and sneaking out of bed at night to hear him talk to the missionaries. I remember Conajo Valley Days where we ran a boy scout trailer selling Indian Fry Bread and going over in the morning where he folded the dough over cheese and fryed it for our breakfasts. I remember seeing a lady bring by milk once and hearing a conversation saying that she couldn't afford to pay for his Chiropractic services and so he told her to pay with what she could. I remember him calling me Dopey and me telling him my name was Happy and me calling him Grumpy and him telling me his name was Doc. The last Christmas before he died he gave me a set of The Seven Dwarves dolls. I still have them.
One thing I did realize in all my storytelling Monday morning was that I had never heard my Grandpa talk about the Korean War in which he served. I e-mailed my Grandma (one of my favorite people in the whole world) and asked her about it. This was the reply,

To tell you a little about your grandpa Williams (honey bear) He joined the Navy the week he turned 16 years old (yes, he lied about his age, but was tall and passed the physical and got in.) He had traveled half way around the world by the time he was 17. His ship was in port in China when the Korean war broke out and the first one to be off the coast of Korea. He was on the Flagship "Helena". He served four years in the Navy and three of those years he was in Korea, China and Japan. He was with the flag Helicopter crew that flew in behind the front lines and took out the wounded. He was wounded himself and was sent to a hospital in Japan to recuperate. He was sent back to the states and stationed in San Diego while he waited for his discharge. He was 20 years old when we were married and a four year veteran, but at that time men were being drafted to go into the service and after he received his discharge from the Navy we went back to Salt Lake to live and he received his draft notice. Since he lied about his age he could have been made to serve another four years, but we appealed his case to our congressman and since he was a decorated veteran, his draft notice was dismissed and he didn't have to go back in.