CNJ+ January 2025

ANTIQUES & COLLECTIBLES BUYERS ESTATE LIQUIDATORS I Remember Dad: MIRACLE AT HICKAM AIR FIELD By Richard Mabey Jr.

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What draws us to the place we call home? Is there some inner calling, deep within the core of our heart cen ters, that draws us to a specific, pin point place on the planet? My peo ple were drawn to the land known as Peace Valley, by the Native Americans. They came to this place long before the Revolutionary War, in the early 1600’s. They sought the comfort of the foot hills of Hook Mountain. The flowing waters of the Passaic and Pompton Rivers. This land, this parcel of land,

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• Paintings, Prints, Bronzes • Estate Jewelry • Coin & Stamp Collections • Judaica • Costume Jewelry WE PAY CASH FOR SINGLE ITEMS TO ENTIRE ESTATES! • Watches, Clocks, Pocket Watches • Chinese & Japanese Artwork & Porcelain • Sports Collectibles • Comic Books • Old Toys • Records • Cameras • Lamps • Cameras • Lamps • Military Collections There was a kind of caustic tone in the lieutenant’s voice. But it was ever-so-slightly filled with a tinge of brotherhood. A brotherhood for the cause to win the war. “Private, how would you like to work on the planes? Fix them up?” My father simply replied, “I’d like that, sir.” The lieutenant then looked to his sergeant. “Ser geant have this private begin mechanic’s training, tomorrow morning.” “Yes, sir,” the sergeant replied. The lieutenant looked my dad in the eye. Then pointed to a nearby airplane hangar. “Mabey, report to the hangar tomorrow morning, o seven hundred hour, right after breakfast.” “Yes, sir,” Dad replied. “Sergeant, let’s go,” the lieutenant commanded to his jeep driver. My father’s life was about to change. He was about to begin a new venture, in his long-stay at Hickam Air Field. My dad told me that story a few dozen times. Life is so funny at times. Miracles do happen. I doubt if that lieutenant had any idea why he told his ser geant to drive over to my dad that fateful mid-af ternoon. I think the good Lord had something to do with it. Dad driving his fuel tank-truck at Hickam Air Field in Hawaii. MOVING or DOWNSIZING? CALL US!! WE BUY VINTAGE LIQUOR 201-880-5455 CELL 917-887-6465 • Sterling Flatware Sets TOP $ ANTIQUE STERLING for Military Collections Wanted Swords, Knives, Helmets, Etc. “Yes sir,” the sergeant replied. The story goes that my dad climbed down from atop the fuel truck and saluted his sergeant and his lieutenant.

of roughly seven square miles, was once known as Beavertown, before being named after the great president, Abraham Lincoln. My father came into this world in the home that his father had built at the end of Mabey Lane. Dad grew up among the pine, the elm, the oak, and the maple. He worked with his father at the family ice house, located along the old Morris Canal, just due east of Incline Plane Ten East. But now my beloved father was in a strange place, halfway across the globe, living on an airfield in Hawaii. It is the Summer of 1943. Practically the entire world is at war. It’s been a full year now, that Dad has been in the U. S. Army Air Corps. And as my Grandma Mabey prayed for her two sons, Edward and Richard, to be protected by the good Lord’s grace; Dad was climbing the ladders at tached to long fuel tank-trucks, to fuel up the hun dreds and hundreds of military planes that filled Hickam Air Field. There comes a moment in time. A precious mo ment, it is. A lieutenant rode across Hickam Air field. He watched this young private, climb the ladder to reach the top of the fuel truck. This lieu tenant was watching my dad, working quickly and efficiently, almost with a cadence of overflowing enthusiasm that drew the attention of this young lieutenant. The lieutenant asked his sergeant, who was driv ing the jeep, if he knew who this young, enthusi astic, hard-working private was. The sergeant sim ply answered the lieutenant, saying, “his name is Mabey.” “Sergeant drive over to Mabey,” the lieutenant or dered.

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32 CNJ+ | FORMERLY THE MILLSTONE TIMES Richard Mabey Jr. is a freelance writer. He can be reached at richardmabeyjr@hotmail.com. Please put on the subject line: “I Remember Dad.” WILL TRAVEL ENTIRE TRI-STATE AREA 346 PALISADE AVE, BOGOTA WE BUY ANYTHING OLD. ONE PIECE OR HOUSE FULL. WILL TRAVEL. ANTIQUE & ESTATE BUYERS FREE ESTIMATES

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