[Rhodes22-list] A BUCKET OF SHRIMP GREAT STORY AND TRUE
sail tds.net
sail at tds.net
Sat Mar 28 18:02:43 EDT 2009
Rummy,
Thanks for the story.
>>ron<<
On Sat, Mar 28, 2009 at 10:42 AM, Claude Cox <ccc974 at comcast.net> wrote:
> Great story, Rummy. Thanks.
> Claude
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: <R22RumRunner at aol.com>
> To: <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
> Sent: Saturday, March 28, 2009 9:22 AM
> Subject: [Rhodes22-list] A BUCKET OF SHRIMP GREAT STORY AND TRUE
>
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> > This came to me today from A friends father, now a retired Naval
> chaplain
> > in
> > Pensacola, FL..
> >
> > Rummy
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Many sailors know this story. I once told it in a sermon on CURRITUCK
> > AV7.
> > I'm not certain I ever told it again. A number of years earlier, during
> > the
> > Korean War, Eastern Air Lines returned a number of what the Navy called
> > R5Ds,
> > to the US Navy to reclaim them for cargo planes to support the war
> > effort. As
> > a young AT2(Aviation Electronics Technition second class) I did not know
> > why
> > this was so, but was told that Eastern had leased them from the Navy and
> > were now returning them to be used in the war effort. I suspect the
> truth
> > may
> > have been a bit different from that, but it was a good story; it broke
> my
> > heart
> > to take those wonderful radios out of those beautiful passenger planes
> > and
> > install some haze grey boxes to take their places. I was in flight test
> > at O &
> > R at NAS Corpus Christi Texas and flew in most of those planes during
> > flight test after retrograding them. Sometimes when my inspection was
> done
> > I would
> > sit there in the radioman's chair and imagine Eddie Rickenbacker telling
> > me
> > that story over and over about those days in the raft starving to death
> > when
> > the seagull saved their lives. I have always had a soft spot in my heart
> > for
> > seagulls. I am grateful for Nate and Sandra Dishman sharing it with me.
> It
> > brings back lots of good memories of flight test, R5Ds, and the greatest
> > seaplane tender ever. Now I have shared it again with a number of good
> > friends.
> > Wayne
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> > A BUCKET OF SHRIMP GREAT STORY AND TRUE
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> > It happened every Friday evening, almost without fail, when the sun
> > resembled a giant orange and was starting to dip into the blue ocean.
> >
> > Old Ed came strolling along the beach to his favorite pier. Clutched in
> > his
> > bony hand was a bucket of shrimp. Ed walks out to the end of the pier,
> > where it seems he almost has the world to himself. The glow of the sun
> > is a
> > golden bronze now.
> >
> > Everybody's gone, except for a few joggers on the beach. Standing out
> > on
> > the end of the pier, Ed is alone with his thoughts...and his bucket of
> > shrimp.
> >
> > Before long, however, he is no longer alone. Up in the sky a thousand
> > white dots come screeching and squawking, winging their way toward that
> > lanky
> > frame standing there on the end of the pier..
> >
> > Before long, dozens of seagulls have enveloped him, their wings
> > fluttering
> > and flapping wildly. Ed stands there tossing shrimp to the hungry
> birds.
> > As
> > he does, if you listen closely, you can hear him say with a smile,
> 'Thank
> > you. Thank you.'
> >
> > In a few short minutes the bucket is empty. But Ed doesn't leave.
> >
> > He stands there lost in thought, as though transported to another time
> > and
> > place. Invariably, one of the gulls lands on his sea-bleached,
> > weather-beaten hat - an old military hat he's been wearing for years.
> >
> > When he finally turns around and begins to walk back toward the beach,
> a
> > few of the birds hop along the pier with him until he gets to the
> stairs,
> > and
> > then they, too, fly away. And old Ed quietly makes his way down to the
> > end
> > of the beach and on home.
> >
> > If you were sitting there on the pier with your fishing line in the
> > water,
> > Ed might seem like 'a funny old duck,' as my dad used to say. Or, 'a
> > guy
> > that's a sandwich shy of a picnic,' as my kids might say. To
> > onlookers, he's
> > just another old codger, lost in his own weird world, feeding the
> > seagulls
> > with a bucket full of shrimp.
> >
> > To the onlooker, rituals can look either very strange or very empty.
> > They
> > can seem altogether unimportant .....maybe even a lot of nonsense.
> >
> > Old folks often do strange things, at least in the eyes of Boomers and
> > Busters.
> >
> > Most of them would probably write Old Ed off, down there in Florida .
> > That's too bad. They'd do well to know him better.
> >
> > His full name: Eddie Rickenbacker. He was a famous hero back in World
> > War
> > II. On one of his flying missions across the Pacific, he and his
> > seven-member crew went down. Miraculously, all of the men survived,
> > crawled out of
> > their plane, and climbed into a life raft.
> >
> > Captain Rickenbacker and his crew floated for days on the rough waters
> of
> > the Pacific. They fought the sun. They fought sharks. Most of all,
> > they
> > fought hunger. By the eighth day their rations ran out. No food. No
> > water.
> > They were hundreds of miles from land and no one knew where they were.
> >
> > They needed a miracle. That afternoon they had a simple devotional
> > service
> > and prayed for a miracle. They tried to nap. Eddie leaned back and
> > pulled
> > his military cap over his nose. Time dragged. All he could hear was
> > the
> > slap of the waves against the raft.
> >
> > Suddenly, Eddie felt something land on the top of his cap. It was a
> > seagull!
> >
> > Old Ed would later describe how he sat perfectly still, planning his
> > next
> > move. With a flash of his hand and a squawk from the gull, he managed
> > to
> > grab it and wring its neck. He tore the feathers off, and he and his
> > starving
> > crew made a meal - a very slight meal for eight men - of it. Then they
> > used
> > the intestines for bait. With it, they caught fish, which gave them
> > food
> > and more bait......and the cycle continued. With that simple survival
> > technique, they were able to endure the rigor of the sea until they were
> > found and
> > rescued (after 24 days at sea...).
> >
> > Eddie Rickenbacker lived many years beyond that ordeal, but he never
> > forgot
> > the sacrifice of that first lifesaving seagull. And he never stopped
> > saying, 'Thank you.' That's why almost every Friday night he would walk
> > to the
> > end of the pier with a bucket full of shrimp and a heart full of
> > gratitude.
> >
> > Reference: (Max Lucado, In The Eye of the Storm, pp.221, 225-226)
> >
> > PS: Eddie was also an Ace in WW I and started Eastern Airlines.
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> > ____________________________________
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> >
> >
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