John Durward Lane (1) - The Fighting Seabee

John Durward was the second son of John and Ada Lane.  He was born December 6, 1915 at Fairy.  Yes friends, there is a town in Texas called Fairy.  I’ve been there many times.  He married Estaleta (sp?) Gieseke on September 1, 1937.   They had two children Johnny (now known as John) and Janet.  In recent years I’ve gotten reacquainted with them.   John lives between Hico and Stephenville.  Janet lives in Denison.   To my great surprise, I learned that her son Jeff Holland served a long period of time as a missionary in Togo, West Africa.   By coincidence the church I was working with at the time was involved in the support of his fellow co-workers.

Durward was an accomplished metal worker.   He lived at Stephenville, Dublin and in Arlington.   He served his country in the Seabees and was engaged in heavy combat in the well-known World War II battles of Tarawa, Guadalcanal and Saipan.   John Wayne made the Seabees famous in the movie, The Fighting Seabees. The Seabees were supposed to be a construction corps but the did more than grade roads and build things.  He once told a story about the Marines landing on Guadalcanal, which attracted international press attention.   The Marines posted a sign that read, “The Marines landed first on Guadalcanal.”    A few days later, another sign appeared beneath it.  It read, “On roads built two weeks before by the Seabees.”  

Durward was the object of much concern during the war.   We knew that he was in harm’s way.   The radio and newspapers were subject to censorship, but enough of the truth filtered through to let you know that things were pretty tough in the South Pacific. 

Durward often sent us V-Mail letters.  Considering the rapid pace of today’s life, I’m amazed that he found time to write all his brothers and sisters.  We got mail from him pretty regularly and we always looked forward to hearing from him.   The V-mail letters were photocopies of the originals.  They were actually films developed from a negative.   Copy machines were still a long way off.  The heading was always “Somewhere in the South Pacific.”  The letters were subject to censorship, but the tone let you know that he was not picking coconuts and romping on the beach.   Of course I was a young boy and I would beg my mother to ask him stupid questions like “Have you heard. . .?”  And then I would name some song they were playing on the radio in the states.