 Good morning. I'm Jeff Chung, Lo Director of Veteran Services for the town of Arlington I've invited veterans from different eras of conflict to join me today to discuss their feelings on Memorial Day as well as their military service Joining me today is Ray DeRosa's a US Marine Corps veteran from the Korean War So thanks for being here Ray Thank you Jeff for asking me. Sure. So you served in Korea? Yes, I did. Okay, and you were with the Marine Corps Can you tell us what you did while you were serving in the Marine Corps? Well, I was in a weapons company, second battalion, first Marine Regiment, first Marine Division And ordinarily I was a rifleman. That was my speciality And when I left Korea, I'll get back to Korea just one second I went left Korea, I became a squad leader in a rifle platoon, but in Korea when they We went up to the front lines They needed ammo carriers for the 81 millimeter mortars and so I selected there and so I did I was an ammo carrier now just a prelude to our prelude to that on our way up to the front We were in this railroad car built by the Japanese Probably about 1845 sometime. It was it was just a pigsty But anyway, we run that and we were told by the veterans who had come back and they were going home to failure Utilities with C-reactions, K-reactions, assault-reactions, and Cigarettes because they wouldn't get them up with the line too much. So anyway, the point is there's a rickety Railroad and we had to make stops They're probably throwing the wood in for crying out into the engine now Every stop these poor people wretched people and rags and little babies and everything else. They were good baking baking for food So we were giving them a C-reaction, a K-reaction, and so forth. I'm telling you it was up It was a sad situation. It was tragic people. But anyway, by the time we got up to Monsanee Which is the breaking up point going to the line We didn't have any more, no more food. However, we had a cigarette now from there We went up to the guns and so forth and They have to first stop to give you a back ride of the guns. When you get to the guns 81 So it was a terrific surge by the Chinese to take this hill which we were guarding protecting called Boulder City and we were firing like crazy and You have to understand artillery fire 4.2 water fire 81 water fire 16 millimeter firing hand grenade firing machine gun firing shorter Small arms firing so forth Because I'll go back there in a moment now. We're making these runs from the guns to bring it to a depot where the The ammo was held and we load up on the 6-byte and then come by was called 76 alley, which was a Which was the main road back to the guns. He called 76 alley because the The Chinese had it zeroed in Chinese Communist. Well, anyway, my last run. This is what I'm talking about now my last run there We we unloaded and so forth. So I normally went back for more Now I'm going back. We hit a checkpoint or as always and so there was a We loaded up again and came back hit the checkpoint and the marina checkpoint said look it When you're way back when you bring me back a lucky strike as I Was giving me camels here. I won like a strike and just he said that a Chinese water came on and hit him It hit the hole so we took off flying down that road back to the guns But that was the first water second water incrementally following us down the road and we knew Eventually they were going to hit us and that just before you get to the guns They hit us now I get blown out of the truck Only towards the light. That's all I know and the next thing I remember It's I was trying to get to my feet and it wasn't doing very well now our executive Jungle Jim Sanzo he came over and he's in my face and I know he was yelling at me But you know it sounded far away with all the noise and plus this is one or two o'clock in the morning The Chinese never attacked during the day because we were slurred at the maria force and so He attacked in the morning at night the other than every that type of thing now as he's Yelling in my face and we were fighting by flares. That's that's the right thing we could see it's garish light He's putting my helmet back on my head and my rifle back on my shoulder. He's saying Marie Marie Can you help the animal and the last words I carry members in yes, sir. Yes, Tim Next thing I remember. I'm on a quad And I'm gonna change it's very quiet And there were three men probably Corbin, but I didn't know anything about that I sat up my helmet my rifle my Flak jacket rolled by the quad And I just set up and one of those good Corbin came up to me Sat beside me off me a cigarette and smoked by took it because in those days if someone off your cigarette I signed a friendship. So anyway, I took it and he said how you doing I Said fine. I think I said fine. That's the last thing I remember Next thing I remember I'm back with the guns again and it's the last last night of the war And I don't know how I got there and when we think about anything. I just lost my memory and Anyway, we get hot all your members. We had hot chow hot chow So I'm telling you it was raining when it rains in Korea and in the Orient Those those raindrops are the size of Nicholton quarters. I mean they're coming down, but we had the hot chow Suddenly mortis start coming in again and I'll spare the eloquence of a Marine reply To those guys over Chinese anyway You know, I can't believe this died in a mud and everything else and so