[footfootfoot]

As best as I could piece together: when my dad was on Saipan in WWII he was concussed by a shell and his mates though he'd been killed and left him on the beach. Everyone was evacutaing and getting back on the boats and one of my dad's pals decided to go back and drag his body onto the boat.

My dad eventually reagined consciousness and was *not dead yet*.

I recently got an email from the widow of the man who rescued my dad, She had been very close with him and my aunts and uncles after the war and is still close with my surving aunts and uncle. She emailed me a pic of my dad at about 17 or 18 years old. He's the one with the goofy hat.

I showed the inch his picture and "This is a picture of my dad when he was so and so's age."

The inch looked at the picture and said: "You know what you can do? You should build your dad up in your mind so you can pretend he is still here."