LIKE A BIRD'S SONG

"Haul out the bassinet, we've got another little ship' on the horizon!" That was Susan's way of telling her sailor husband that he was soon to be a father for the second time. "Hey, Mate! That's a good Gal! Well, when did you get wind of that news?", said Wally Balser over the phone from Hawaii, where he was stationed temporarily. "I just found out yesterday!" she shouted over the poor connections afforded by the telephones of that day. "Well, as far as I'm concerned this is going to be the greatest day this whole year - December 6, 1941. When she's born, that will be the greatest day next year." They expressed their love and said their good-byes.

The next day brought that dreadful announcement that will "live in infamy" that Pearl Harbor had been bombed. It was a full week before she learned that Wally had, indeed, been on one of the battleships that had been bombed. But somehow he had survived and was being flown back to the states because of his injuries. Wally was not able to join his beloved navy for the rest of the war, for he had been partially blinded by the fierce fires aboard his ship. But Susan and his daughter - yes, he had it right - his daughter. Sarah, and their older son, Melvin, had learned to live happily with his visual handicap. He was not totally blind and was able to make a contribution to his navy disability income by making small bird houses that were eagerly bought up by all who saw them. They were quite unique, for they were made in the style of houses found in Key West, with a suggestion of the decorations known as "gingerbread". When the G.I. Bill was offered after the war, Wally took this opportunity to go to business school. He used the money he had been able to save from his bird houses to form a small family business.

The most unusual fact in this whole story is that, after the war he took his family back to Hawaii and moved his business enterprise to a site very close to the area where his ship had been bombed. He met a young man who was of a family of Japanese who were on the island when it was bombed and who had been "secured" in a special camp for the duration of the war. It so happened that this young man had a natural talent for wood carving and also possessed a love and appreciation for birds of all kinds and a knowledge of their life and looks through extensive observation and reading. His bird carvings were a natural addition to Wally's bird houses.

Wally and "K", so named by his friends

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