(I know I've shared this photo on my blog before, but it's one of my favorite ones of my Dad)
This is a day late, but I just wanted to wish my dad a Happy Father's Day! It's been so good for me to live away from my family this past year because it has really helped me to see the role they have played in my life, and the roles they continue to play. A few months ago, I was able to give a talk in sacrament meeting and I spoke on service. I focused a lot on my dad in my talk because he has led a life of service in giving to his country, his church, his students, and his family. I shared a war story about my dad that is actually published in a book that he and my Grandpa Perkins are in, about Fathers in WWII and sons in Vietnam. I cry every time I read the story. This is kind of a summary, but here it is:
A little background-the helicopters had taken off and one man had been left behind, so they went back for him.
"Not a round had been fired at the other helicopter, the one that had just taken off. But before we could land, they hit us. Man, they hit us with everything. And the whole front of the helicopter was on fire. So I jumped. It must have been thirty feet to the ground, but fortunately it was the wet season and the paddies were flooded, and I landed in that paddy. And I went looking over my left shoulder for that helicopter, because I didn't want to get hit with the helicopter blade, and boom! The helicopter came down on its side, directly on top of me.
So now I'm underneath the helicopter, facedown, and I'm moving my head side to side, trying to find a hole to breathe. And I hear all this screaming and yelling going on out there. Pretty soon they rocked the helicopter off me. They pulled me out, but I still have my left arm stuck into the helicopter.
Ed Eaton, who was my sniper-a really good kid, nineteen years old-he's up on top of the helicopter by this time. And he's blazing away at everybody with his sniper weapon, which has got the stock broken off. Just about all the machine guns and guns in the helicopter are all bent and the barrels are twisted, but he has that sniper weapon. Then somebody hands him up a working M-16.
Ed gets shrapnel in the jaw but keeps firing. They finally get me out of the helicopter. The reason I hadn't been able to get my land out was that I had it clasped tightly around my weapon. Finally I opened up my hand, and my arm slid right out. But I am going into shock, and I know I am.
I can't move because everything on my left side has been broken: pelvis, leg, arm, ribs. But it's interesting to lay here and watch all this. The gunships are expending everything they've got, Ed's firing away. The bullets are impacting in the water.
Finally the gunships land, they're maybe twenty, thirty feet out. The pilots raise their canopies: "Come on! Come on!" The Cobras have these little wing stubs-the rocket pods and guns are mounted underneath them. Guys are hobbling out to get on these stubs. The first bird, they get 3 or 4 guys sitting on the stubs. The gunner is holding on to them, and the bird takes off, it's gone. The second one, he comes in right behind. You can see the green tracers going by. "Come on! Come on!" Somebody picked me up; I'm not sure who it was. And he says, "Come on, we can get on there." He got me to my feet, and I was so weak, from loss of blood and everything else, I could not do anything. I said, "Just put me down. I'm not gonna make it."
If I remember right, he sat me down and gave me a grenade. I just laid there and looked, and they all got on that helicopter, and I said, "That's it."
Then the rest of the story-Ed Eaton jumps off the airplane, followed by Marty Green, who refuse to leave my dad's side. The most powerful line in the story is, "What Ed Eaton did is remarkable because he didn't come to save me. He came to die with me."
At the end of the story, my dad says, "There are wonderful people out there, ordinary people who do extraordinary things when called upon. That's almost everybody, and that's including you. One day you will may be called upon to do an extraordinary and remarkable thing, even though you're just an ordinary person."
I feel like my dad is my superhero, he always has been. Ever since I was a little girl, everything I've done, I've wanted my dad to be proud of me. He told me often how much he loved me. He always encouraged me to follow my goals, and he supported me 100 %, even when it was maybe something he didn't necessarily agree with. It always tugs at my heart strings a little bit when I hear students that have been in my dad's class say how much my dad influenced their life, that he was their favorite teacher. It makes me want to be a teacher like that. I know one of the main reasons I wanted to become a teacher was because my dad is one.
Another life lesson I learned from my dad came a few years ago. I was Relief Society President at the time, and I was going to be teaching a lesson about feeling Christ's love. I was having a hard time knowing what to say, so I went to my dad. He gave me a great analogy that I think of often when I'm having a hard time, and one that I like to share with others. He told me how in Vietnam it was always usually cloudy, overcast, depressing, and he said a lot of his days were like that there. But he knew that behind those dark clouds, the sun was always shining, he just had to hold on until the sun came out again. And he said that's how the Savior is. Sometimes we don't see Him, or feel of His light and Love, but He's always there, we just have to hold on until we can see Him and feel Him in our lives.
Dad, I love you and I'm so grateful for the life lessons you have taught me: to set goals and work hard to reach for them; to be selfless in service, continually seeking out opportunities to help those in need around me; to accept callings and fulfill them beyond the average expectations; to believe in myself and discover the gifts I have been blessed with and share them with others; and most importantly, for your testimony of the Savior and the Book of Mormon. I feel honored when people tell me they know I am my father's daughter. I couldn't have chosen a better one in my life.
Henley and her new friend Bruce (all dressed in Batman!) Notice her precious shoes?! I wanted a pair in my size!
Sara with Bruce, me with Henley
