I've mentioned this before
Weather report, December 7 1941,
This annual Pearl Harbor joke brought to you in memory of
Dean Chabreau Mercer, pharmacist's mate, USS California.
A great Guy.
"there's a nip in the air".
This annual Pearl Harbor joke brought to you in memory of
Dean Chabreau Mercer, pharmacist's mate, USS California.
A great Guy.
posted by Lane Savant at 12:32 AM
12 Comments:
Hallo, Lane!
Please tell us more about Dean Mercer. Since you connect him with Pearl Harbor, was he one of those killed by the "Nip" attack? What were his positive qualities that we should know about???????
Danke!
Tschüß,
Anonomann
Dean Mercer was a fireman, and one of Doug's stepfathers. Like me, he
had more than one. Some of us were
lucky enough to have met Dean.
He died young; certainly younger than either of us are now. Was it a bad heart?
As I glanced at the calendar this
morning while shaving I wondered
if you would give a shout out
for Dean. Glad you did, kind of
a Pearl Harbor Day tradition--
like talking about the T shirt
I saw with someone high in the
air on a motorcyle, with the
word HONDA under it, on the front,
and on the back, "Brought to
you by those wonderful people
that brought you Pearl Harbor."
Another ten minute weekend
whizzed by for me. The TFC
Christmas party was a hit;
like 50+ people showed up.
I was feeling a bit rough,
secondary to my Process and
the medical treatment Friday
afternoon, but what the hell.
Went to a theater on Saturday
to see BONDOCK SAINTS II; All
Saints Day. It was very Tarentino
-like, even though it had
nothing to do with it; lots of
violence and very dark humor,
pissing off Catholics and
Republicans by the boat load.
At home I managed to see two
very good films from my archives.
PERFUME from a few years ago,
a kind of existential historical
thriller with Dustin Hoffman and
Alan Rickman. A real surprise
came with THE LOOKOUT, a very
good MEMENTO like crime caper
and drama with Joseph Gordon-
Levitt, and Jeff Daniels.
Check out either one of them.
You will not be disappointed.
It was supposed to be in the
teens this morning in Tacoma,
but a warm wind kept in at
23 degrees with no frost on
the windshield. The wind does
break off dozens of boughs
here on campus from the fir
trees though. Had another
encounter with rocky racoon
this morning. He moved on
quickly without confrontation,
trying to get out of the wind
I guess.
Glenn
Dean survived until '67
Bad heart, smoking.
Fireboat pilot here in Seattle.
Piloted the Duwamish or Alki or maybe both.
Actually Honda was formed after the war.
The three types of planes at PH were Mitsubishi, Kawasaki and one I can never remember.
Lane, how are you doing so long?
I just wanted to comment that I found your post pretty cool, and also completed with great comments.
Take care man
M
Well, I guess the T-shirt should
have had a Kawasaki bike on the
front instead of a Honda, enit?
Course no one wanted to see
pics of Nazis in VW beetles
either, but there it is. Hard
to believe that the 2010 Beetle
will be the last of the line.
Seems like yesterday, in the
early 60's that we started
seeing them all over college
campuses and such. I'm thinking
that Dean was in his 50's when
he passed, which seemed "old"
to us as teenagers and twenty
somethings, right?
I was off in the Navy in '67
there in southern California.
You were back from CA by then?
Yeah, yeah, cuz Kristi was
living with you for a time in
'66, before she moved to CA;
and then we both returned to
WA in '68. Did the death toll
on 9/11 exceed that at Pearl
Harbor. I think I read that
it did. Seems odd since the
scale of the Japanese attack
was so vast and lethal.
15 degrees this morning, with
pockets of ice on the windshield
that just did not want to
melt off; ran 20 minutes late
trying to defrost my ride.
Got my ass in a sling yet
again here at the office
yesterday. Getting a beginning
case of short-timer's attitude
perhaps. Somehow gotta make it
to June. More changes here,
lots of them, to adjust to;
great fun. I returned that
old woman's cane I picked up
by accident last week; the
one that looked just like mine.
