Page 138 - Stand Down Vietnam

This is a story of my life experiences and my editorial
of the events as best I can recall.

I consider myself blessed in that I was given
opportunities enabling my escape from poverty, the
attainment of a solid education and the ability to
serve. I’m fortunate in that the army helped pave the
way for college.

I'm the youngest of three and was reminded often that
I’m the baby of the family. I had a typical childhood;
my friends and I played “cowboys and Indians”, tossed a
baseball around and played “King of the mountain” at
the local corncob pile. Just typical things, I had a
commonplace childhood, for children growing up in a
small rural town.

My mother and father picked cotton by hand during the
cotton-picking season. My mother worked in a laundry
and my dad worked in a stave mill.

I was born on a hot summer day in September 1948, in a
small southern town of fewer than two thousand people.
It was a segregated, God-fearing community. My circle
of influence consisted of my mother, father, maternal
grandparents, sister, brother, paternal uncle, aunt,
cousins and one close friend.

By the time I was ten, we had moved to Iowa. I guess
you could say I was a typical teenager. I listened to
just about every kind of music. Country music was
probably my favorite. I also listened to some of the
rock and roll stuff. The Beatles were the most popular
thing going and I liked the Rolling Stones and some of
the other rock bands of the time.