I’ve solved the mystery of something my grandpa wrote in a letter on January 24, 1943.

He wrote, “I bought the official song of our station for you. I hope you’ll like it. Try not to lose it as it would be nice to save for a souvenir. I don’t know exactly when I’ll get it mailed, but I’ll try and get it off real soon.”

I was confused. There wasn’t anything in the letter. I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary in the subsequent letters.

In an envelope dated February 3, 1943, I found a Navy patch and ribbon enclosed.

My blog post where I first wrote about these was pretty funny. I wrote:

“In the last letter I posted from my grandpa on January 24, 1943, he wrote something that I was sure I’d mistyped. Tonight, as I was sorting the next month of letters, I found one that felt different than the rest. I opened it and found this! I’m sure these must be what my grandpa had referenced. Although “song” is not at all what I would call these. What word, that could be mistaken for “song” could also be used to describe the patch above?”

Ok, so I can officially tell you that Grandpa was NOT referring to the patches. Obviously. When I randomly reread those posts today I remembered the stack of sheet music I’d been given after my Aunt Dolly passed away, a year and a half ago. The stack of music included music from Aunt Dolly (Grandma DeLores’ youngest daughter) and apparently also from Grandma.

Look what I found!

This is definitely a song. I didn’t mistype. Who knew the U.S. Naval Training Station in Farragut, Idaho had their own song?

There’s a note on the back from my Grandpa that says, “I hope you can learn Farragut’s song. Love, Joe.” I don’t know if Grandma ever learned it, I don’t remember her being a particularly confident pianist. But, as a pianist myself, it almost feels like a direct request from Grandpa himself. Maybe I’ll learn it for him.

I have to call out the tempo markings, which say, “In ‘Farragut time:’ marching ‘Full speed ahead!'” (dotted quarter note = 120).

UP, FARRAGUT!
Your mountains and pines are signs of the times (pointing)
UP, FARRAGUT!
The men of the fleet are all on their feet hitting hard

In blizzards or heat,
in dust or sleet
There’s work to be done
‘ere Victory’s won.

By Lake Pend d’O-reille
we’ll call it a day
when it’s
UP, FARRAGUT!

We honor the man
whose name we’re proud to claim
Into the battle
he went with one intent to win or die

DAMN THE TORPEDOES!
FULL SPEED AHEAD!

UP, FARRAGUT!
Your mountains and pines are signs of the times (pointing)
UP, FARRAGUT!
The men of the fleet are all on their feet hitting hard

In blizzards or heat,
in dust or sleet
There’s work to be done
‘ere Victory’s won.

By Lake Pend d’O-reille
we’ll call it a day
when it’s
UP, FARRAGUT!