Felt like a fool, but that was
not my first or last time for
that sensation, for sure.
For Anonomann--what I remember
about Dean was he had a warm
personality and a good sense
of humor. He let you drive
the family Ford when you needed
it, and he didn't kick my butt
out of your West Seattle place
when you took me there for visits.
Your mother had some concerns
about my wardrobe if I recall.
Wednesday is upon us, humping it
like a pug on the leg, and I
think it is a school day for you,
enit? It was a Led/Beatles
morning on the chilly drive in.
Damn cold this morning,
10 degrees at my house, and 8 degrees here in Tacoma. Even
a witch's tit would suffer in
weather like this.
I am wearing a sweater vest,
which is useful for my office
attire, and a long sleeved
sweater over that. Too many
windows in the hallway and
in every room, and old man
coldness just seeps in hard.
Remember all, the word "Nip"
comes from a Japanese word
for themselves, Nipponese,
or Nippon. So as much of a
slur as it was, it was no
worse than the Burma Shave
sign; Save scrap! Slap a Jap!
Only a week and a half left
for me before my holiday break.
We will be in Texas over
Christmas, and back in town
just before New Years. We
have been going to a friend's
home, with what's left of the
old church crowd that gather
every year. I guess we've
attended the last 12 years.
We play cards and visit and
act like old people. Great fun.
Glenn
tell me what a nip is other than a nip in the air, i.e. cold?
I've read all the comments and I still don't know.
Greeetings to both of you from Clun - yes, really, that's the name of the place where I live.
"Nip" the diminutive of "Nipponese"
It's what we called the Japanese during the war when we wanted to be polite about it.
Hey-ho, it's Friday don't you
know? The wage slave's favorite
day of the week! These days
when I hear the word "nip"
it usually in reference to
"nipping out", when ladies
nipples protrude prominently;
always a joy to behold, enit?
It is interesting how much we,
as a country, as a world, are
maturing over the decades.
I remember a 1943 LIFE magazine
article that had the banner
subtitle; HOW TO TELL A JAP FROM
A CHINAMAN, since the Chinese
were our allies against the
Japanese in WWII. Aunt Jamima
is still around on those syrup
bottles, but the image of colored
Mammy is rare. There are some
folks who collect Black memorabilia, all those black face
dolls, figurines, and paintings,
and ads. That's one reason I
included a pictorial of early
Black Cinema posters over on
FFTR last month. Remember at
Sealth High School in 58-62,
we had less than a dozen black
students, and I don't remember
any hispanics; a goodly number
of Asians I recall. "What a world!
What a world!"....the last croaking
words of the evil witch in
THE WIZARD OF OZ. God, those
flying monkeys scared the Bejesus
out of me as a kid. I didn't mind
Frankenstein, or Dracula, but
the Wolfman did creep me out.
Something about werewolves seemed
almost credible to me. I used
to have a reoccuring nightmare
that a pair of black panthers
were stalking me wherever I
went; about in third grade I
think. That and I got stabbed
and cut a lot with swords
during my sleeping adolescence;
great psychological significance
perhaps. These days I just dream
of looking for a functional
toilet, and or find myself naked
in public a lot.
Glenn
Yo, weeze havin a dam heet wave over der. It's like 15 degrees out here dis mornin. I don no how Glenn
gits up so dam irly for dis gig so
much of da time. Screw it. I goin
back to da rack.
...........Vinnie
Sorry, commenters, but Doug and Meredith are way too busy to take the time to add new comments at present. Probably going to bunches of concerts and parties and living the good life, enit?
Thomas Buildsafire
Yeah, Tom, point well taken. It is the holiday season. Redwing Manor is probably getting decorated as we keyboard. Tonight Melva and I and another couple we know are going to the theatre, at the old TAG, and seeing the new pop musical, IGGY SCROOGE. We will have to blow a hundred bucks, but hey, movies can only take you so far out of your mundane rut, right?
Glenn
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