Remembering this one

In college I had a wonderful advisor. He was funny, very kind and just my kind of older gentleman protector. He was from New Orleans, and full of charm and southern gentlemanliness. Great guy. Retired just as I went into grad school, which was quite a pity, as I could've used his help in that pursuit. In a big way.

Anyway, he had been in the navy during the Korean War. Got his education on the GI Bill- like most of the professors there of that vintage. Really fun teacher. Had a distinct spit zone, though- you didn't want to sit in the front row- a touch impassioned, shall we say.

He told me this story one day- I thought it was really good.

Seems they had some time off in Hawaii during the war. They were told to be good- not to do any damage to themselves, as their bodies were property of the US Government. Warned that anything that made them unfit for duty would be punishable by a court marshal. Seemed kinda extreme, but I don't know what kind of knotheads were in the group- and what they had done in the past to merit that kind of warning.

After about 48 hours of leave, they were trying to collect stragglers. One guy in particular was missing. Seems that he had spent the entire day on the beach. In his swimsuit. Tanning. Seems that he couldn't move. The sunburn was too extreme. The guys were in a panic- he would be in dire straights if the CO saw him in this state. Blistered and in pain. So they came up with a plan. They sent a couple of guys to the drug store. They put him in a bathtub in the hotel. They poured a half dozen bottles of after shave on him to cure the burn. Then they dressed him in his uniform and propped him up to get him to the boat. Seems that it worked, and Johnny burns a lot wasn't punished. Any more than a second-degree sunburn under full military uniform would be punishment, that is. As a pale (very, very pale) girl born in high altitude, where the sun is evil- I can definately empathize.

He told me this story after I returned from a Mexican vacation with the worst sunburn of my life. I blame the tropics, Coronas and Mexican sunscreen. Along with my own idiocy.

I hope he's still around- I sure liked the guy- he also had a wonderful wife, who was an absolute rock.