— Diane White
Memoirs come in all styes and shapes, I found, from attending Gianna Russo’s Writing Your Life OLLI-USF class last June. Still, writing them does not come easy. I created this story as a class assignment to write for 10 minutes using a prompt from a list on the handout. One prompt was to write about a family heirloom. I looked down and noticed that I was wearing my father’s watch. Ten minutes later when I resurfaced, I had written this memoir of my father and his service during the Korean Conflict.
My Father’s Watch: A Memoir
The watch was sat sleek on my wrist.
Barely scratched.
Kept good time. Of course it did; it was Swiss and silver.
Sturdy.
It sat on my wrist too large.
I had four links taken out after my dad passed and his watch came to me.
The time – it told well.
But the stories behind the face…those are more difficult to tell.
I learned the story of war that they called the Korean conflict in fragments.
Jerkily.
Just as the second hand on the watch sweeps around the clock face in steady staccatos.
Stories were told throughout his life, but mostly through the faces, in the photographs that Mom kept in a photo album.
Still keeps today as a memory of her husband now passed.
Photos that her young husband sent from the front lines.
My Dad and his men look up at the camera.
Those faces – impossibly young. Capturing a faraway war – forever in time.
Robert White enlisted in the United States Army in 1948. He was initially placed in the Tank Company, 3rd platoon, at Ft. Meade, Maryland. He took communications training at Ft. Knox, Kentucky. In Korea, he was promoted to Communication Chief, 24th division, where he proudly attained his Master Sargeant rank.
Robert was awarded the Combat Infantryman Badge (CIB)*, a United States Army military decoration, for his service in the Korean Conflict. His CIB was special to him because it was awarded for performing duties while personally present and under fire.
Robert White passed away on February 16, 2024, at 94.
He is interned at Florida National Cemetery in Bushnell after receiving a full honors ceremony.
Diane White, MA, PMP, earned advanced degrees in information technologies from George Washington University and education from USF. She has been managing projects for over 25 years in the information technology and telecommunications industries. She joined OLLI-USF in 2008 and has taken OLLI courses in art, art appreciation, architecture, music, great books, science, nature, literature, and leadership. She is a member of OLLI’s Tech Squad, teaches a variety of technology courses, an OLLI Roll of Honor instructor and is OLLI Connects’ technology contributor and consultant. Diane is co-leader of the USF-OLLI Outdoors SIG and is a certified Florida Master Naturalist, UF-ISFS.
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