My beloved mother and father! My father served as a Chief Petty Officer in the Navy during World War II.
My father wanted to be a fighter pilot, but when he started training, they found out that, even though he had perfect vision, he was colorblind. Then he tried to convince them that he could be a night fighter because, at night, being color blind did not matter. In the end, he became a SeaBee.
While he was in the Navy, he won the All-Service Lightweight Championship in 1946. I vaguely remember being at the Balboa Stadium in the Panama Canal Zone during the fight, although I was more interested in running up and down the stairs. My mother told me that I had so much energy that it was very difficult to manage my behavior.
At the same time, before my father died, he told me, " Son, if I had my life to live again, I would never participate in any sport whose purpose was to hurt another human being."
He also told me throughout my life that there was no reason to drop atomic bombs on Japan. He said Japan was already defeated and that, with some patience, it would have had no choice but to surrender unconditionally.