the next and then That's all I remember the next thing I remember For coming offline, I here's a couple of Auxiliary your stories here to this coming offline. I worked for a demo man a demolition man after the war And we were we were exploding with the DMZ we were creating the DMZ We had to explode all our fortifications and then move back a mile and they did the same things before and so on so I worked for him well before I did that I was in a tent with in the And a couple my buddies and one a Marine from 7th Regiment To Surrey City comes over he has a life magazine in his hand. It's about two weeks after the war ended He said look at this life magazine. I should have brought it with me life magazine had a feature I have at home a feature of the Marines at on both the city and The kids he's a big guy and he said look at that. He's leading Men off the line. There's a common on the right side Column with tools he's on the on the right side of the combs on the left. He said look at my mother sent me home Well, anyway, I have that home now 20 years later I Pick up a Unchained advocate in the advocate is a picture of Joe Egan Friend of mine. I think I told you why he was killed. He was killed He wasn't killed in Korea, but he died later. I but he was wounded But we were on the same hill He was on he was on Boulder City when I was there But we didn't know it and he was telling his story to some important from the aunt and advocate on Memorial Day So I called him on a telephone. We went down the American Legion out of UBS And it's the first time I ever talked about Korea or anything else and we talked about what a rat hole It wasn't everything else. Sure. Yeah, and so that was that was my career work experience. Wow So so let me back up just a little bit So what made you want to join them the military to begin with? When I was I was about 17 I want to join the Marine Corps. My father was killed in World War two He was torpedoed believe it or not off the coast of North Carolina by the German you put 160 and the name of the German you will come in was lessons. Well, anyway He was from Argentina and he was a farm press correspondent actually when he came up and he went to Columbia School of Journalism and then he met my mother going out to go had a good job But when the depression came And he's a he's a man a very intelligent man spoke excellent English, but with a Spanish accent now You had PhD speaking your King's English selling apples on the corner couldn't get a job So what he'd do was the only job you get before it unless he wanted to go back to Argentina He did a job. He took the merchant Okay, so when the war broke out There he was he came to three war zones And it and nothing happened to up the coast and look how it was Mars 29 Palm Sunday 1942 and he was Listed as missing in action at first and then they found out how he died and everything else. He was he was to he was torn off the ship and and Three of his shipmates found them later on the water by midnight they pulled them on but by the morning he had died and We can work that's it in We get all this information. They don't later on naturally and they shift them over to the side and so well anyway So that's that's my point about going the Marine Corps when the real war broke out. I was 17 my mother said look at It's never you know your father can use 40 year or two is so far and so on so I listen to I said, okay Now I have to say something else too My when we were living down in New York, I come from New York They tried to get killed and so we were there I went to a dealer saw Christian Brothers school around the corner so forth, but about 1947 Things are getting very tough and then there was an epidemic of smallpox in New York so my mother sent my older sister my older brother my younger brother and I up to my Her family the coffees and that's where we're living Anyway, I didn't join but a year or so later I was in a hardware Johnson's and a policeman or a couple of friends of mine and the police and came in And I didn't have anything in front of me. He said how come you're not drinking? I saw mortar and grabbing around the neck pull me out. We had a little tango And so they took me up the station And anyway, we know to make it all short went to court They had me for trespassing resisting arrest And so My lawyer said look at the police wanted to send me. Hey, I love the police I want to say that right now and More for them at this particular time. I had a certain problem. Anyway They wanted to send me to a ball pool And so my lawyer said look at this young man has always wanted to be a marine Or else you let him train the Marine Corps and so the judges. Hey the Marines are fighting in Korea Send the clear or the marine or the captain of the police was delivered But anyway, he says if you can get a clearing from the Marine Corps You can go in so I rushed out to the Marine Corps in the salt station across the street And I gave him all the information. He said look at we can't take you because your case is pending I said look at Sergeant If you can't take me and I go back they said they can't take me, you know, I'm gonna bind here I said, I look I won't let you down. He said look a kid It's not a question. You're letting me down some Marine Corps. I said look how about a break? So he looked at me. He's okay signs the waiver. I Go back to the courthouse Cambridge court. I give it to the court records He looks at it. He's ripping