The First of the Boomers

 Urge and urge and urge, 
Always the procreant urge of the world 
--Song of Myself, 
Walt Whitman 

I'm glad it's your birthday 
Happy birthday to you
 --Happy Birthday, 
John Lennon 

It's a boy, Mrs. Walker, it's a boy!
A son! A son! A son! 
--Captain Walker, The Who 

Some are born
Some men die
Beneath one infinite sky
There'll be war
There'll be peace
But everything one day will cease 
--Childhood's End,
Pink Floyd
 ___________________

This is Ranger's 69th birthday essay.

On 15 June 1945 his father Stephen signed out on 9 days of leave (ending 24 June.) The USS Chatelaine (DE149) was pulled into a naval shipyard for repairs following years of wartime combat patrols and operations. This was required as the DD149 was home from the European War and heading off to the Pacific to finish the Japanese campaign.

Just prior, the USS Davis was sunk (9 Apr 1945) by a German submarine, resulting in the deaths of 115 United States Sailors. It was the luck of the draw that took the Davis rather than the Chatelaine that day.

This visit with his mother was a seminal Baby Boomer moment, as it planted the germ that was to become the Ranger you know and love today.

Ranger celebrates the day humbly, recognizing the fragility of life and the game of chance in which we all roll the dice. His father's mother lost a husband in 1914, my father served in World War II and I, in Vietnam, so Ranger is a war baby in two senses of the word, both temporally and filially.

He celebrates his birthday for all of those who are no longer with us. Here's to the War Babies.