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Post by Deleted on Sept 28, 2007 16:03:11 GMT -5
SEPTEMBER 28, 1954 6.00 AM
I WHISTLE UP TO JEANNIE MY GIRLFRIEND OF FOUR YEARS.
SHE LOOKS OUT THE WINDOW I SAY "I LOVE YOU ALWAYS" SHES CRYING. WE SAY GOOD LUCK AND GOODBYE FOR NOW.
I WALK UP TO 180ST AND THIRD AVE WERE I MEET MY FRIEND FROM JHS118 BILLY CRINO, HIS DAD DRIVES US DOWN TO 39 WHITHALL ST.IN MANHATTAN FOR INDUCTION INTO THE U.S. ARMY.
BILLY AND I DO 16 WEEKS OF INFANTRY TRAINING AND ADVANCED INFANTRY TRAINING AT FT. DIX N.J. IN THE FREEZING COLD.
WE BOTH GET SHIPPED TO PANAMA.
BILLY WENT TO EASY COMPANY AN INFANTRY COMPANY.
I GO INTO 'H' HEAVY WEAPONS INFANTRY COMPANY
CONSISTING OF A 30 CAL. WATER COOLED MACHINE GUN PLATOON, AN 81 MM MORTAR PLATOON, AND A 105
RECOILESS RIFLE PLATOON.
IN THE NEXT 18 MONTHS I ONLY SEE BILLY CRINO FROM THE NEXT COMPANY TWO TIMES.
WE EVENTUALLY COME HOME ON THE SAME BOAT AND BILLY ALSO BECOMES A NYC POLICE OFFICER HE WORKED IN THE 46PCT.
BILLY IS A REALLY GOOD GUY I HAVENT SEEN HIM IN DECADES.
LIFE SURE IS FAST AND IT SURE IS FUNNY.
JIMMY THE SAD SACK.
BTW AS THE SHIP WITH THOUSANDS OF SOLDIERS PULL IN TO THE BKLYN DOCK JEANNIE SPOTS ME, AND I SPOT MY JEANNIE RIGHT AWAY, SHE WAS WITH MY MOTHER.
AINT LOVE GRAND.
IN FEB. 1957 WE GOT MARRIED SHE WAS 19 AND I WAS ONE MONTH SHY OF 21.
THANK GOD WE ARE STILL IN LOVE AND WE JUST CELEBRATED OUR 50TH ANNIVERSARY.
***
JIMMY ASKS:WHERE DID THE LAST 53 YEARS GO.
I BLINKED MY EYES AND IM HERE. WHAT THE *****?
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Post by Lenny on Sept 28, 2007 17:16:32 GMT -5
Great story Jimmy. I also remember the day I left for boot camp. June 28th 1963. Said goodbye to mom, brothers and sister and dad drove me and another kid from the neighborhood to Whitehall Street. Me and dad shook hands and he wished me luck. Next thing I know we are at the airport boarding an old DC3 to Buford South Carolina and then boarded a bus to Paris Island. The rest is history.
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Post by Fran Gyomory on Sept 28, 2007 17:35:14 GMT -5
Beaufort, Lenny. This is the location the bus would have taken you to be shipped further into the Low Country for Parris Island, the sand flea capital of the world!!!!
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Post by Deleted on Sept 28, 2007 18:01:43 GMT -5
Amen both of you returned home.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 28, 2007 18:03:35 GMT -5
At zero dark thirty on 30 March 1970, I boarded a southbound D train on the GC at Kingsbridge Road. I disembarked at Fort Hamilton in B r o o k l y n where I boarded a chartered bus with 40 other bewildered young men.....24 hours later, we were deposited at the Great Lakes Naval Training Center. There was an airline strike going on that week.....I WILL NEVER FORGET THAT BUS RIDE!
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Post by Lenny on Sept 28, 2007 18:03:54 GMT -5
Thanks Fran......I got that mixed up with where my daughter lives in the Atlanta area in Buford, Georgia.
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Post by CQuinn on Sept 28, 2007 23:17:33 GMT -5
May 1963, I received my Induction Notice...I was married and Johanna was pregnant. We had just gotten notification of her rabbit test as positive. I went to the doctor's office and picked it up after waiting an hour and ran from Webster and Tremont to the Draft Board on Arthur Ave. The Board meeting had already ended...I gave the info to a Mr. Peloso who said I was probably too late to stop anything. Saturday morning I received my Reclassification in the mail 3A, sined by Mr. peloso, President of the Draft Broad. About 3 months later I'm working part time at the A&P on the weekend and one of the regular customers asked " How's your wife's pegnancy "...I looked at him and he said" I'm Mr. Peloso ". I wanted to kiss him...he always came on my line and we spoke everytime he shopped; but, I didn't recognize him at the Draft Board. Guess I was so disappointed because I got there too late. It's a small world but he knew I worked 2 jobs and was going to college at night from our conversations while packing his groceries. Always be kind to people it comes back 10 fold.
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Post by Barry on Sept 29, 2007 0:38:31 GMT -5
Drafted into the army Feb. 1964 a couple of months after my 22nd birthday. Was in boot camp at Fort Dix with teenagers. I was the old man. Then 18 months in Germany before I came home.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 29, 2007 8:26:25 GMT -5
Drafted into the army Feb. 1964 a couple of months after my 22nd birthday. Was in boot camp at Fort Dix with teenagers. I was the old man. Then 18 months in Germany before I came home. Barry, you were very fortunate...a lot of draftees in 64 were hearing "Go West Young Man" |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 29, 2007 8:39:38 GMT -5
WHEN I WAS IN FT DIX IT WAS SO COLD (HOW COLD WAS IT?)
WE WERE BEING TRAINED FOR COLD WEATHER FIGHTING,
THEY SAID WE WOULD PROBABLY BE GOING TO KOREA AS THE KILLING WAS STILL GOING ON.
THEN I GOT SENT TO THE JUNGLES OF PANAMA IT WAS HORRIBLE AND I ALWAYS SAID I DONT KNOW HOW OUR TROOPS IN WWII (THE BIG ONE) WERE IN THOSE JUNGLES FOR MANY LONG MONTHS IN THE PACIFIC AND THOSE AWFUL 'JAPS' WERE SHOOTING AND TRYING TO KILL THEM.
GOD WATCH OVER ALL THAT SERVED IN EUROPE AND THE PACIFIC
DURING SUCH A TERRIBLE TIME IN OUR HISTORY.
THEY TRULY WAS THE GREATEST GENERATION!
GREW UP DURING THOSE TIMES, AND THANK GOD,
WE AMERICANS DONT KNOW THE HORRORS OF WAR ON OUR OWN SHORES AND NEIGHBORHOODS.
PRODUCT OF THE 40s,
JIMBO
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Post by Deleted on Sept 29, 2007 17:38:05 GMT -5
I AM WATCHING KEN BURNS 'THE WAR' A 15 HOUR DOCUMENTARY ON CHANNEL 2.
KEN BURNS DOES SOME GREAT THINGS, ANYTHING WITH HIS NAME I WATCH.
I JUST PURCHASED THE 6 DVD SET W/ALL 15 EPISODES PLUS TWO CD WITH WONDERFUL MUSIC FROM THE WAR YEARS.
WELL WORTH THE $200.
I GREW UP DURING THOSE TIMES AND IT WAS SUCH A PART OF MY LIFE, ILL NEVER FORGET.
JIMMY
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