RIGHT WING RADICAL

A few weeks ago, Janet Napolitano, director of homeland security, made a comment about the danger of our young men and women coming home from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq becoming involved with right wing extremist groups. She concluded that since they were trained in warfare, they could certainly be dangerous to the progressive thought to which she has subscribed and erroneously assumes that most Americans have subscribed to also.

Her comments first enraged me but after a little thought I just decided to vomit! How in the world did our country come to this?

This directed my thoughts to my father, Ed Goddard! According to this lady’s “progressive” and “superior” thought process, my deceased father would be classified as a right-wing radical.

Edward McCoy Goddard fell to this earth just a couple of years shy of 1920 ( February 7, 1918) and his first cries as new human being echoed through the winter cold of the middle Georgia town of Reynolds, Georgia. He was the second-born to George and Lucy Goddard.

Ed quickly grew up to be a strapping young lad who enjoyed life and spent a lot of time with his parents who instilled into him a joy of the outdoors – especially hunting and fishing. His father was an expert in both of these concerns and young Ed quickly followed suit.








After high school, Big Ed (or “Foots” to his friends) attended and graduated from Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia with a Bachelors degree in Psychology and his resulting employment sent him to south Florida on business. During his time in Fort Myers, Florida, Big Ed met and quickly fell in love with Naia Gonzalez, who was a receptionist for the local newspaper. He instantly knew that he wanted to spend his life with her. Naia’s mother, Mabel, had been widowed at a young age so Naia basically grew up without a father. Because of this, Mabel was not delighted with the idea of Big Ed’s marrying her daughter and carrying her off to wedded bliss in the middle Georgia sun, but as the years progressed, Mabel became Big Ed’s most passionate supporter – in other words – she worshipped the ground he walked on!




After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Ed joined the Navy and went off to serve his country. His first son, Mac, was born a few months later and his family was with him during part of his training period. After a short while, however, Ed had to depart for the South Pacific on his ship and had to leave his family behind. During shore leave a few years later, his only daughter, Kikky, was conceived but he did not get to see her for a while. One can only imagine how much Big Ed longed to see his family, but especially his daughter, Kikky, whom he had never laid eyes upon. Imagine this young navy lieutenant’s thoughts on the evening before April 1, 1945 when he was given top secret information about the Invasion of Okinawa that was to begin the next morning.




Here was this big ‘ole country boy from Georgia with a wife, a young son and an infant daughter whom he had not seen who had just been told that as many as 85% to 90% of the brave Americans would be killed during the initial invasion of the beaches of Okinawa. Because Okinawa was only 340 miles from mainland Japan, they could expect that the Japanese would pull out all stops to block the success of this invasion. This last ditch effort of the emperor worshipers would be their most aggressive even compared to their previous efforts to stop other allied amphibious assaults. Big Ed piloted one of the landing crafts that took the marines to the island. Upon his first trip to shore, he was sure that he would not make it back alive. HE WENT ANYWAY – THIS RIGHT WING RADICAL!

Fortunately, things did not happen as expected. They landed without a shot being fired at them because the Japanese had fortified themselves in the mountains. It was a beautiful day and was truly a respite before the hell that was to follow a couple of days later and for a few months more. Between April 1st and June 23rd, it has been estimated that hundreds of thousands of people died as a result of this fighting. Two of Ed’s boyhood friends were in this assault and were killed in the fighting that followed. After the war, Ed, in his occupation as a funeral director, had the funerals for his friends. For the record: the allies (mostly U.S.) suffered over 50 thousand casualties and over 12 thousand deaths. The Japanese lost 100,000 troops and approximately one-fourth of the civilian population of Okinawa was killed as a result of this battle. The total number of deaths was somewhere between 200 to 300 thousand people.

After the atomic bombs were dropped in Japan, the Allied forces knew that no invasion of Japan would have to take place. Big Ed’s ship (the Mendocina) returned to the United States after a short while and Big Ed, the Right-Wing Radical, came back home to be with his family and friends and to get back to everyday life. I have all the letters that my father sent my mother from the war and every single one of them is signed, “all my love, all my life”! He meant what he wrote because they stayed married until my mother’s death on August 9, 1993 – 53 years! Ed died on January 9th, 1994 – of a broken heart!

During his time back in Reynolds, Ed was a pillar of the community as he went into the family business (grocery store and funeral home) with his father. He and Naia had 4 children: Mac, Kikky and after the war they were blessed with the births of George (me) in 1952 and Bruce in 1955.





Ed, the right wing radical, taught me how to hunt, fish and how to work. He told me that the world did not owe me a damn thing and that I would have to take care of myself. I never got an “allowance” but I was free to make all the money I wished bagging groceries at the family grocery store. He did not force me into the funeral business but introduced it to me – I went into pharmacy. He took me to “the country” with him when he went to work on some of the wells that he had installed for local families. Included in these families were kids who attended school with me that were not nearly as fortunate as I had been – he showed me that I should be thankful for my many blessings. He showed me how to be a friend to people! He showed me that being big and strong was a gift to me to be used as a source of protection for my loved ones and not for abuse. He showed me how to be a father and the proper use of a thundering velvet hand. He taught me how to take care of those the Lord had entrusted to me but mostly he showed me the richness of a life that is filled with laughter and the joy of being surrounded by family and friends. He showed me the value and meaning added to life by hard work. He taught me that life is a lot bigger than me – a lot bigger. He showed me what the fervent prayers of a big man can bring about. In his profession as a funeral director, he was truly a “mask for God” and instilled into me the desire to be a mask also.

I was in the second grade when my grandmother – his mother, Lucy, died! I remember vividly the scene of Big Ed, this rock of a man, sitting next to her casket and crying inconsolably for hours. I learned that day that mothers are pretty special, because I had never seen my father cry.

Because of his love for his mother, Big Ed did everything in his power so that we could have the kind of relationship with our mother the he enjoyed with his! He created the conditions needed for all of his kids to have the joy of a nurturing and loving mother

It worked! When my mother died in August of 1993, I cried inconsolably for hours also!

I do not know a thing about Janet Napolitano and have no desire to learn. She is totally clueless as far as I am concerned but of this one fact I am eternally grateful - she is not my mother!

On this Mothers’ Day in 2009, I thank the God of the Universe that He saw fit before time began to make Ed and Naia Goddard my parents. I am thankful that Ed Goddard was a Right-Wing Radical who created the family of which I was fortunate to be a part and I hope that I will always be a Right-Wing Radical also.






To my own family I would like to conclude with, “all my love, all my life”!

Happy Mothers’ Day!