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Pappy wasn’t actually his real name. It was a nickname the other sailors made up. Pappy’s real name was George. The other sailors called him Pappy because he took care of everybody just like he was their dad. When the other sailors got into a fight, Pappy would break it up and talk some sense into them. When the other sailors drank too much beer, Pappy would help them back to their quarters. When the other sailors got into trouble, Pappy would help them get out of it or at least help them to not get caught! Pappy liked to listen to the sailor’s problems and help cheer them up. He liked to help his shipmates whenever he could. Maybe growing up as the oldest brother in a big family without a father made him that way. Besides, Pappy grew a great big, bushy beard while he was on the island that made him look like a grandpa. When it got really hot, Pappy would dip that beard into a bucket of water, and he would feel cool for a while.

Pappy was stationed on Woodlark Island in the South Pacific. It was a small jungle island, about 25 miles long, which the local people called Marua. The sailors waited until the enemy soldiers had cleared the jungle on one side of the island and had built a nice new airfield. Then they moved in and took over the airfield from the enemy. The island was very hot and uncomfortable. Every day Pappy made a five-gallon jug of lemonade, lifted it up onto his back and carried it to the sailors working on the airfield. The only way to get to the sailors was to cross a beach that went past the enemy camped up on a hill. Everybody called this beach Snipers’ Alley because the enemy would shoot at anyone trying to cross it. Somehow, they never seemed to shoot at Pappy. Pappy wondered why and one of the sailors told him “They won’t shoot you because they think you’re crazy!”  “Sometimes it’s good to be a little crazy,” Pappy laughed.

One good thing about being stationed on an island was that the sailors got to play baseball. Pappy loved baseball best and helped to organize games. One time a new ship came to the island and the captain radioed in to ask if his men could play baseball against some of the sailors on the island. Pappy sent a message back saying that the island had three teams, the Boat Pool, the SeaBees and the Officers. The captain said “Great! Schedule three games for my men!” Pappy set up the games. The first game against the new ship was with the Boat Pool. The members of the Boat Pool asked Pappy to pitch for them and he did. The Boat Pool clobbered the new ship’s team. The next day the new ship played against the SeaBees and the SeaBees asked Pappy to pitch for them, too. He did and the SeaBees beat the new ship team. The last game was against the Officers. The Officers asked Pappy to pitch for them, too, and he did. They also clobbered the new ship team. The captain of the new ship was mad. He found the commanding officer of Woodlark island and asked him “Aren’t there any other pitchers on this darn island?”

Whenever the sailors played baseball on Woodlark, they had to play on the airfield because the rest of the island was covered in jungles. Before they were allowed to play, everybody had to agree to play one inning in left field. This was because the Australian flyers now ran the airfield and they always flew their planes down really low, straight at the left fielder. The pilot would cut his engines and then when he was right behind the left fielder, he would start them back up really loud. The left fielder had to hit the dirt and cover his head. The Australians thought this was really funny. No one ever got hurt, but it sure made baseball a little more interesting.