He grew up in Texas during the Great Depression with dreams of leaving the small town & seeing the world. He went to college but did not graduate. Then he enlisted in the Navy with plans of applying for officer candidate school (OCS) after finishing basic training and then becoming a pilot. He was denied admission to OCS and his first assignment was an anti-aircraft gunner on the battleship Maryland. He arrived in Hawaii on Saturday, Dec 6th and the following morning the Japanese attached. The Maryland was badly damaged but not sunk. His gun crew never even fired a shot, they were all new and had not been trained.
So the US is going to war the the Pacific fleet has just been decimated. The only available naval war options were submarines and aircraft. Large ships would take time to replace but aircraft were available and could be replaced faster. So the Navy decided they would need more pilots and decided to admit candidates to OCS that had recently applied but been denied. My Dad was one of the lucky one.
He completed OCS and flight training and then flew in the Pacific for the remainder of the war. He spent 30 years in the Navy and reached the rank of Captain, fulfilling his original dream.
He told me this story when I was a teenager without a lot of aspirations in life. We were fishing on the Chesapeake when the fish weren't biting on a hot summer day. I was always puzzled why he had such great admiration for the Japan & their people despite having fought against them. I asked him about this and he replied "I owe them a lot." He said they taught him two important lessons:
Never give up on your dreams.
Forgive your enemies.