Last Sunday morning about 1:30 my great Uncle Mac passed away. He was one week away from his 95th birthday.
I wasn’t that close to him. To say that we belonged to different generations would be an understatement. He was 55 the year I was born. I saw him at the family Christmas party, and at his (infrequent) birthday parties. The generation gap was part of it, but not all. For one thing Uncle Mac was deaf. Stone deaf. Carrying a conversation with him required a lot of patience and hand gestures. And paper and pen if handy. For another he was uncomfortable around people.
Uncle Mac was widely known in the family to be brilliant. He graduated from George Mason and MIT, and wrote his dissertation on acoustical phenomenon that I can barely pronounce, much less understand. But, like a lot of brilliant people Uncle Mac had his mental demons. He was slightly schizophrenic, and dealing with people could be difficult for him. He was happiest ensconced in his little brick house working on his genealogy entries on an aging PC. When my two little ones were born Uncle Mac made sure to get their info to add to his database. He was forever fascinated with where ‘we’ came from, who in town was related, and to whom. Unfortunately he wasn’t able to live out his time happy in his own home as he had wished, but he did live his life as he wanted.
The reason I wanted to do this blog entry was to honor the Uncle Mac I never knew. My great Uncle served in the Navy in World War Two. He was the Commanding Officer of the US Navy Ship Jacona.
The Jacona was a US Ship built as a bulk carrier that was modified in Hampton Roads as a floating power plant. The ‘guts’ of the ship were removed and generators, power regulating equipment and fuel tanks were installed. After modification she had a generating capacity of 2oK Kilowatts, and she saw action in the Pacific theater of the war, finally ending the conflict by providing power to the devastated Japanese city of Nagasaki. The Jacona was decommissioned in 1971 and transferred to the Phillipine Government.
What struck me when reading about my Great Uncle’s service in the war was how important he was to the working of the Jacona, and by extension how he helped provide power to the citizens of Nagasaki after the end of the conflict. I had no idea, and no one in the family really talked about their service. My Grandfather served in the Army and helper repatriate US POW’s, and my other great Uncle, Uncle Frank served with distinction in the Navy in the Pacific. The WWII generation may truly be the greatest generation, and by my posting this online it’s my hope that my Uncle Mac’s service may be remembered for as long as the internet holds it’s bits and bytes together.
RIP Uncle Mac.
Marion Austin Mac Cross, Jr., 94, died January 23, 2011.A native of Suffolk he was a son of the late Evelyn H. and Marion Austin Cross, Sr. and was predeceased by a sister Mary Evelyn Cross Hayes and a brother Joseph Milton Cross. Mac served in the Navy in World War II. He was retired as President of Nansemond Grocery Co.
Mac received degrees from both MIT and Randolph-Macon College. In 1938 he worked the Richmond District for VEPCO in System Engineering Department and Commercial Engineering. March 1, 1942 he was assigned Plant Shops Superintendent Department in Portsmouth. In December 1942 he transferred to the Norfolk Naval Operating Station and in 1943 to the Berkley Ship Yard Group. In December 1944 Mac was transferred to Pearl Harbor as Naval Yard Electrical Ship Superintendent. Pearl Harbor was his second tour as commanding officer of a Floating Power Plant the JACONA. In 1946 he returned to Suffolk serving as Secretary and Vice-President and later President of Nansemond Grocery Co. Mac was a former Rotarian and a life long member of Main Street United Methodist Church.
Survivors include a sister, Emily Cross Jones of St. Augustine, FL and two brothers J. Frank Cross of Suffolk and Wilbur Rawles Cross of Winston-Salem, NC. Several nieces and nephews.
A memorial service will be conducted Thursday at 2:00 PM at the graveside in Cedar Hill Cemetery by the Rev. Robert J. Parks. Memorial Donations may be made to Main Street United Methodist Church 202 N. Main St., Suffolk, VA 23434. Condolences may be registered at www.rwbaker.com.