Some 29,585 days ago.....

Holiday schedule.....Reveille played on the base p.a. but the volume was muted by half. Reveille on the ship sounded over the 1-MC but the duty petty officer of the watch neglected the bosun whistle and merely whispered the rote commands. Material Condition Yoke was set as a matter of course and the duty fire party mustered on the fantail but there was no fire drill scheduled.

The young man.....really still just a boy of 15, rolled over in his rack. Usually he was up and in the breakfast chow line even before they opened the mess deck's gates but this was Sunday and the breakfast was extended into a brunch of sorts. No hurry. He had just drifted back to sleep with dreams of the big skies of his native nebraska when those dreams were interrupted with sirens and bells and klaxons.

Then it seemed like the rack itself was turned upside down as the deafening blast and pressure wave filled the berthing space. Though his ears were ringing and he was disoriented, he rolled out of his rack only to find the deck oddly listing. Acrid smoke from burning paint and lagging and rack matresses choked him. It was booger dark and there were overturned racks and lockers blocking his way but, by the meagre light of a battle lantern across the space and with the aid of his flickering zippo, he thought he could make it to and up the ladder through to just aft of the mess deck's scullery. He paused at the base of the ladder to help untangle a ship mate from his overturned rack.

Then the sacks of propellant powder for the big guns up forward ignited and that was the last thing he remembered in the earthly realm.....

NEVER FORGET !