I met Danny on the George Washington Carver. We were part of the commissioning crew. The last I saw him was in Pearl Harbor. We had run into each other at the exchange or some such place. It was a great reunion for us. I was a W -4 and Danny was recently selected for E-8. During our initial conversation he asked me to pin his new device onto his collar at the promotion ceremony that would happen in a few days. I told him I’d be honored. I stayed with Danny and his family during the time my boat, DSV-4 Sea Cliff, was waiting for parts. It was good times. Danny was not in a good place, I discovered. Things were stressful at home. Here is the story as I discovered. The rest of this story happened within a few months after I left Pearl .
One of the hardest workers on the submarine was Danny. He lived a life of quiet desperation. Many of us do. I served with him for a few years in the mid-sixties. He was a gentle, sensitive guy. Stubborn in his profession. He would not give up on a job. Danny spent hours wrestling with hydraulic hoses and fittings. He’d be covered in oil and grime and he’d complete the job. After a breather he’d go on to the next miserable task. Jamie, his supervisor, would never be able to replace him. Danny was a good shipmate. Here is how Danny fixed his marriage.
OH, DANNY BOY
Danny stood there, feet spread, staring into space, and wondered what to do. His head was pounding, unable to collect his thoughts. Marsha was out of the house. He was trying to remember where she had gone. She had told him but he couldn’t remember. Danny continued to stand still in the middle of the living room.
In the twenty years he had been in the Navy Danny had risen at a normal rate through the ranks. Except for a couple of years of broken service. That’s when he’d worked for a company that utilized large earth movers to strip mountain tops and gouge canyons into the earth in search of minerals. Danny maintained and repaired the monstrous machines. He’d become skilled with the machines, the mission, and the overall success of the operations. Danny was a valued employee. When he decided to go back into the Navy, Danny easily convinced the recruiter of his worth. He reentered the Navy with his old grade as if he’d never left.
The only problem Danny had was being a good husband. He wasn’t cognitive about this issue. He thought he was a good husband but the facts contradicted his sense of reality. Danny’s reality did not match the experience of those around him. This incongruity caused him a great deal of confusion and emotional pain. Marsha was as confused as Danny but she held him responsible for his actions. She resented the emotional enervation she suffered having to keep him connected to the real world. Their marriage had long ago crumbled. In spite of all the successes each had the failure of their marriage was evidence that they could not be together. Both were miserable. They needed help, had sought help, but the stresses associated with Danny’s submarine at-sea time prevented a consistent, sustained plan to improve relations.
Danny and Marsha had argued bitterly in recent days. She was exhausted and Danny was unable to maintain a dialog with her. The situation was compounded by the schedule of deployments of the submarine. Danny was required to be on board later this day to ready the systems for which he was responsible. He couldn’t spend any time with her today. He needed to get his sea bag ready. He needed to find all of his uniforms and gear and move aboard the submarine before dinner time. The ship was leaving at dusk for a sixty-day patrol. Danny’s marriage difficulties would have to wait. Danny’s and Marsha’s situation be damned. They did not figure into the equations of the cold war.
Danny stood still in the middle of the living room with his pistol in his right hand and his feet spread. He couldn’t face his wife any more. She was clear in her disgust. He saw the unmistakable indications of her unhappiness with him. Danny had had it. In the moments before she arrived home from the commissary and before the kids got out of school Danny had to make a decision. He needed to do what was best for all. It all boiled down to this. Danny’s world had ceased to make sense and nothing he could think of would make things better. He decided in the few moments left to him that living was not an option left to him. He heard the car pull into the carport next to the house. The engine noise ceased and he heard a car door close. Danny put the pistol into his mouth and began to weep. His wife came through the door. Danny looked into her eyes for the last time.
G. M. Goodwin
18 November 2016
Danny Boy Glenn Miller
Oh, Danny boy, the pipes, the pipes are calling
From glen to glen, and down the mountain side.
The summer’s gone, and all the roses falling,
It’s you, it’s you must go and I must bide.But come ye back when summer’s in the meadow,
Or when the valley’s hushed and white with snow,
It’s I’ll be here in sunshine or in shadow,
Oh, Danny boy, oh Danny boy, I love you so!But when ye come, and all the flowers are dying,
If I am dead, as dead I well may be,
You’ll come and find the place where I am lying,
And kneel and say an Ave there for me.
And I shall hear, though soft you tread above me,
And all my grave will warmer, sweeter be,
For you will bend and tell me that you love me,
And I shall sleep in peace until you come to me!
Source: Lyricfind.comSongwriters: Frederick E. WeatherlyDanny Boy lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd., Concord Music Publishing LLC
Playing Fair and Being Kind 