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Take care bro.... By sandwichh in Some can't stand it January 19, 2009

Christmas time sometimes brings sad things along with the glad.

Last year it was one of my favorite Aunt’s passing in December, Aunt Agatha. She was the true Southern lady, accent and manner, never a harsh word for anyone. She worked for many, many years with Western Union in Jackson, MS. She use to tell the stories about how they would have to go to the coast after a hurricane and help get communications going in days gone by

This year our #2 son spent his Christmas in Iraq. First time actually not able to come home at any time during the season.

Then I got a phone call around midnight on Dec. 12^th saying that my older brother, my only sibling, had passed. He was retired Navy. He got out a while but went back in, it is what he loved doing. He had become a quadriplegic after an auto accident back in 2003 in California and was once again in the hospital with pneumonia.

We were both born in Mississippi to Ms parents and grandparents. Use to have many aunts, uncles, and cousin back home. We moved around a lot due to our dad being a heavy equipment operator and pipe liner.

We can down here the month before Hurricane Carla. My brother graduated Victoria High School in 1965 and a month later he was in the Navy. He went to boot camp in San Diego, and then did his medic training at Balboa Naval Hospital. Then it was on to Camp Pendleton and where he would spend most of his time, playing Doc to the Marines as a Navy Corpsman.

He would eventually wind up at Camp LeJune, New River, NC doing many floats, Med. Cruises, NATO cold weather training, etc. Most of it as a crewmember in Search and Rescue. Flying around in CH-46’s and CH-53E’s, frogs and hogs. He retired out of there.

One time he called and told me about the most hair-raising thing he did, rescuing a hurt commercial fisherman off the Atlantic Coast. He said the Coast Guard was all busy and asked for help. He talked of going down on the cable with the boats booms and ropes swinging around in rough seas. Later he said the flight crew was showered with fish as a thank you from the fishermen.

His last big action was Desert Storm. He talked about flying around and seeing all the Iraqi bunkers with bomb craters in the middle of them. Said they came by a Saudi camp and the whole camp stood up and saluted the Marine chopper. With pride he said that is when you know you are the big dogs on the block.

One of the things he had with him during that action was a combat knife he wanted and I bought for him as a birthday present one year. When my youngest son was getting ready for his deployment to Iraq he wanted to get a good combat knife to take with him. I showed him his uncle’s and he said he would gladly take it back with him for what the son called “part 2”. And so it returned.

We talked one time about what we wish we could have done that each other had done. I told him I always admired how he could do military service as I have been battling a medical problem since age 13 and I failed the physical. He told me that he always admired how I gave our parents a son that had a stable long-term marriage and grandkids. He had no problem getting married, just a big problem staying married. He finally had the parent’s grandkids also but with broken families it took away from his relationship with his children. They were not real close in the end.

This month we buried his remains at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery in San Antonio in the same plot as an infant son of his that passed over 30 years ago. He got the whole thing, full military honors, 21-gun salute as he much deserved for his 23 years of service. The VA was extremely good at taking care of him after his injury until his passing 5 ½ years later. I don’t know how I could have taken care of his problems without them.

I say farewell oh Brother of mine till we meet again.

May you have fair winds and following seas.

CPO (HMO) John H. Sandidge, USN ret.

7-31-1947 - 12-12-2008

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