I just received this flattering Email from John Graham (1947-1950, LTJG) who I consider a good friend who I have never met or talked with. John had been retired for years living in Gainsville, FL but recently moved to Crivitz, WI to be closer to his daughter. John and I have been communicating via the internet almost every day now since I launched this humble Web Site in 1999. It's feedback like this Email that makes designing and publishing the USS C.P. Cecil web site seem all worthwhile. Thanks John. You can learn more about shipmate Graham by visiting his personal page in the Photos section of the site.

I have a number of buddies on my Email list, but one is extra special.

I don't say he's my best buddy, I have several on the list, but he speaks to me most every day.

He came into my life a few years back when he (perhaps alone, I re call no one else) was putting together a web page(or pages) for the USS Charles P. Cecil.

I caught the Cecil in Shanghai on Christmas Day 1947 and left her by breeches buoy in the middle of the Atlantic a few days before Christmas in 1950. In that period I had gotten married and had a baby in the oven.

Just your routine navy story, but writing is what I do best, so I wrote about some memories for the new Cecil web page, and, so far as I know, that was the almost private domain of Ed Crowley, a wild Irishman who now lives in New Hampshire. He was on board the Cecil years after I, and he is now a retired CPO.He must have been one of the smart ones, because he was an ET (Electronic Technician) and they were the princes of smart among the enlisted men.

Whatever, the universal forces decided that Ed and I should become friends, and so we are. He's the one who sent all of you queries about me when I was off line for about 30 days recently.

Seldom a day goes by that I don't get something from Eddie, some of it pretty racy, but all of it I enjoy. Sometimes I chide him, but mostly I applaud him and know inwardly that I am fortunate to have him as a friend.

This is not an obituary. So far as I know, he's alive and kicking, but it's just to pass along an attribution.

Each of his e-mails to me has some kind of an aside written, and those asides are his trademark. I don't know where he gets them (I doubt that any or all are original) but all are thoughtful, even clever.

I forgot the forward he sent me today, but I loved better his little aside: I attribute it to Ed Crowley; that's good enough for me.

People will forget what you said.
People will forget what you did, but
People will never forget how you made them feel.

You make me feel a little bit (a lot really) warm inside, Eddie. Thank you for returning my message some years ago.

Brotherly love, John