April is National Poetry Month

Of course, there is a month set aside for just about everything. For instance, not surprisingly, April is National Garden and National Kite Months. But it’s also National Letter Writing Month, although, does anyone know what that is anymore? Closer to home, April is Confederate History Month, but I’m already blogging highlights of my Rebel ancestors. Not to be overlooked, Distracted Driving Awareness is this month. And, maybe we need an Emotional Overeating Awareness reminder in April, but do we really need an International Twit Award Month? Well, April is National Humor Month after all!

But April is National Poetry Month, too. Inaugurated by the Academy of American Poets in 1996, National Poetry Month celebrates poetry and its vital place in American culture. It probably has a commercial reason for coming into existence, but I’d like to focus on the aesthetic value of contemplating poetry. I’ve no plans to participate in any public poetry readings, festivals, book displays, workshops, or other events that may be planned this month. However, I have set a goal to finish reading Q’s celebrated Oxford Book of English Verse before the end of the month.  And, I plan to post several of my favorite, shorter poems over the remaining days of April.

For starters, 17^th century Anglican priest, George Herbert, is a good place to begin. His “Holdfast” is a profound lesson about our complete reliance on Christ, who “keepeth now, who cannot fail or fall.”  Last year, I spent a memorable class period discussing this poem with my students (they were very morally acute high schoolers!). Their grasp of the meaning of “all things were more ours by being His”—well, with Herbert, “I stood amaz’d.”

                The Holdfast

               George Herbert

I threaten'd to observe the strict decree

    Of my dear God with all my power and might;

    But I was told by one it could not be;

Yet I might trust in God to be my light.

"Then will I trust," said I, "in Him alone."

    "Nay, e'en to trust in Him was also His:

    We must confess that nothing is our own."

"Then I confess that He my succour is."

"But to have nought is ours, not to confess

    That we have nought." I stood amaz'd at this,

    Much troubled, till I heard a friend express

That all things were more ours by being His;

    What Adam had, and forfeited for all,

    Christ keepeth now, who cannot fail or fall.

Work on the Indianapolis

Late in March through early April 1942, still at Pearl Harbor, my dad Frank Dolan, was temporarily transferred to the heavy cruiser, USS Indianapolis, for repairs. He didn’t remember the specific work he completed as the Indianapolis was one of so many ships requiring repairs following the Pearl Harbor attack and subsequent naval battles in the Pacific. On this job, he was helping with temporary patching for a trip stateside for an overhaul.

Later in the war, Indianapolis was ordered on a secret mission to deliver to Tinian, in the Northern Marianas, the component parts for the “Little Boy” atomic bomb to be dropped on Hiroshima. On her way to Leyte, Indianapolis was torpedoed by an enemy sub and sank in what became the greatest single loss of life at sea in the history of the U.S. Navy. About 300 of the 1,196 men on board died in the attack. The rest of the crew of nearly 900 men, floated in the water without lifeboats rescued 5 days later.  Only 321 crewmen came out of the water alive, and 317 ultimately lived. They suffered from lack of food and water, exposure to the elements, and horrifying shark attacks.

Sources: Frank L. Dolan's Service Records, March 1942; USS Indianapolis Muster Roll, March 1942

Dealing with Disappointment: Wisdom from George MacDonald

It sounded like a welcome already overshadowed with the coming farewell. As in all sweetest music, a tinge of sadness was in every note. Nor do we know how much of the pleasures even of life we owe to the intermingled sorrows. Joy cannot unfold the deepest truths, although deepest truth must be deepest joy (from Phantastes).

The paradox of today's pleasure already intermingled with tomorrow's sorrow... In every anticipated moment of joy in this life, there is already a seed of sadness sown. Maybe the connection of joy to sorrow is simply God's way of reminding us of our eternal home, where He will wipe away every tear in that endless day (Rev. 21).

New Blog: Great Grandfather Oakes and the 32nd Miss. Infantry

150 years ago, my great grandfather, Nathan Richardson Oakes, served as a private in Company D of the distinguished 32nd Mississippi Infantry Regiment in the Army of Tennessee. He participated in many great campaigns, including the battles of Perryville, Murfreesboro, Chickamauga, Atlanta, Franklin, Nashville, and Bentonville. I am writing about his engagements as well as some details about fighting for the Lost Cause. I hope to honor him and commemorate the events and individuals that contributed to making the 32nd Mississippi Infantry Regiment a renown unit in the Confederate Army of Tennessee.

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To view my blog about Great Grandfather Nathan Oakes and the 32nd Mississippi Infantry Regiment, visit: http://32ndmississippi.blogspot.com

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Meeting Nimitz

As I remember...  Admiral Chester W. Nimitz came aboard our ship [to award the medals]. Some of us were below deck patching up damage when a fire broke out. Someone yelled, "Get an extinguisher!" So, I ran up the ladder to get the one that was on the topside deck. I bumped into an officer who said, "Where in the heck (maybe the other word) are you going in such a hurry, son?" I said, "To get an extinguisher to put out a fire, sir," and kept going. Later someone asked me if I knew who I had bumped into. My answer was, "No, I didn’t."  To my surprise, I was told it was Admiral Nimitz himself!

—Frank L. Dolan's account

Admiral Nimitz assuming command of Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor
December 31, 1941
Source: WWII Database

When Presidents Were Patriots & Poets

John Quincy Adams, the  6^th President of the United States, once wrote, "Could I have chosen my own genius and condition, I would have made myself a great poet.”  Indeed, after his death, many of his poems were collected and published in Poems of Religion and Society (1848).  Here’s one of my favorite of his devotional lyrics that combines his artistry and Christian confession.

