The aroma of pork chops, grits, and broccoli; a famous Laitamaki family dinner, filled the chamber of my nostrils. My mother was one of the best cooks in town. Everyone had drooled over her delectable meals; my father being the biggest fan of them all. My dad, James and my mother Linda were madly in love, and it was blatantly obvious. Our dinner conversations consisted of talk about the news and our favorite T.V. shows. Tonights conversation was consumed by the imminent danger of the Korean War. It had just recently begun and many men were being asked to enlist overseas. My mother had disregarded the news, but as I looked over at my father, he was fiddling with his food. He shoved his grits around his plate as if he was deep in thought. Alarmed, I continued to eat, but the image of my father deep in thought haunted me later as I went to bed. I had always been a deep-thinker. I was the type of person to over-think everything. Sometimes, this worked as a gift, while other times it worked as a curse. Tonight, I knew I would be up for much longer, so I picked up my journal.
5/19/1950

Today has been a nice day. I hung out with Susan. I think I’ve began to develop a crush on her. I know we have been long time friends but now I see much more in her. She has beautiful blonde flowing hair, deep ocean blue eyes, and the sweet appearance she has in her beautiful pink hat and long green dress. Susan is beautiful and I really hope I can hang out with her tomorrow. My dad’s emotions tonight were really strange. I hope everything is ok.



After brushing my teeth, washing my hair and getting changed into my pajamas, I hopped in bed. Slowly, I dozed off into a deep sleep.


The next morning I awoke to an abrupt noise. It sounded as if something had shattered into a million tiny pieces. I rolled over in bed, placed my pillow over my head, and fell back into a light sleep. After what seemed like only a few seconds, I was awakened once again to the sound of my name. “Matt! Matt! MATT,” I heard my dad repeating. As I stumbled downstairs, I saw my family gathered around the kitchen table. Mary and James sat playing with their food. Mary’s hands swam in her Cheerios and James ripped his waffles into petite pieces. I sat down at my normal seat utterly confused. Millions of thoughts began to run through my mind; could this be about my dads expression last night? Could we be taking a vacation? Was this good or bad? My mother sat expressionless tapping her fingers on the wooden table, waiting for my dad to make his announcement. She needed to get baking for the church dinner later today; irritated by the delay.



My father articulated , “As you are all likely aware about the war happening overseas, I have been given no choice, but to fight in the war. I will be departing tomorrow. I know this is very short notice, but this was just mentioned to be yesterday at work.”


I sat there aggravated. I wasn’t exactly sure why I as mad, but I couldn’t imagine my dad leaving. I was very close with my dad. Everyday we were outside playing ball, no matter what the weather or where we were. We never missed a day.


“James, are you really sure this is necessary? Is there anything you can do in order to stay here,” my mom interrogated.


“At this point there is nothing that I can do. I was chosen from a lottery and I am required to go! I know this is going to create a much different way of life around the house, but I will return soon. We can write to each other. Also, I have been told that after two months I can come home and visit.”



“If this is something that you need to do, I think that you have to go. We will have to adjust to the change and work through anything bad that might go on,” my mother responded.



After hearing what I had just heard, I stormed off, towards my room. I was livid! My Dad was leaving my family! Tomorrow! I couldn’t believe this. I didn’t want to believe this. Like a meteor diving towards Earth, I dove straight into my bed, took out my journal, and began to write. Writing was the only thing that ever made me calm.

5/20/1950

The news my Dad just shared with the family is heart breaking. I can’t decipher the words he just shared. It is hard to imagine what life will be like with out my dad around. How was my mother going to cope with this? What about Mary and James? They are only little kids. I can’t believe he would ever do this to us. It’s not fair! I just don’t know what to do. I’m afraid of loosing my father.




As I placed my journal back on my shelf, I heard a quiet yet starddling knock. Apprehensive at first, I whispered “Come in.” Through the old mahogany door, came my father. At this point I didn’t want to speak with him. I decided that eventually we would have to resolve this tension between us.



“I know you are very upset, but you need to understand I need to do this. Our country is relying on our troops and they need extra help. I have extensive military training and am prepared for this task. While I’m gone, I need you to take over the role as a father figure. For your younger sibling I want you to look over them; but I also need you to take care of your mother. You are a brilliant, caring, young man, and I have faith in you!”



