I never knew Uncle Giles. He was my Dad's kid brother, a young Marine who died when his Higgins boat grounded on a reef and took a direct hit from Japanese artillery off Tarawa Atoll.  Dad never talked about it much, though I know it bothered him.  There weren't any pictures of Uncle Giles around. For whatever reason, McDermotts weren't big on displaying pictures.

Six years ago, when emptying an old box, I found his picture. I saw a cocky young Marine in his twenties with a mischievous grin. He looked like he thought he'd help whip the Japanese and be home by Christmas.  It struck a chord, and I tried to imagine this smiling young man's terror, jammed in a boat waiting for artillery to find the range.

It occurred to me that if one of my sons had found the photo, they'd likely have no idea who it was; and perhaps they wouldn't care.  It's human nature I suppose, that childless aunts and uncles become footnotes, but I thought Uncle G deserved better. I had multiple copies of the picture framed. The original went up on our "ancestor wall," and I sent copies to my siblings and cousins. I taped a letter on the back with what I knew of Uncle Giles.

I received polite thanks, though I don't know who hung the pictures.  I also heard from a cousin who thought "a ship had been named after him." I knew that unlikely. Ships were named for recipients of awards for uncommon valor. Through no fault of his own, Uncle G had no opportunity to display valor; except of course, the more common variety that put him in the boat in the first place.

I was only partially right.  No ship was named for him, but one was dedicated to his memory.  In 1944 in Beaumont, Texas, Pennsylvania Shipyards delivered the Luther Hurd. My grandparents attended the christening as honored guests and the ship was dedicated to the memory of PFC Giles J. McDermott USMC.

Luther Hurd operated in the Pacific, mainly hauling ammunition during MacArthur's campaigns in the Philippines. She was sold to foreign interests in 1947 and later scrapped.

When I began to write Deadly Straits, I tried to avoid using real ship names. That's more difficult than you might think, because people have been naming ships for a long time. Even when you make up a name, there's a pretty good chance it's been used before on anything from a yacht to a tug to a supertanker.

The one name I didn't avoid was Luther Hurd.  Both my uncle and the ship dedicated to his memory were unexceptional by some measures, but both did their duty, and did it well. I thought there was a certain nobility there that shouldn't pass unhonored.  So when I needed a heroic ship, I christened her M/T ( Motor Tanker) Luther Hurd, and crewed her with the likes of Vince Blake, Jim Milam, and Lynda Arnett. Ordinary people that rose to the occasion.

Deadly Straits is set in a very near future, so WWII references would have been a stretch. Instead I sneaked in this obscure tribute. It was a personal thing, and I never intended to blog about it. But very recently I ran across an excellent website called Tarawa on the Web, built and maintained by Jonathan Stevens. I wanted to spread the word, but knew it would seem a bit strange without some context.

Mr. Stevens started researching the war in the Pacific to learn more about the ordeal of his own father, a Marine veteran of the conflict. Tarawa on the Web grew out of his research and is an obvious labor of love and respect. I was pleased to see my uncle is listed there among the honored dead, his digital immortality assured. This morning I emailed Mr. Stevens a copy of his picture for the site.

If you want to read a true story, more gripping than any novelist can invent, you owe it to yourself to visit Tarawa on the Web.

I feel better for finding Uncle Giles on Mr. Stevens site, and better yet knowing his picture will soon be there. It's almost as if I've scattered his digital ashes over the internet; closure in a strange way.  Rest in peace, Uncle G.

PFC Giles J. McDermott
2nd Marine Division – USMC
Born 1 June 1919 – Cameron, TX
Killed in Action – 20 November 1943
Tarawa Atoll – Gilbert Islands