Memories of Higgins: Show and Tell

Hi Dad! How’s it going over there in San Diego? Mom said that it’s been getting hotter over there lately, so I hope you’ve been drinking up a lot of water! Teacher said it helps to keep cool if you drink at least eight glasses a day. Also, I hope your ban… bang… bunkmates aren’t messing up your stuff again. If ever they do that again, just tell me and I’ll give them a piece of my mind. Especially that baldy, McCord. Mom says he needs to get his mouth bleached with all the bad words he keeps saying…

Things have been pretty busy for us back home. Just the other day, Scruffles finally gave birth to five cute puppies. Now we have two little boy and three little girl puppies to help feed and clean up. Mom says we’ll have to get them to the vet as soon as they can walk on their own. Besides taking care of Scruffles’ newborn babies, we also had to clean up the whole house. Mom even let me use the lawnmower for the first time. How cool is that? Although, it was pretty hard to hold straight though... I guess I need to grow tall soon so it will be easier to handle!

Oh yeah! Last week, the class held a Show-And-Tell activity. My classmates really went all the way on this one. Jimmy even brought all his pet turtles! But you know me, Dad. I won’t lose to my friends. So, I decided to show the class what I learned from you the last time we visited you at work. Remember when you showed me how to properly seal a ship leak? I showed the rest of the class how to do it! Well, I didn’t do it on a big wall like you did, so don’t worry about me getting soaked like you did! I really wowed them that time. Besides that, I also showed them photos of our visit over there. My classmates didn’t say a word as I told them about your job on that big boat. Some of the boys in class were envious of your free rides to many countries, too.

Ooh, ooh, by the way, Dad, since you’re going to be working in Japan for a long time, I’ve got a couple of requests. First, can you please, PLEASE get me the full Mami Tomoe costume set, with the fancy gun and everything? Mom finally learned how to curl my hair just right, so I think it would be a perfect fit! Besides, the Mami costumes they sell here aren’t as good as the ones over there… Also, I hope you can take a picture of a real Mount Fuji sunset! And then, I hope you can also get an authentic Japanese-style pork ramen recipe! Oh, and one mo—

Aww, Mom says I should end this message soon because you might not have enough time to listen to it. Mom says that by the time you get this message, you should have already received my gift for your birthday in the mail. Isn’t it cute? It’s a special trinket I learned to make at school. Our art teacher Miss Mathis invited her Indian friend, Miss Lombard, one day for a special session. She taught us to make those charms, telling us that they worked like dreamcatchers, but instead of catching dreams, they catch bad luck. I hope it can keep you safe while you’re working over there, Dad. Happy Birthday! Stay safe, and hope we can visit you soon! This is Rachel, over and out!


--Damage Controlman First Class Daryl Ensign assisted in patching up battle damage across the stern section of USS Higgins during the Battle of Los Angeles. Despite being caught in the blast of the ship’s rear damage control locker, inflicting deep wounds and burns across his body, he insisted on staying on post, supervising repair work under fire when his team leader was incapacitated, until a relief team assembled from other crew members took over. He survived the battle, at the cost of his right leg and a year’s worth of third degree burn recovery that permanently scarred his face. He was promoted to Chief Damage Controlman and is back on duty as a DamCon instructor in Norfolk. He swears that the little charm that he got from his daughter kept him alive that day.--