The words my father just recited to me took a small moment to sink in. I knew that I needed to forgive him. He was helping our country and patriotism was always very important to our family.


“Ok, Dad I’ll try to. Just be careful out there! I know you’re strong. Good luck!”


The next day consisted of packing with my father and preparing for our goodbyes. My Dad would be leaving before dawn and we would not have a chance to say goodbye. After dinner we sat around the table. We said our goodbyes. We exchanged hugs and talked about our favorite memories together (mine was our trip to the Grand Canyon). Tears were streaming down everyones faces. Knowing we were having to leave my dad was heart wrenching but as a family we had faith that we would get through it together. As I dragged myself through our house to my room, my father followed.


“Remember what I told you! Please take care of your younger siblings and Mother.” My dad kissed me on my head and went back into the kitchen.

6/3/1950

Life with my father overseas, has been a lot easier then I would have thought. My mom is staying strong along with Mary and James. Susan and I are official now. That has been keeping my mind sane now. I’m going to be hanging out with Susan later and I really can’t wait. I miss my dad and our daily ball playing, but now I’ve been playing ball with James. He loves it and is becoming pretty good. I’m hoping to receive a letter from my Dad soon. It’s been exactly 13 days and we should be receiving a letter soon!

Slowly, I got up groaning obnoxiously and loudly. I stumbled towards the door. “Why is everyone in my family so lazy?” I wondered. I had no idea what to expect on the other side of the door. When I opened the door I saw the mailman, Joe, who had been a crony of our family. He had been devastated when my father left. They had been good friends since a young age; growing up right down the road from each other.


“Here you go Matt. This is a very important letter from overseas in Korea. It must be from your dad,” exclaimed the mailman.



“Thanks Mr. Joe,” I excitedly responded!



I was beyond excited to receive a letter from my father. I couldn’t wait for my mom and siblings to hear the amazing news.



“Mom, Mary, James, there’s a letter from Dad. Come quick!”



Within a short amount of time, my family was gathered around the wooden kitchen table. Little Mary stood on the chair eager to hear from her father. Even though she didn’t really understand what was happening and where he was, she really did miss him and the letter would hopefully make her happier. James played with his little trinkets on the table. As I ripped open the envelope and unfolded the paper, my body froze. I felt as if time had stopped after reading the first line of the letter. I knew then it was not my Dad who had sent the letter. This was a formal notification of his death. Millions of thoughts ran through my mind, but the one thing I knew I had to do was stay strong. I needed to take care of my mother and younger siblings. I knew that was what my dad would have wanted me to do.

“ I am sorry to inform you that Officer David Laitamaki has passed away. Passed Away. Passed away!” My mother repeated.


The words my father had said to me before he left were stuck in my mind. We always knew there was a good chance he would not have made it home, but I prayed every night for his safe return. My father was an incredibly strong, smart man, someone I had always looked up to, and I thought he would make it out alive. My younger brother and sister were just ankle—biters1. Mary was only five and James was about to turn seven. My Mom stood there in shock, tears streaming down her face as she stood there silently bawling. I walked over to her and held her in my arms for what seemed like a lifetime, until finally she calmed.


“Don’t worry mom. Everything will be ok. Cool it2.” I repeated, knowing in my heart this wasn’t going to be easy. We would lament the loss of my father for a while. The posthumous would be difficult, but I was determined to make my Mom move forward and be happy again.


Everything from that point forward was a blur. My Mom sent off to the T.V room. I Love Lucy was about to start and I knew that was one of her favorite pass times. Hopefully, this would keep her busy for the time being. I went into autopilot mode. First, I worked to make the kitchen pristine. A dirty house always stressed my mother out. As of now, we needed nothing but to make her feel like she could transcend this nightmare.


6/6/1950

As of now, caring for my mother and siblings is my number one priority, with my dad’s absence. I feel as if I have grown so much as a person and I am now able to deal with any trouble that comes my way. I have grown so much in such a little amount of time. I will put in all of my efforts to keep my mother and siblings in a positive state of mind! My mother is doing much better. She has enrolled in sewing classes and has became very good at it. My younger siblings are starting to understand better what happened and how to deal with our father not being around. Overall, we have come together as a family to get through these dispicable times. At the end of the day, family is what matter most!