Ghost Carrier: They Died to Fight Another Day Read Free

freedom here.”
    For the first time since entering the office, Frank relaxed. This little man seemed harmless enough.
    “Now the way I like to start is to get right to the heart of the issue. I have gotten the report from Dr. Garret.”
    He picked up a clipboard from his desk and glanced down.
    “I understand you are seeing visions. Why don’t you start by telling me what you think they are?”
    “I don’t know what they are.”
    “Oh, I think you do know, Mr. Rusk.”
    Frank looked at Parveen oddly and his voice rose, “ No, Doc, I don’t. If I knew what they were, I’d tell you. Anyway aren’t you supposed to tell me?”
    “That’s not the way it works.” Parveen responded gently.
    Frank rose to his feet, “Can I walk around?”
    “Whatever makes you comfortable.”
    Frank struggled, “You’re right, Doc. I do know. God, I know it without a doubt in my mind.”
    “Go on.”
    “I don’t know how and I don’t know why, but I think I’m seeing my Dad’s last moments on earth—the time right before he died. I know it sounds crazy, but I think that’s what I’m seeing.”
    “How did your father die?”
    “He was a sailor on board an aircraft carrier called Liscome Bay.”
    “ During World War II?”
    “Yes. I was born in September ’43. He was already out to sea. He died just before Thanksgiving that year. I never got a chance to know him.”
    “What happened?”
    “Worst carrier disaster in the Pacific. They were off the coast of some small island in the Central Pacific, and the ship got hit by a Japanese torpedo that went straight into the bomb bay.
    “I am sorry.”
    “Thanks. Apparently, it was quick. The ship torched up like a dried out Christmas tree. The guys had no chance. It went down in twenty minutes. Close to 650 men died, including my Dad.”
    Dr. Parveen nodded sympathetically.
    “And now, for some God forsaken reason, I’m reliving his last moments every night when my head hits the pillow. Doc, can you find a way to make this stop? Growing up without him was bad enough. Seeing him die over and over…,” Frank’s voice trailed off as he slumped back into his chair.
    Parveen took his pen and held it to his mouth, clicking it a couple of times.
    “So it is not an incident in your own life that is causing these sleepless nights, but seeing the death or imagining the death of your father.”
    “Oh, I’m not imagining it.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “I’m there, I’m seeing it through his eyes. I’m feeling what he was feeling. Every detail. How could I imagine all that?”
    “The mind is very complex. We understand only a fraction of its power.”
    “And how about my seeing his face in the candle flames of my birthday cake?”
    “You saw your father’s face in a cake?”
    “In the flames. I know, I know. It sounds nuts. But I saw him.”
    “What did he look like?”
    “Not like I remember him from my mother’s old pictures.”
    “How so?”
    “He looked young, but he stared right into my eyes and had the deepest God awful fear I’ve ever seen on a man’s face. Like he was scared shitless. And then he opened his mouth and screamed at me.”
    “Screamed? Screamed what?”
    “My name.”

Chapter 3

    MAKIN ISLAND, CENTRAL PACIFIC 23 NOV 1943
    Task Force 52 was just coming off intensive aerial bombardment of the Atoll of Tarawa three days earlier. After brutal fighting, Americans soldiers had successfully captured the Gilbert Islands, and now the battle group was returning to normal cruising maneuvers. At sundown on 23 November, the ships of the now precisely named Task Group 52.13 had maneuvered into night cruising disposition, forming a circular screen around the three escort carriers.
    Liscome Bay was in the middle as guide for the surrounding ships. The battleships New Mexico and Mississippi , the cruiser Baltimore on the left flank, and carriers Coral Sea and Corregidor on the right flank were in the first circle surrounding Liscome Bay . The outer circle