Trinidad and Tobago 1944

In 1944, an American sailor in the U.S. Navy, was in Trinidad. This was 70 years ago. He sent home this drawing. It was a sketch of a U.S. Navy sailor sitting on the beach and sketching the name of his loved one in the sand. Floss was my Grandmothers name. While I have some memories of my Grandfather, I never had the opportunity to know my Grandmother. She died before I was born. I first saw this sketch when I was a boy. Like many of us, we too had boxes of old photos. It was when going through them that I remember coming across this. My father told me of the time his father was stationed in Trinidad and Tobago. Perhaps it was then that the desire to explore the Caribbean was birthed. Its certainly one component that I think of when I go to the Caribbean.

70 years ago the very man I was named after, found himself on the shores of the island of Trinidad, and he wrote to his wife, thinking of her.... I doubt he would have thought that his sketch would have made it farther. This was before the birth of my father, before he had a son who he named after his dad, and before that grandson had a child of his own. 70 years after that moment, Im going back to the Caribbean for my 4th time. This time its Jerrys name that Ill trace in the sand.

A sketch from my grandfather to my grandmother