Sub Hunter

One Sunday after Church, Cindy and I went out for lunch to a fish place.  As we were getting up to leave, an old guy (late 80s I'm thinking) said, "Excuse me, what's that button," referring to my Bishop's award.  I told him what it was, that I didn't deserve it but they gave it to me anyway.  He said that he thought it was an anchor and that I might be a sailor, to which I replied that I wished I was.  His wife said at this point that her husband was in the navy in the UK.  I replied, "You were in the Royal Navy then!"  I asked him when and he said '43 'till the end of the war.  I then asked him what ship, and he named a destroyer, said he was stationed in the Indian Ocean.  I foolishly said that I didn't know that we--allied forces--operated in the Indian Ocean (which I much later realized that I did know).  He explained that they were hunting subs.  I asked him if they had a carrier--which must have irked a destroyer sailor from the lower deck--to which he replied that they did.  All this happened as the waitress was impatiently waiting to get by to give somebody their bill or something.  The last thing I said before I turned and walked away was, "Thank you for your service!"  He looked genuinely shocked.  I hope I made his day.  God bless our veterans.