Sherwin Goodman, 85, of Beachwood, recalls his service in the
Pacific during World War II: A World at War  Email the author |
Follow on Twitter on July 11, 2009 at 8:35 PM, updated July 23,
2009 at 12:49 PM Sherwin Goodman always said a prayer and
carried a prayer book when he flew combat missions aboard a Navy
torpedo bomber in World War II. "There are no ordinary lives,"
Ken Burns said of those who served in a global cataclysm so
momentous that the filmmaker entitled his 2007 documentary
simply "The War."   Some took their stories with them.  But not
this one.  Sherwin Goodman celebrated his 17th birthday on a
date destined to "live in infamy," as President Franklin
Roosevelt said.  Dec. 7, 1941, was the day the Japanese attacked
Pearl Harbor, irrevocably changing the lives of Goodman and
millions of Americans as the nation was suddenly thrust into
World War II.  The Charleston, W.Va., native wound up as a
gunner in the turret of a Navy torpedo bomber.  Sherwin Goodman,
now 85, as a Navy gunner. Facing back