I had come to realize it was a mistake.
I HAD to be back at Ft. Knox in the evening, yet Dad and I had decided to rebuild the carburetor on my car. Simple process... take the thing apart, removing the parts to be replaced, and put it together with the new parts.
Done.
But it didn't work out that way. One of the parts for the accelerator pump refused to cooperate. We tried the easy way.
We tried the hard way.
We tried replacing it while standing on one leg, holding our tongue over the left rear molar.
We worked on that stupid thing while I watched the clock, realizing until the carburetor was whole I had no wheels to get back to my post and not be A.W.O.L.
We worked for hours on that one stupid part, to no avail.
Dad said, "Let's go see Dave."
"Dave" was Hawkeye's Dad, Gordon Davidson. (His Mother was "Mike"!)
Dave was a quiet guy, truly a man of few words. When he was insanely happy you might see the corners of his mouth curl. But he was a perfectionist. Everything Dave did was an example of excellence. If anyone could put this carburetor together and keep me out of trouble, it was Dave.
And of course, in no time at all, I had a complete carburetor. Dave looked at the part a second, made a couple zip-zip moves, and it was done.
How do you put a price on that?
There were three houses separating me and Hawkeye. I spent the night at his house a lot. He reciprocated. We shared houses, garages, and parents. I'll miss his Dad.
Bye Dave.
On more occasions than I can recount here, you made my life better.
I'm glad I got the chance to tell you that.
His obituary is here.
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2 comments:
What a beautiful tribute GB. I know this will make his sons proud that someone thought so much of their dad.
Your stories of your life are always so detailed. Nice job and oh, by the way, glad you made it back to the military in time.
GB, Thank you for your kind words. They "sit" in our hearts and make us smile. Glad you made it back to Ft. Knox.
Hawk was just relaying a story about your dad to me. Hawk was about 8 years old, and as usual, in your dad's garage hanging out. Your dad was mounting lids above his work bench to later screw jars of nuts and bolts into. Hawk said, "You are putting one screw in those lids, wouldn't it be better to put two so that the lid doesn't twist". Your dad told him that was a good idea. Hawk remembers feeling so proud that your dad liked his idea.
Another story. GB and Hawk were stranded on Smith Valley Road by the Wilgrow Shopping in your mom and dads van. Your dad wasn't home. Bob called his dad. Dave came and checked the problem out. He found that the ignition points were burned. In true "Macgiver Fashion", he removed the striker part from a book of matches, and "filed" the points and got the engine started.
Mrs. Hawkeye, Barb
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