Page 164 - Anthology

Now, I can’t remember a lot. I’m 92, so most of this stuff is almost a hundred years ago. I know I was a
sergeant in the Marine Corps. I don’t worry about what I don’t remember.

I was born in Scott County, Kentucky. There were eight kids in my family. We lived on a farm and I
helped out with the farm work. I remember hoeing tobacco. And I remember riding on the water tank
with my dad to water things. As best I can recall we used mules to pull the wagons. Gosh, that’s been a
hundred years ago.

I was reading the paper one day, and I started thinking it would be more fun to be a Marine, so I joined
the Marines. I just thought it would be better in the Marines. I didn’t have a job, and I was not doing
anything but hanging around. So, I thought joining the Marine Corps would give me something to do –
and it did! I walked up to the post office on Limestone and joined, I was twenty-one, so I didn’t need my
parents to sign. I took my oath of enlistment here in Lexington, Kentucky.

As I said, I worked on the farm with my daddy, so he was heartbroken when I told him I was going into the
Marines. I was more like a boy to my daddy. I worked hard on the farm. He was losing a farm hand and
a daughter to the Marines. My brothers were younger than I and so, I was his right-hand help on the
farm. But, to my mother I was just another kid out of the way. When I told my mother, she said I had to
tell daddy, but she told him at dinner that night. I think he was sad and happy. He was always telling
people that his daughter was in the Marine Corps. He was proud of me.

I worked in an office while in the Marines. I think I was working in a Post Exchange. I also worked at the
soda fountain – I remember that. But that has been a hundred years ago. I think I’m pretty smart to even
remember my name after living for nearly a hundred years. I served in Quantico, Virginia and
Washington, D.C. while in the Marines.

I wrote letters home to my mother. My dad couldn’t read. My sisters didn’t write to me. They thought of
me as a lost child for having gone into the Marines.

I heard about the end of the war by word of mouth. I was still at Quantico.

When I was discharged, I came back to Lexington and lived on old Frankfort Road. I worked as a soda
jerk for a while. I also worked at a local printing company. I later became a co-owner of the company.
The people there drank a lot. It seems that the more they drank, the smarter I got – and that’s the truth.
But that’s been a hundred years ago. Oh, and they were my cousins, that is how I got involved with them.

A lot of people wanted to hear a story about my service. I worked and went to college at the same time. I
went to Crump Business College, Lexington, Kentucky.

I am a member of the American Legion. My service helped me mature. I realized I had to grow up and
make something of my life and be independent.

The interview for my section of this book was a fun problem. I hope people enjoy my story.

My message to today’s kids would to be honest, get an education, always pay their bills, and join the
military to serve their country. I consider getting my education an important accomplishment. Education
always seemed to open a door. I continue to try to learn something today.

If I hadn’t been a Marine; I would not be here; Thomson-Hood Veterans Center.