For two weeks the water held out, but we were afloat four days longer. We were semi-conscious by that time—nothin' troubled us.
An English fishin' smack picked us up and took us to a lighthouse off the Irish coast. When I came to I found meself bein' fed water a spoonful at a time. Sure, I couldn't take more if I wanted to, me tongue was that thick. I stayed there three weeks, when they sent me to Ireland and I lay in hospital there for a month. From the windows I could see the treetops and a glimpse of the heavens, but do you know it seemed to me that the sky in America was a heap bluer and the leaves a world greener and, oh, how I wished for a sight of the wife and the kid!
So they brought me home and here I am. I'm not after sayin' me father was a prevaricator—no, indeed! But I am sayin' that where your folks is there will your heart be also, and, take it from me, the fellow who wrote, "There's no place like home" knew what he was talkin' about! There ain't—be it County Cork or old New York!
CHIEF PHARMACIST'S MATE
HALL SPEAKS:
Marines on the job—manning the anti-aircraft guns.