ON OCT. 7, another of the vanishing "Greatest Generation" passed from this Earth, leaving a hole in my heart.

He began his service at 17 in 1937 in the Navy. He served for a time in the Atlantic, eventually ending up on the USS Enterprise.

He was assigned to ballast control on the Enterprise. It was his job to turn the valves that moved the water in the bottom of the ship to keep it steady so the pilots could land and take off in battle.

He eventually was transferred to the engine room to work on the boilers. A Japanese bomb came down one smokestack and blew up part of the engine room. Not only was he trapped with his shipmates for three days, but the concussion left him deaf in one ear.

Maybe it was fate that had all the carriers out to sea when Pearl Harbor was attacked. Whatever the reason, he survived. He also survived service on a destroyer escort. There was a problem with the ship's engine, because every time the sailors dropped a depth charge, the engine stopped. It was his job to fix it, and he did.

He always said his one regret was that he wasn't able to go home before the war broke out to see his oldest brother. That brother died at St. Lô after the Normandy invasion.

He married my mother in 1958. I was 10. He was her hero and became mine. I never tired of his stories, and I will miss them. He was the most unselfish man I knew. He loved his three girls, his son, and mostly my mother. He took good care of us.

He was always modest about his service. Every Veterans Day I would call and thank him for it. He would always say, "Oh, we were just doing what we had to do."

At his funeral, my son, who is now in the Navy, saluted his grandfather for the final time. It brought things full circle. Through my tears, I heard the young man say: "On behalf of the president of the United States and a grateful nation " as he gave the flag from Daddy's coffin to my sister.

Daddy is now with the love of his life, my mother. He has joined the others who served and went before him. I hope he knew how much I loved him and appreciated all he did for me.

So on this Veterans Day, I am able to begin to repair that hole in my heart by saying thank you, Daddy, for your service to your country in its time of great peril. And thank you for choosing to be my dad.

Bonnie Dawson lives in Spotsylvania County.