because he wanted me He throws it back at me you son of a gun That's how you ran out of it happy and that's how I joined the Marine Corps. Okay. Well, that's great So you were one of those go to war go to jail guys exactly and I was a high school dropout Even though I have two advanced Degrees in literature now at that time. I didn't have a thought in my head. Okay So, um, what were your feelings about basic training? Well, the Marine Corps it's not uh, it's it's not a luxury camp They were very free with their hands the Marine Corps very tough training but very good training and uh, I can't explain everything to you, but they were tough And they call you out three o'clock in the morning. Okay, get out It'd be uh, the sun be say 110 the shade, right? And then you're not to it, but the red flag is up on the uh on the drill field. You're not supposed to go out there The air would come into the barracks fall out rifles and everything else Right there and you're really sweaty. Are you saying get your two left feet or so forth? Anyway, it was a tough situation But I'll I'll say this for them They trained me and they trained me well. They trained every marine and and here's the example of this growing a career It took 15 days to go there It was a trip and we were down the hole and we had to go up on deck every morning. We went up for rifle inspection the army we had some army Changed contingent there too And they had their the rifles broken down putting it into a seat bag and they never looked at a rifle Now you may know about the chosen reservoir before I got there The Marines were surrounded by 250,000 Chinese and it was 40 blades degrees below zero. They fought their way out the 8th army Ran they threw down their weapons and they just ran Not that they weren't as brave as the Marines. They just weren't trained Well, the marine trainees are best and there's a there's a it was a colonel in the army And they had a story about him on tv In the background. I had a picture of the Marines coming out of the chosen reservoir He says I'll bet you the only I've been on the only army colonel who was a picture of the Marines So behind me because he loved the marine. He knew the training sure in the in the uh, ground air support was to everyone Okay, that's training So when you were introduced to the military through through basic training What's one of the big takeaways or or something that really surprised you about yourself That you never knew I'll tell you I had a I was a glib kid It's like getting around that and my brother the older brother had gone to parasailan before I did And so he comes back and I'm going I'm going to go on a few weeks And he said Ray he says I have My one word of advice for you So what's that dick keep your big mouth shut? And so down there that's one thing you know But I learned camaraderie down there that uh, you know, you try to just it's a unit And it's not just fighting for America you fight for the marine beside you and you need him Yeah, and and and goodbye darkness by William Manchester his Is uh at the cover deal his experience in world war two he says any man does have a friend in the marine corps is doomed He's damned, you know, you just stick together. It was that cohefen Yeah, and it was a sort of brotherly love. You know it comes out to that You need each other. So when you when you saw your brother come home After joining the marine corps. What was your first impression? Oh, he was sharp Yeah, he was He was always sharp kiddie, but he was really sharp and and when he wasn't around he didn't have his uniform on I used to try his shirt on you know Geez, I'm going to be over and I'm going to tell you something else when I went into combat Just before into combat, you know, Pete did see if you're talking about fear and everything else But I was exhilarated Because I said to myself. I'm a young man here I'm going to into combat as I'm United States Marine. I couldn't believe it You know that that can wear off a little bit But I mean that that initial feeling sure So where where exactly did you serve? Through throughout your career. So I know you went to basic training Paris island And then I went to campus June and I was a 4 to 4.2 waters They put me in there and from there we used to go on these excursions of our cold water training and then Hot hill training our cold water. We went up to Labrador And if you haven't been to labrador, I don't know if it's the same in all over the country But it's like walking on pie crust that that was and you know, I was in Fort Deuston and And we carried the base plate and everything they got so That was that was one for training. So about how much did that equipment weigh? Oh, it did it work? Oh, how much did it weigh? Oh, jeez. I can't tell the weight But I'm going to tell you it was heavy by carrying across Something but it was really heavy and and the gun and he didn't carry anything And we had a base plate the gun And the tripod tripod was fairly light but that kind of that base plate He got and so then from there we went down to the Vegas, Puerto Rico for hot weather training and so forth in the hills and everything else and And then we came back and every day I was volunteering for career this friend of mine. They do little buddies Every day we go into the first sergeant. We're volunteering for career. Okay. Get out of here. I hear you One day we go in there. Hey you guys You idiots are going to career and get