The Exquisite Corpse of Francis J. Piatek Sr.

It is one of the deep stories of my growing up, that my father was a U.S. Navy Seabee on the island of Okinawa during World War II. He was away for most of the first year of my life. He was in charge of the mail for a sector of the island and had his own post office/quonset hut. In his spare time, he made things, one of which was a scrapbook about the battle there with a glorious handmade cover with Okinawa-Shima-Ryukus hand lettered across the top and a red enamel rising sun at the bottom. Growing up I would look at this book over and over.—Francis J. Piatek Jr.