I think I'll wear it

I had to remove some vinyl tile this morning and got some real nasty glue all over my pants doing it.
I'm didn't want to spread glue all over the people's house so I went to a thrift store a couple of miles away and bought a different pair of jeans. Threw the old ones out.
On my way to pay for the jeans I looked at the hat rack and saw this hat hanging there.
I wasn't familiar with the name but knew it was a WWII Fletcher Class destroyer.
So I bought it for $2.
Got home a little while ago and looked on destroyerhistory.org and found out she was the only US ship damaged at the battle of Surigao Straights during the Leyte Gulf campaign.
She took a beating that night, as much by our own forces as by the Japanese. Had 38 men killed and 104 wounded yet managed to make it home for repairs.
Tough little ship.
I'm glad I bought it.
It's probably a reunion hat but a good wool one.
I think I'll wear it once in a while.
Not because I think myself on par with the fellows who rode her. But because they're likely all gone now and there's no one left to tell what she did.

<a href="http://destroyerhistory.org/fletcherclass/ussalbertwgrant/" target="_blank">Destroyer History</a>

<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Albert_W._Grant_%28DD-649%29" target="_blank">Wikipedia</a>

Friend served on the USS Bonhomme Richard during Viet Nam- he often wore the hat, because it was a good conversation starter. Those aboard referred to it as the "Bonnie Dick".

So who was Albert Grant?

Another one that took a bad beating was the Cassin Young. She was on picket duty between Japan and our fleet, for 3-4 months during the kamikaze period. The kamikaze pilots kept mistaking her for a heavy cruiser and she took many hits protecting the fleet. She went into port for repairs at least three times then back out again. She is in Boston now.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Albert_W._Grant_(DD-649)