Scríobhim faoi Lá Cuimhneacháin inniu. Ceapaim faoi uncail agam. Is fear de m'ainm féin. Fuair sé bás ar feadh an cogadh mara níos mór. Bhí cúig agus trí scór fadó ann.Bhí oifeageach ceannais ar mbád bídeach dul i dtír. Chuaigh cabhlach cogaidh go gcladaigh leis trúpaí. Ní raibh longa chogaidh ábalta ag dul i dtír in aice leis. Iarr saighdúirí ag breith longa iompair níos lu ag dul idir na longa mór agus an targaid talamh.
Mar sin, bhí díth acusan féin ag dul ina báid iompair ag coinneáil leis an gcladach. D'imigh saighdúir amháin leis mo h-uncail agus an tiománaí eile. Thug an dhá féin na trúpaí leis acusan de longa chogaidh amach i bhfarraige.
Tháinig na trúpaí gálanta rith cladaigh díobh láithreach. D'fhág an cath cóirithe ar aghaidh na tSeapáinaigh is daingean láithreach. Chuaigh Meiriceánaigh ag dulta i ndeabhadh greadadh ar an dá thaobh. Chaill saol idir chríon agus óg na mílte míle, a dhá is tríocha duine, mar sin go raibh inis straitéiseach agus bolcánachann.
D'ordaigh Jack do saighdúirí ag fanacht leis seisean féin mar a ordaítear. Rinne siad dhá uair ag dul trasna na habhann i mbád a ainmniú "an Lacha." Ina dhiadh dhá dul i dtír na hoilean na tSaipan uafásach, long a bhá ansuid. Fuair dhá bás mar bombardú is marfach i dtíortha i gcéin an t-Aigéan Ciúin anois aríst.
Uncle Jack & Memorial Day again.
I write about Memorial Day today. I think about my uncle. He's my namesake. He died during a very great naval battle. It was sixty-five (=five and three score) years ago.
He was a head officer on a tiny landing boat. The wartime navy went on the shore with troops. The warships were not able to land close. The soldiers attempted to take off to smaller transport boats landing between the great ships and the shore target.
Therefore, there was a need for themselves to go in transport boats to keep close to the shore. The soldiers only went with my uncle and another driver. The two themselves carried the troops with them from the battleships off shore.
The brave troops came to hit the shore. They left facing a pitched battle against the most determined Japanese straightaway. The Americans went into a horrendous melee on both sides. Thirty-two thousand lost young and old life both because there was a strategic, volcanic island.
Jack commanded the soldiers going out with themselves according to his orders. They made two times ferries in the boat called "the Duck." After two landings on the fearful island of Saipan, the boat drowned. Death had taken the two during a fierce bombardment there on distant shores of the now again "quiet ocean" (="Pacific").
Illustration/ íomhá: Chonaic mé an grianghraf seo nuair bhí mé óg. Iarr mé a bheith mairnéalach sula an radharc láidir. Tá íomhá sin is cosúil mar dán na h-uncail agam ag tSaipan. D'athraim mé sé. Tháinig an bás air agus eile go leor sa 17 Meitheamh 1944. Suaimhneas síoraí díobh anam gach lá./ I saw this photograph when I was young. I had wanted to be a sailor, before that strong sight. It changed me. That image is most similar to my uncle's fate on Saipan. Death took him and many others 17 June 1944. Let them rest in peace every day. "1943, Papua New Guinea/ Guine na Nua-Papua: Dead on the beach/ Na marbh as an bhfarraige."
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