The Hour-Glass

Alas!  How swift the moments fly!

How flash the years along!

Scarce here, yet gone already by,

The burden of a song.

See childhood, youth, and manhood pass,

And age, with furrowed brow; rime was—

Time shall be—drain the glass

But where in Time is now?

Time is the measure but of change;

No present hour is found;

The past, the future, fill the range

Of Time's unceasing round.

Where, then, is now?

In realms above,

With God's atoning Lamb,

In regions of eternal love,

Where sits enthroned I AM.

Then, pilgrim, let thy joys and tears

On Time no longer lean;

But henceforth all thy hopes and fears

From earth's affections wean:

To God let votive accents rise;

With truth, with virtue, live;

So all the bliss that Time denies

Eternity shall give.

Stonewall's Faith and Fortitude

In honor of Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson’s birthday on this date in 1824, I read his wife’s recollections in the Life and Letters of “Stonewall” Jackson (pp. 56-57). I was particularly heartened at this passage:

“At the time of Major Jackson’s acceptance of this professorship [at Virginia Military Institute] his health was not good, and his eyes, especially, were so weak that he had to exercise great caution in using them, never doing so at night. Thus crippled for his work, a friend asked him if it was not presumption in him to accept the place when he was physically incapacitated to fill it. ‘Not in the least,’ was his prompt answer; ‘the appointment came unsought, and was therefore providential; I knew that if Providence set me a task, he would give me the power to perform it. So I resolved to get well, and you see I have. As to the rest, I knew that what I willed to do, I could do.’”

Of course, as they say, the rest is history. His appointment to the Military Institute was to identify him with the Shenandoah Valley and the brave men who so gladly served under him in defense of their state in the war to follow. Here was an extraordinary leader and godly example to the soldiers he commanded. So effective was his leadership that the war probably only turned against the South due to his untimely death at age 39 (he was mistakenly shot by one of his own men). Jackson himself would undoubtedly agree that even his own death was a special providence. “God's voice thunders in marvelous ways; he does great things beyond our understanding” (Job 37:5).

"Stonewall” Jackson reminds us that we can indeed trust in Providence to always do what is right. What comfort is ours, standing in the shadow of men of faith before us, to know that every circumstance in our lives serves a larger Divine plan and, therefore, we can truly “will to do,” as Jackson did, what we must in service of our Sovereign.

From Seaman to Fireman

A little over a month after the Pearl Harbor attack, Dad’s rating was changed to Fireman, 3rd Class. This was a change from Seaman, 2c—in the older designation, a change from a blue stripe on the left to red stripe on the left sleeve. What's amazing about the promotion was the timing.

In service school only a few months earlier, Dad had mastered the fundamentals of welding, shipfitting, pipe work, and foundrywork, but he wanted to advance, to perform more specialized work than what he was assigned in the deck force only. He was in the act of studying for the exam for his Fireman rating when the Japanese began their surprise attack. At 7:53 AM on that fateful morning, December 7, 1941, Dad, off-duty, had found a place in the forward part of his ship, the USS Vestal, to do his studying, while his shipmates were either on leave or asleep. After watching in disbelief the first bombs fall around him, he soon reported to his duty station, the weld shop, below deck. Following the attack, he would visit the foc’sle where he had been studying to discover that a bomb had hit that very spot!

Bomb hole in Vestal's forecastle deck, seen from beneath and
looking to starboard. Dad had been studying here moments
before the bomb hit.
Source: Vestal Bomb Damage Report

In the days ahead, Dad and every available sailor were put to work to save and salvage what was left in the wake of the awful destruction. The preparation for the promotion was put on hold.

But somehow in the chaotic weeks after the attack, Dad got his wish and earned a new rating, F.3c, on this date, in 1942. The change now allowed him to work in the engine and firerooms, new skills that would be essential for the myriad tasks confronting the repair effort to the seriously damaged fleet at Pearl Harbor.

Sources: Frank L. Dolan's Service Records; Pearl Harbor As I Remember

Repairs at Pearl, 1942

The American forces at Pearl Harbor paid a fearful price. There was a total of 2,403 American dead, including 68 civilians. 1,178 military personnel and civilians were wounded. 21 ships of the U.S. Pacific Fleet were sunk or damaged. 188 aircraft were destroyed and 159 were damaged.

In the weeks immediately after the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor, one of history's greatest salvage operations took place. The crew of my dad’s repair ship, Vestal, was called upon for a myriad of jobs to help in the salvage of the fleet. Each of Vestal's crewmen, having been trained in ship repair, immediately began to patch up their own ship with the limited resources at hand. After just a week following the attack, the Vestal, patched and refloated, spent many months of the next year serving as one of the main repair vessels for the sunken battleships pulled from the mud at Pearl Harbor. Much of the work had to be performed in oil-fouled interiors of bombed and torpedoed ships that had been under water for months. A lot of the work had to be carried out in gas masks to guard against the ever-present risk of toxic gasses, and nearly all of it was extremely dirty.

Amazingly, almost all the ships that were damaged or sunk were repaired and returned to service in the war. The battleship Oklahoma was raised and moved, but soon sank at sea beyond recovery. Of course, the battleships Arizona and Utah were damaged beyond repair and were left in the harbor where they sunk.

Source: Dictionary of American Fighting Ships,

New Year's Resolutions

Today's Scripture reading at church was Romans 12. This passage seems to have resolutions aplenty for me in the new year:

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.


For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.

Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.