Page 140 - Anthology

I was home on leave in Philadelphia when the war ended. I heard the announcement on the radio. We
had heard that something big was going to happen, but we did not know about the bombs. I know a lot of
private people were killed, but the Japanese leaders were not surrendering until we dropped those
bombs. It was time to get it over.

With the war winding down after the bombings; I was transferred to Hart Island, New York. I spent a year
on Hart Island before being discharged on January 5, 1946. My last day on active duty; I was on guard
duty on City Island, New York. When my duty was finished, I went to my room, gathered my things and
went around shaking hands with my friends. I told them that my time in the Marine Corps was over. I told
my Lieutenant I was ready to go home. I returned to Bernice, Pennsylvania.

My daughter was married and had a baby boy. Her husband got a job in Kentucky, and so that’s how I
ended up here in Kentucky. I’ve lived in Kentucky since 2001.

At various times during its history, Hart Island has had a workhouse, a hospital, several prisons, a Civil
War internment camp, a reformatory and a Nike missile base. Currently it serves as the city's potter's
field and is run by the New York City Department of Correction. (Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hart_Island,_New_York)

My message to today’s youth is that war is hell. That’s all I can say. War is hell and don’t ever get into
another war. I’m ninety years old; if you kids want to get into another war, go ahead, but I’m not going.
I’d also tell them to don’t quit school. Graduate high school and go to college. I don’t care how many
years but go.

I only have a small gift to leave behind. I leave my honorable discharge; my uniform and my other
honorable papers. I could go on talking till I die and never stop telling my story. Even in my sleep, I
remember the war; I can’t keep things together, my thoughts, my life; I can’t keep it all straight – it is
fading away.