Sgt. Hawkins: "Meat Ball" Destroyer

A few weeks ago as I was researching online for a boring paper and getting no results, I decided to distract myself by researching something more exciting.  I was on the Harold B. Library website and I typed "David Henry Hawkins" into the search box just to see if anything would come up.  Grandpa is pretty cool, ya know, so why wouldn't there be something in the library with his name in it or something? 

There were a few random things that came up--one was titled "Memoirs." It was supposed to be in the Special Collections way on the bottom floor of the library and I didn't have time to go down there, so I just kind of forgot about it.  But last Friday I had an extra hour on campus so I decided to search it out!

I got down to Special Collections and I had no idea how official it would be.  I had to sign a form, put my stuff in a locker, and be let into a special room where employees could keep an eye on me.  I gave the nice boy at the counter the call number for the "Memoirs" and I had no idea what he would bring out to me.

Well I don't know how or when or why this got into the library's special collections (do you, cousins?), but it was six handwritten pages of Grandpa's experiences at war.  I recognized Grandma's familiar loopy handwriting right away.  It was a really short summary of the kinds of things Grandpa did and saw and felt and learned while he fought in WWII. There was also a copy of what looked like a newspaper article and a few relatively recent pictures of Grandpa with some buddies. I had a couple minutes to scribble down two interesting quotes:

"I attended the combined Jewish, Protestant, and Catholic  meetings where freedom, independence, and whip the Japs were preached."

"I became well acquainted with my Book of Mormon aboard ship.  We sent more Japs to Davy Jones Locker in Iron Bottom Sound than the Nephites did the Lamanites at the River Sidon.  I got a lot of consolation from Captain Moroni, Teancum, and other great warriors.  They taught me that I was fighting for freedom, country, home, and loved ones."

Remembering some of the hard things Grandpa did was a great way to spend twenty minutes on a Friday afternoon.  I am a lucky girl to have such a good example of faith and perseverance. He had to do a lot of hard things that he didn't want to do. Finals week seems much more doable after thinking about the things grandpa saw and did in his lifetime! 

I love you and miss you gramps!