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WT 2/c Ralph Thissen United States Navy

It Was 1943, World War II had been raging for over two years. My Brother, Tom Begley, and his friend Ralph Thissen set on a bench in the corridor at Chowchilla High School with the other senior boys, laughing talking and maybe taking a glance at the girls passing by.

" What Branch of the military are you going to join?" someone asked, setting off a debate on the topic. Within a year all of the seniors were in the service. Tommy joined the Marines, while Ralph was assigned to the Navy.

American men were fighting battles in every part of the world. So what were the chances of two freinds from a dicky town in California becoming shipmates? Tom and Ralph ran into each other while they stood in chow line aboard the USS Saratoga. Needless to say they were surprised and excited to discover both had been assigned to the Saratoga.

Early 1945, the Saratoga put to sea as the flagship of a task force heading for Tokyo. The night before the Tokyo raid, Ralph went to Tom's quarters. These tow young men. who once sat together on a branch in a high school corridor, were now sitting on a bunk of an aircraft carrier in the Pacific Ocean talking about home, war and death.

My Brother told Ralph he knew he would never live through the war and asked Ralph to take a message to his family,. Ralph promised.

After completing the Tokyo raid, the USS Saratoga and three destroyers were ordered to Iwo Jima to finish night combat patrol. About 0500 hours, February 21, 1945, Tom , Ralph and a Marine friend went on deck to look at the island.

Shortly after, Japanese planes swept down on the USS Saratoga with most concentrated attack of the war against a carrier. The gunners downed some of the planes, but even so, five kamikazes crashed into the deck and seven bombs found their mark. One plane crashed near gun five, where my brother was one of sixteen Marine gunners, The Saratoga was severely damaged.

The next morning Ralph went to the Marine quarters to check on his friend. He was told Tom had been killed, his hometown friend was gone.

My Brother, along with 122 others, was given a military service. Their bodies wrapped in canvas shrouds, were passed under the United States flag and lowered into the water.

Seven weeks later, April 15, 1945, Ralph came home on leave, He held me in his arms as we grieved together. The ugly was acted out another scene as this sixteen year old sister of a Marine and a nineteen year old Sailor sat in a little farm house and talked about loneliness, battles, death and a message to despondent family.

Ralph kept his promise to his friend, Tom