http://ussbluegill.org
USS Bluegill (SS-242) WW2
In honor and loving memory of Fred Gold.
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Fredrick "Abe" Gold
First, a little background on my father. My dad died of colon cancer in 1980 at the age of 56. There are 3 children in our family - older brother Harry, younger sister Julie and myself. My mother, Gertrude Gold, is a very healthy 84, and still living in the Chicago-area.My father was very successful in the clock & gift business (importing clocks from Europe and the Far East for sale to retail stores across America) . If you ever see a clock with the brand name LINDEN - that was my dad's company. My dad loved the clock business and built a very successful company. The Linden Clock Co. bought the Seth Thomas Clock Co. in the late 1990's and the company now uses the Seth Thomas brand name instead of the Linden name (Seth Thomas name more recognizable than the Linden name). I went to work for my father in 1979 and I am still with the same company (different ownership).
My dad often told my brother and I war stories. My older brother, Harry, is still a voracious reader of books about WWII (especially Navy books).
Now for that interesting story....
As mentioned previously my dad died of colon cancer in 1980. There is an
odd connection here between my dad's health and WWII. In 1967, my dad had
surgery for what doctors thought was a growth in his intestinal area. Doctors
successfully removed the growth but couldn't figure out what they removed. It
turns out it was a piece of calcified shrapnel from WWII. Sounds hard to
believe but it was shrapnel from an injury 24 years earlier.
In 1973, my dad had surgery on the exact same spot where the shrapnel was
removed. Sadly, the news this time was not so good. Cancer had formed on the
exact spot where the shrapnel was removed. One doctor speculated that the
shrapnel might have weakened the area and possibly led to the formation of
cancer (we have a history of colon cancer in our family).
Doctors hoped (but were not sure) that they caught the cancer in time. They
did not - his cancer came back in 1976 and he died 4 years later from the
illness.
I miss my dad very much. His life was much too short. He did not live to
see his 4 grandchildren. My father enjoyed life and lived it to the fullest.
His legacy lives on.
He always spoke fondly of his days on the Bluegill. His pictures on the
website made me smile as I remembered my dad. For that I thank you.
[Contributed to the USS Bluegill Web Site by his Son,
Alan Gold]