out of my here So that's that's how we get to career And I gotta tell you something too. We traveled through his class from Boston to To California to Camp Pendleton We had a I had my own my own suite And and and he was he had on the other side of the aisle of the train. He had his own suite and you know what the The food allowance was for four days $20 and it lasted us too. You know in those days, you know 15 cents for a breakfast that type of And so that's how we got to camp Pendleton Um So while you were away, how did you keep in touch with family and friends? You're right. You're right all the time. There's no getting around that. Yeah And that's you know, that's one thing you crave when you when you're in the Marine Corps Any service, I'm sure Lettuce from home Hey, you're right him. You're right him. You're right. We used to get him Well, it's interesting when I was down Paris island at the d. I He looks up my name. He's sitting on top of the car and we're all around. He's he's storing the letters Oh, hey, Joe says Tim that's so for and someone He says it comes to DeRosa. He says what kind of name is that? I said Spanish I'm Spanish on iris. My family's irish. My mother's irish. He says You're a spaghetti been But I mean that's the way he talked in those days, too But let us go home. You wrote that's all you did. Okay. No phone calls No phone phone. I never thought of a phone call and it would nickel too But I'm sure from california to to boston would have been probably 25 cents But never got a phone call. I never found No, whatever for me. So when you were in korea How was the mail service? Were you getting regular mail or you know, was it You know, did you have to wait periods? Yeah, we get regular mail and we had this Someone set up this with batteries and he had like a little radio and it went our tent after the war and We had this radio station. We only got one there was radio maple leaf. It was like there was a canadian Program and he used to play all kinds of music and everything else and so and he used to call him so this is happy jack From from the happy bird some from japan. He's in so we used to say, yeah, you're happy. You're in japan anyway, he was He played his songs and one song we heard there was some odd music Pink floors be required of the song called some of these days. You're gonna miss me, honey. Wow Suddenly a japanese comes on And he's singing in japanese been caused the song and he's and he's hitting a grace note for grace note And add living and everything I couldn't believe I I'd love to have a crop here that were ready Yeah, but anyway that that was uh, that that was it for korea. So interesting but the thing you missed You missed home. You miss home cooking. You missed your family and so forth. You miss girls, you know just to say a woman for crying a lot And uh, lordy, that was it and then meals Food food food, you know, we used to get to see where it comes a lot and so forth Now we had something called beef and grease I loved it. I mean he just ate that up and I don't know what it was Well, we ate it anyway And then the thing I really missed too was music. I love music And so, you know, those are the things you miss sure and what are you gonna do? So what did you do in your free time? Well, what in the free time and how much I get sent from weapons company What we did was we had to dig uh adjacent emplacements as I said and uh, we went out now to a little story about that We had to go out and dig up. We had to make new tranquilizer in other words So when I was still with uh, when I was still with weapons company before I went to the DMZ We used to go out and dig One time we're in and there was hot and so forth. Anyway, we're in single file We came to this pass and only a single file of men could traverse And we're halfway to about a quarter of a mile Anyway, we get halfway there And who meets us but this Korean woman and she has a baby in her back or in front of again She had a big bag of That clothing she was washing And so we're yelling to the first our first sergeant Taylor We didn't like him. He was a son of a guy at the time. I didn't like And so we said come on tell tell her to go back to it would have been a long walk for He turns around he says to the rear So the whole platoon and 43 men We all go back where you all go back to the end, right? And we're waiting she comes and she comes out to the exit and he as he she comes out He chips his helmet to her. I said to myself, you know, I changed my opinion of him I thought it's a real man there Because then because the other guys didn't lie didn't like it either but you know, it was so hot and everything else So when I worked with a demo man, we said he was he was a warrant officer And he'd be making the explosives and I'd be helping her Fire in the hole and all that. I knew his hands were shaking, you know But we used to talk and he said to me once what do you plan to do when you when you get out of the Marine Corps? As I said, I I said, I said, I'll say I I live from day to day in the Marine Corps I know he had a wife and children he was going home to but Me I didn't I didn't see any future Really? Okay, here I am, you know, and then I get sent up to the DMZ And then in the DMZ with patrols patrols patrols and every time you're out there See we were up the up in the hills and we were what and the DMZ was out there and across We could see the villages out there North Korean villages and we