USS HOUSTON CA 30

“The galloping Ghost of the Java Coast”

Julius C Chambliss

CREWMEMBER SPOTLIGHT

MY GRANDPA
Julius Ceal Chambless
by
Lucy Fort. granddaughter

One day around the year 1914 a wonderful, charming baby was born. What I am going to ten you about in this speech is the life of this man. This man grew up with a hard life. He had to work and live on the farm. His mother and his father played a real important role in his life. His mother told him to keep going to school and never drop our. His father worked on the farm and expected all of his 9 children to help him.

This man really loved school. He wanted to learn and wanted to keep on learning. When he got to high school his dad told him that he had to work on the farm. But this man didn't want to stop learning so he found a solution to his problem. He got up early in the morning and went to a job at school so he could pay someone to take his place on the farm He had listened to what his mother had told him. Unfortunately, when he turned 14 his mother passed on. He never got to complete high school.

When he was 17 he joined the Navy. He loved the Navy from the very first time his ship set sail. While he was in the Navy World War 2 started. He was sent out to fight against Japan. While he was on his ship, Japanese soldiers torpedoed his ship and took him and his shipmates as prisoners. The Japanese nearly starved them to death. They fed them uncooked rice with dirt in it. That sounded gross! Imagine having to eat it!! For 31/2 years he was tortured and starved but he remained brave.

After the war ended, he met a beautiful young nurse and married her. They had two children. Later on in about his early 40's, he went to the University of Southern Mississippi. While he was in college, they had two more kids. He went to college for 4 long years He became the first ever in his family to graduate from college!!!'

When he finished college, he became a cattle rancher and later a successful business man. This man was a very devoted church member and raised a terrific family. Suddenly a misfortune happened at 80. This gentle, kind man died peacefully. At his funeral, the church could not hold all the people that had come to pay their respect to this sweet man. The funeral procession lasted for miles. This man was loving, caring, tender and always honest. He was a true American He wasn't a ballplayer, but he was and still is my hero. This man was my grandfather.