Crossing the Line

My last living grandparent, my mom’s dad, died last Wednesday. He was 91 and lived a great life, and died very peacefully and quickly. He was a really neat person. I spent almost every Sunday night of my life with him–first going to my grandparents’ house for pizza, and then later when he was in assisted living, going out to dinner with him and my parents and Adam.

He was incredibly proud of serving in the Navy during WWII. Over the weekend, my mom discovered a real treasure. She showed me this little card that she said he always carried in his wallet, but she couldn’t read it because the type was so small. I ended up using a magnifying glass and after a little searching, discovered that it was his card from his line-crossing ceremony. We scanned and blew it up so you can sort of read it. I’m obsessed with it!

Basically, a line-crossing ceremony is an organized hazing to initiate new servicemen–it’s performed the first time they cross the Equator. Uninitiated are called “Pollywogs” and initiated are called “Shellbacks." This short article has a lot of really cool pictures and summarizes the ceremony pretty well! They still take place to this day and if you search for Crossing the line and navy, you’ll see some newer pictures. Here are some pics from WWII.