My father, James L. "Larry" Staub, was born 22 September 1923 in Marshall, IL, enlisted in the USN in August 1943. His first training was at Great Lakes, IL, then at Farragut, ID, and finally at Amphibious Training Base, Little Creek, VA where he graduated on 30 April 1944. . He was assigned to an LSM (Landing Ship Medium) 137 as a Machinist Mate and was the "Oil King" and operated the landing door during the ship's duty in the South Pacific Theater of WWII. His ship had many harrowing experiences as they moved northwest from Pearl Harbor supporting island invasions. Near the end of the war, his ship came under suicide attacks by the Japanese forces from the air and small boats. They assisted with the invasion of Okinawa in June 1945. After "VJ Day," In October of 1945, a typhoon blew them off course near Okinawa and the ship hit reefs damaging the engines and causing leak. LSM was grounded with no loss of crewmen. After being discharged in 1946, my dad married my mother, Ruth Brown, in Los Angeles, Calif, on 20 July 1946 and became a Los Angeles Police Department officer in 1947. About this same time he joined his local American Legion post: Department of California, Monterey Park Post 397 and became a finance officer. We had a big family and spent many summers as a family and I remember attending the California American Legion State Conventions in the early 1960's to the early 1970's in Sacramento, Fresno, and San Diego. My dad retired from the LAPD in 1977 and he and my mom moved to Hemet, CA. Near the end of his life my dad was very proud of the fact I had joined the American Legion were I worked in Forest Grove, Washington Post 2, Department of Oregon and later where my wife, Carla and I currently live in Aloha where we belong to Aloha Post 104 where we are both Chaplains. Dad died in March of 2015 at 91 years of age. He was very proud of his family, his LAPD career, his lifelong church involvement, being a Navy WWII Veteran, and his 60 years in the American Legion. His great loves were his wife, my mom, Ruth who died in 2007; and our Country. When he died he was given a military funeral at Holy Spirit Catholic Church in Hemet, and he was buried next to Ruth at Riverside National Cemetery. Every Memorial Day our Aloha Post 104 Honor Guard gives a rifle salute at a local cemetery and I remember as I fire my salute my dad and the many Veterans laid to rest, but this year, we are limited to just remembering their proud service to God and Country