Elmer Harper Graver joined the USS Midway as an original member of the crew in 1945. His daughter, Lynn, joined the volunteer family of the USS Midway Museum in 2021. Even though more than 75 years separated the Gravers tours of duty on Midway, the ship has been part of Lynn’s life since she was a kid.
“The Midway has been in my life, my entire life,” said Lynn, who has amassed more than 1,100 volunteer hours as a member of the museum’s safety team. “I heard stories about the Midway from my dad as a child, probably since I was five years old.”
Lynn’s father was electricians mate during his nearly four years in the Navy during and immediately after World War II. He served on Midway as a “plankowner” until his discharge in 1946. While his time on Midway was measured only in months, it was one of his most memorable periods during his naval service.
“He loved to tell his war stories sitting around the kitchen table,” said Lynn, who also volunteers for Midway’s outreach team. “He told me about the ice cutters making a path for the Midway so it didn’t get stuck in the ice. He also mentioned how cold it was on the flight deck and hearing the planes taking off. He was very proud of his plank owner certificate.”
Although Midway was a vivid portion of Lynn’s upbringing through tales told by her dad, she ultimately crossed paths with the warship decades later on the other side of the world.
“After college, I taught special education in Virginia,” said Lynn, who was born and raised in Philadelphia. “I then had an opportunity to teach school for the Department of Defense in Sagamihara, Japan. I actually taught in Japan while the Midway was homeported in Yokosuka.”
Following her teaching stint in Japan, she returned to the United States in the early 1990s and worked in educational sales and marketing, and taught English as a second language for San Diego Community College. She’s lived in Coronado since returning from overseas.
A little more than 10 years after she returned to the states, Midway was towed into San Diego Bay to become a museum. Once again, she was connected with the ship she had known about for decades. After retiring in 2020, her interest in being closer to Midway began to grow.
“It is now a museum that I see every day on my walks,” remembered Lynn. “After I retired, I was looking for something new and different to do. Volunteering on the Midway was the answer.”
She visited Midway’s library shortly after volunteering to see what records they may have had on her dad in their files. Research done by the library staff provided her more specific information about her dad’s time on Midway, as well as other assignments he had while in the Navy.
As a Midway volunteer, Lynn has developed an even stronger connection to her dad.
“I feel very connected to my father when I’m volunteering on the Midway,” said Lynn. “I think about what it must have been like for him to have been in the Arctic during Operation Frostbite. I do feel that I have a strong emotional connection to the Midway.”
Lynn relishes being able to walk the decks of the ship that her dad once did more than 80 years ago. She also thoroughly enjoys the satisfaction she gets from being part of a passionate team of volunteers.
“I love the comradery with fellow volunteers, the friendships that I have formed and meeting guests from all over this country and world,” said Lynn. “I also enjoy learning something new about the ship or listening to fellow volunteer’s stories about serving our country.”
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