My father enlisted in the Navy prior to WWII. During those years, three of the ships he was on sunk. On two occasions he was declared “Lost at Sea.” The last time he did not return home until February 1946. Neither he nor the Navy knew who he was until he regained his senses. He had been shot in the face and had swallowed a lot of salt water by the time he was accidently found four days later in the South Pacific without most of his cloths or his I.D. I was old enough to walk to him the first we met. Years later, I remember seeing his name, also my name since I was named after him, up on a WWII War Memorial in a park in his mothers home town. My mother still has the telegrams from the Department of the Navy. It wasn’t until I was an adult that my uncle who was also in the Pacific told me the history. My uncle also told me of the knife my dad made and carried after the first ship went down and his encounter with sharks. He said that my dad never again went on deck without a pistol belt, canteen, and that nasty knife. I had seen that knife but it was always kept in a locked trunk. When I then went to my father, he finally told me his story.

He confirmed the facts that kapok vest were only good for about three days. He also knew not to drink salt water but when your head is barely above the surface especially with a water logged kapok vest in rough seas, you can’t help but swallow some.

If you do any cooking, preserving, or smoking meat or fish, you know that salt draws out water. Without water, bacteria cannot grow. It is the same with most living beings. With too high of a salt content, the electrolytes in the body are upset and the electrical current that we all depend on is disrupted.