William McDaniel

Faces of the Tsunami William McDaniel

I was sitting in a Rotary meeting on 5 Jan 2005 when my phone rang, immediately costing me a few dollars fine paid to Rotary charitable causes. I answered.

My wife was on the phone. She had just received a phone call from the #2 Admiral for the Navy in Hawaii. They were requesting that I immediately come there and work with them on the tsunami relief effort we had undertaken as a Nation a few days before.

She said she had assured the Admiral that I would certainly be happy to accept this request. I asked her how she knew that with certainty? She laughed and pointed out to me that of all the jobs I had undertaken since retiring from the Navy, none had been for the love of the job; they were just another way to make some money. She felt that finally I might have found an opportunity that I could undertake with enthusiasm. The only tasks I had undertaken since retiring with great delight and enthusiasm were hiking the Appalachian Trail and doing a reality show, "The Mole."

She was right, of course. She usually is. I would have paid them for the honor of again working for the Navy, and for helping in something this big, this worthwhile.