In Memory of My Father
CTR1 James M. Russell, USN (ret.)
May 26, 1945-December 22, 2022

He became a sailor
Before I had seen
My first year of life,
A boy of seventeen
Quickly grown
To manhood,
Shouldering
The responsibilities
Of a wife and child,
And of a nation
Soon on the brink
Of nuclear war.
His duties
Were secretive,
The many awards
And recognition
Downplayed
Because
The reasons for them
Could not be
Disclosed.
For twenty years
He listened
To enemy static
At home and abroad,
Spending his youth
In windowless buildings
Ashore
Or special "spook huts"
Aboard ship,
Keeping us safe
By knowing what
To listen for.
To this day
My father
Keeps his secrets
And waves away
His many honors,
Insisting,
Without false modesty,
That he was just doing his job.
Now he drives a truck
And looks forward
To a second retirement;
But I would have the world know
That in their midst
Is a quiet hero
Who once stood
Between them
And annihilation,
And that's the man
My brothers and I
Call Dad.

c. 2008