Fat Head

About the Book

During the 1930s in coastal South Carolina, ten year old Matt Cogswell (white) and 11 year old George Wigfall (black) become inseparable pals. It is George’s father who gave him the uncomplimentary name — Fathead. The boys share many happy adventures and growing experiences until George moves away to a big city. Matt does not understand. He is disillusioned and distressed. George’s widowed mother remarries and the boy’s name is changed. A decade passes and the US is involved in WWII. The two men find themselves in the crew of the same US Navy destroyer. George recognizes Matt but the white lad, now a commissioned officer, looks down on the unrecognized enlisted steward’s mate. Seeing the way the black man dallies with white prostitutes on liberty in foreign and northern US ports further exasperates the situation. Not until the ship is attacked and badly damaged by German aircraft while escorting a convoy to Europe do the two men come to remember their past friendship.

About the Author

David G.Weaver, author of Nav Cad and The Eagle and The Osprey, is a retired Naval Aviator and school teacher. Before enlisting in the Navy, he served a three year apprenticeship as a shipfitter at the Charleston Naval Shipyard. His duties and training as a shipfitter involved helping to build several destroyer-type vessels as the US Navy expanded to meet the threat of German U-boat raiders. Although exempt from the draft, Weaver enlisted in the Navy in 1942, became a Naval Aviator flying fighter planes off carriers in the Pacific and later flew more than 20 missions in Grumman F9F Panther-jet fighters during the Korean War. He then spent 22 years as a teacher in California, but remained active in the Naval Reserve until his 60th birthday. He retired with the rank of commander in 1981, having devoted 40 plus years to the naval service. He earned a BS from the Univ. of Sou. Calif and an MS from Calif. State Univ. at Los Angeles. He now lives in Florida.