GILbert  LOW

By Liyang Chen and Chad Tang

At first glance, Chief Petty Officer Gil Low seems striking in uniform, but he is like any other World War II veteran dressed in uniform.  Like many other Americans during the era, his childhood was spent on a farm, and when World War II came, he bravely served for the United States in the Navy.  However, what sets him apart from others is his glowing patriotism for his country and his seemingly boundless expertise in military knowledge.

As he recalled his childhood to us, he seemed nostalgic.  He shared with us his account of his experiences.  "During the Depression, we didn't have much, but we weren't really poor, either," he stated.

He lived on a farm four miles away from the school he attended.  He recalled that it took an hour to walk there.  But the walk earned him a good education.  He liked to spell and went on to win first place in a state-wide spelling bee.  Living on a farm, he worked hard when he was young, made his own games and toys, and grew his own vegetables.  "Nobody had anything," he recalled.  "There were lots of work projects that people did including WPA jobs that paid one dollar per day.  Money was definitely worth more back then.  Here, teenage boys were being sent into the service, there people stood in line at soup kitchens.  Overall, it was a good life.  Everybody helped everybody else.  The kids took care of grandmas and grandpas." 

"Kids now have a different life," Mr. Low further noted.  "They have different music, games, and life.  You can't say one generation is better than the other."

Jumping ahead in time, he then described to us an account of his life during the war years.  Young boys started to sign up for the draft when they were of age.  It was mandatory to sign up.  Most people signed up and some tried to go to Canada and England to serve in their military forces.  But in December 1941, when Pearl harbor was bombed, Gil remembered that everybody went to war with no hesitation.  Young men everywhere volunteered.  People who couldn't go into service went to factories to work.  Women participated in the war, too.  Gil called everyone who fought bravely in the war a hero, and we're sure he himself is a hero as well.  Unlike Vietnam and Korea, which many opposed, World War II was a popular war.

As a young boy, Gil Low's dream was to join the Navy.  When he became a young man and able to serve, he eagerly joined.  For the first several weeks, he had to endure boot camp.  Instead of working with submarines, he chose to go into the field of aviation.  He worked on an aircraft carrier called the Hornet.  He stayed in the Navy for a total of thirty amazing years, shown by seven gold strips on the sleeve of his uniform.  He wasn't drafted.  He actually volunteered to serve.  "So," he says, "there is nobody to complain to but himself."

Gil Low feels that he has accomplished something in his life, and he has.  "I had a good life.  There were some battles that were good, some were bad, and others just flat out horrible.  But all of them meant something.  People today aren't patriotic.  Back then, if we saw the American flag, we would all stand and recite the Pledge of Allegiance.  That is another difference between me and young people today."

He served in the Navy for three decades so it is no coincidence that he knows so much about it.  "At first, minorities couldn't be anything.  They were, in fact, treated like dirt.  They could be nothing more than a simple worker on a ship.  Roosevelt and Truman changed things for the better.  Prejudice was then banned in the Navy.  Now, instead of a cook, baker, or steward, anybody can become anything.  It just depends on you."

One story Gil Low tells is about when his right hand was injured in an explosion.  The doctor on duty told Gil he would have to remove two fingers from his right hand, a prospect that Gil was not at all happy about.  As he mulled it over, another doctor came through sick bay and stopped to talk to him.  Turned out the man was an orthopedic surgeon, and according to him so was his father and his sister.  He told Gil he thought he could save his hand and told him how he would do it.  Gil agreed and has a right hand today to prove the surgeon was right and deserving of Low's gratitude.  Gil commented that in the rush of war often doctors had to do what was easiest just to save lives and move people on.  He sees himself fortunate that the right man came along at the right time.

From looking at his uniform we could see that he has seven gold stripes.  Those hard-earned stripes represent the number of years he served without causing any trouble.  "I was always good.  Never drank, never smoked, and never caused trouble."

Gil Low is a very accomplished man.  He bravely volunteered to serve his country in the Navy in World War II, the Korean War, and in Viet Nam.

Low's final comment about his life in uniform was, "Despite all the downfalls, life in the military turned out to be… fun."