A Life He Never Knew

Lane DeGregory: He didn't open the first email. He thought it was spam, some memorabilia about World War II. The subject line said: "USCG in Normandy."

Kirk Vail, 60, is a plumber, like his dad. He knew his dad had been stationed at St. Petersburg's Coast Guard station, and that he had turned 26 the day his cutter joined the D-day invasion — 70 years ago today.

But that was about it.

The second email arrived two days later, on March 11. This one had an attachment, "Picture taken in 1944." Kirk clicked open a black and white photo of a young man in a sailor shirt with dark, wavy hair, intense eyes and a Clark Gable moustache. Kirk had never seen the picture, but right away he recognized his dad.

"It was crazy, seeing an image of him from his time at war, which I knew nothing about," said Kirk. "This old Frenchman had kept my dad's photo framed on his wall for 70 years."

With the help of the Frenchman and his friend, and after three months of research, Kirk has learned about a life he never knew his dad had — about an almost forgotten fleet of little wooden boats with climbing nets and blood-soaked hulls. He figured out why his dad sang French folk songs.

And why he never ate crabs.