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| Russ Forbes - one of the best men on earth |
He was the driver for the Chief Warrant Officer in the army. He told me tales of a cocky sergeant that one day told dad he was no longer the driver. The Chief Warrant Officer called the sergeant out in front of the whole division and stood nose to nose with him and loudly announced that HE would let him know when and if 'Forbes' was relieved of driving duty!
Another time he was laying on the wing of an officer's bi-winged plane guarding the airport when a guy known to be a prankster - tried to sneak up on dad by turning the lights off on his jeep and quietly coasting up to the plane. Dad seeing them coming slid off the wing, cocked his M1 30 caliber rifle and yelled 'halt' the guys about had a heart attack and quickly identified themselves.
He had 7 straight bull eyes shooting from the prone position over and over - a sergeant bent down and told dad, "if you keep shooting like that son, they're going to make you a sniper." From that point on dad shot at other peoples targets and tried to shoot at the red flags the guys down below in the pit waved to indicate misses.
Another time he was the guard for the prison compound and paid a guy $20 to take his place one night. The guy left his post, his rifle, and took an unauthorized jeep to the PX to buy booze. The Captain jumped all over dad for paying someone to take his shift and the other guy got thrown into the brig - court-martialed on 7 charges and sentenced to 30 years in prison- all of this just 30 days short of being discharged.
In preparation for being shipped out for combat in Korea dad had a dentist appointment. The dentist tried to pull a wisdom tooth - he ended up cracking his jaw and allowing him never to have to face war! The down side was a liquid diet for 4 months in the hospital and then they kept his mouth wired shut too long making it impossible to open his mouth and eat - forcing another doctor to stick his hand in his mouth and jerk open his bottom jaw. Now he couldn't shut his mouth! Maybe war wasn't such a bad deal after all!
While recovering from his jaw they couldn't stop his bleeding. He asked his buddy on the lower bunk if he could sleep down there so he could get out of bed easier, his friend agreed and proceeded to spend the evening in the PX drinking. In the middle of the night forgetting he was now on the top bunk, he got up to use the restroom and did a face plant on the floor beside my dad. He climbed up and said, "BLEEP Forbes - what happened??!"
I love my dad and I LOVE his tales! He still remembers everything! I definitely didn't inherit his memory!!
