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Part of the Eulogy given at Riley F. McConnell's funeral. This is transcribed from a typewritten document which was given to me by Pauline Broadwater Richmond. He was a great lover of birds and trees and flowers. It was his wish to make the Naval Training Station a bird refuge and this, to a great extent, has been done. Dove and quail and other birds by the thousands build their nests and bring their new little broods for us to see. And even the swallows, the same swallows that frequent the Mission of San Juan Capistrano and then, on a certain date, leave and return, strange as it may be, on another definite date. These same swallows come to the Training Station the day after they leave the Mission each year, and stop over again on the last leg of their return flight. There is a golf course on the Station. It's not a very big course but it's big enough for the officers AND the enlisted men to play on any time they are off duty. There are no restricitons on that course as far as the ship's company sailors are concerned. It is their course just as much as it is the officers. About three months ago, I told you of something that happened to an officer. I wouldn't, didn't mention his name then because he--well, he just would rather I wouldn't. But anyway, a number of officers (the Captain included) were sitting in the Club waiting for luncheon to be served. And right in front of the door to the club, the recruits pass on their way to the chow line. . . .(That day there must have been two thousand of them). I don't kinow how he happened to slip away from us, but we looked out and there he was, bare headed, like all the recruits, standing in the chow line, holding a tray with the knives and forks and dishes and all, just like the rest. And he wouldn't let anyone stand aside for him--he was one of the gang. You see, he could do things like that and none would ever take advantage of him, and he knew it. But anyway, he moved along with the rest, stood up to the steam tables and took on whatever food he wanted. Then he followed the man in front of him as he slid to the far end of a long bench, sat down and they started to eat. In his conversation he learned that the five men nearest him were from four different states. And, as conversations will, they centered around food--that being the prime factor at the moment . . . And all the men allowed as how the food was the best they had known, not onlhy for the quality but because they could go back and get as many seconds as they wanted. And these youngsters took their Navy seriously. They had been in about five weeks, and by golly, they not only liked it, but they knew all the answers. Of course, after all these "Sirs" . . .(after all, in the Navy they do teach respect). But anyway, after all these "Sirs", this officer turned to one lad who hadn't entered too much into the conversation, and he said "You've lost weight since you've been here, haven't you?" The reply was "I have not. I gained six pounds---Sir". . . But then, this Officer began to fail in health--not from what he told us but from what we could observe. It was thought that maybe it was because of some of the food he ate while on duty in China. He wasn't himself. He didn't enter into things and he was willing to give up--not try quite so hard. And so it was that one month ago today he went to the hospital and three days later was operated upon. But his recovery was not satisfactory. I don't think he ever knew he was leaving us, for all of the time he planned his future with the Navy. He planned for the welfare of the officers and the men under him. He never knew, and no one told him. |
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