Part two...

This is part two to "Don't count your chickens"

She then called the reserve P-3 squadron at Willow Grove to tell the Navy that her loving husband was dead, and to find out who she needed to send the death certificates so she could collect his service group life insurance and social security benefits for the baby about to arrive in a few months. The duty officer answered the phone and said, “Ma’am, I’ve been here four years, and your husbands name doesn’t ring a bell. Why don’t you try our sister squadron next door; they might be able to help you.” He transferred her to the Admin Officer next door who said, “Bob who”??? He says, “Sorry, never heard of him and I deal with all the members of this Squadron.” She really began to freak out now. “Well, he flew up there to drill once a month for the past four years we while we were married, and he also flew to Key West a lot with you all for his two-week Annual Training each summer.” Her words were starting to babble now as she wondered why her world was crashing around her. The Admin Officer took pity on her and offered to do some research on her behalf. Armed with his social security number and date of birth, he started to scour the naval records in DC.

A few phone calls on his part about the mysterious Naval Commander named “Bob” revealed some interesting facts. It turned out that ole’ Bob was never a pilot in the Navy, nor was he ever an officer. Turned out that Bob was indeed in the Navy during the Vietnam War during the early 70’s aboard the U.S.S. Oriskney, a small aircraft carrier where he was a crew chief in the SPAD squadron, and when he returned to the states, he was honorably discharged from the service. I guess that he built himself a bio from talking to the pilots he worked for. I mean this guy knew the names of the Squadrons he was in, the flights he took, the tail numbers, he knew it all.
Then she learned that he wrote his parents, and told them that he had been accepted into the NavCad program and offered a slot in flight school down in Pensacola. He disappeared for “training” and would, from time to time, show up to visit his folks in uniform. Over the years, he promoted himself on schedule and had a closet full of Naval Officer uniforms by the time he married ole Elizabeth. His own family never knew the truth about him. For all those years, he pretended to be someone else. He sure had me fooled, for he knew things that only a guy who served would know. No wonder, he wasn’t able to apply to the airlines, all of his combat flight time was nothing more then a bunch of fluff and stuff.

Again, that night, I heard it all. She cried on Teddy’s shoulder, for there was no insurance money, no military money, a baby on the way, her dead husband was a fraud, and now she wondered where he disappeared to when he was away flying for the Navy! It opened more mysteries then it solved. Could he have switched another body in the jeep that night? Did they kill him off and he knew something was amiss and set her up? Was this his idea of revenge? I’m not sure, but I think I heard a distant voice laughing that night from the grave as he rolled over knowing he had the last laugh. See, sometimes, the truth is stranger then fiction.
Semper Fi,
Taco