had to report everything they were doing and so forth And that's what I did and there was one incident. I can tell you about What it had to do with with the Chinese. I meant we're used to meeting We go out like there was like a catwalk out there and these Chinese would come out and we go out and meet them because now just to show them We were Marines or whatever One was very old and one was very young. I always thought that about the orientals out there Korean stuff Well, they either were very old or very young. I never saw any middle-aged. Anyway, it's next story who uh What was I gonna do? Oh, it was Christmas Eve We were back and we're gonna have a little party and everything else and over on the hill And uh, and this captain grew a huge Jewish and he had a helmet full of medals He was a Chicago University graduate great guy And some he would buy some Marines who come by and someone yelled out Christ killer Wow Next next night. We have a big meeting up on them. They built a mess hall up there Kwanzaa He said look at you guys I don't care if you guys are christians jews jews for jesus All I know is we're all marines here and but at that time we're all combat marines You know, he said we're marines, you know, none of this some of this religious stuff and so forth and so on But the next day he had us with our Entrenching jews like shovels up on the hill Taking down Just to remind us of that but that's that's the experience and then I came home I read four books Two it was a 15-day trip. I said across the Pacific and two coming back. I read The story asked his crime and punishment and the Blackboard jungle That will cry And the k-mute me You know, you know books I've written in years, I guess. So anyway, I thought that was that What else can I say about oh coming back Going over the Pacific ocean fulfilled its name with beautiful quiet You know a nice sailing coming back or about a day out And I just had just eaten chow Wine chow And suddenly the whole ship started so I almost everything's iron everything's iron Ship is your problem. You know, you're in the Navy and the bulkheads and everything else I go down the stairs. I'm just holding up a light. We hit a typhoon My breakfast came up And I went down down to the hole And I get down to the bottom rack And I couldn't move And so I was they put me on men's duty. I was a corporal But they put me on men's duty We hope the tomb was on men's duty And so they're calling me on the intercom corporal de rosary for the men's tech. I said, you see anyway One morning they come down with this typhoon last about three or four days. I get a light shine on my face And it's a opposite of the day He said you corporal de rosary and yesterday he said that you want to look yeah, haven't you heard? And I said the ten are likely a little he must have seen the greenish Okay And that's when I came back to the states well interesting It was a little anecdote, but there was one guy going to tell you he was in the hopper Every time I went in there had a crawl to get in He was on the hopper every time I went in there. I thought he was dead He just comes Anyway, if you ever hit a typhoon you see stick you want to die, you know, even key if you died or not So what would you like people to know about your service? My service Well You see that's a good question That service I'm gonna tell you know, I was as I said, I was an immature kid I really was and I was uh, I don't know. I took things for granted Uh, I was I wasn't that serious in a way, but when I got when I came home It became very serious and even religious to a certain extent Which I had never really been but I because I was a Catholic reason I was still a Catholic and all that But I know I just I just started thinking about I know what life was really all about and it had a very tough adjustment Uh, I started I in fact after a while I started to drink like the rest of my friends We all we saw who were heavy hitters who were drinking a lot We couldn't find a job at first and we're a little bit envious Of these guys who didn't go in the service and you know, and they had their job They had girlfriends. They had automobiles. She's really nothing and so we started to think about that too and And so then uh, I developed a speech problem I started to speak and I knew what I wanted to say It didn't come out right I said, oh jeez and so I'd be home now. I got a job in the town working as a laborer so I was okay that way but I'd be home alone And the phone ring I'd be terrified Jesus, I can't answer the phone again. You know, I don't know what I said. I don't know what's happening to me And so anyway, I was going with this girl. She was an artist And I was thinking how are we going to break out of this? And so my brother, he went to bc and somewhere all the friends his friends they were at bc They were saying why don't you go over to bc and then you know go to school again? I didn't have any confidence. I said you serious. I took a college course neglecting my studies cut classes Come skip school, you know, that's the kind of kid I was But sorry, so now they'll never take me. So anyway, I was thinking about that I was going with this girl and she was a bc An artist And I said to one day, you know, I said, you know, maybe I'd like to go to school I mean I'm thinking about that. She said you said you were a laborer and you were high school But you'll never go to school. That's what it ticked me up I said, maybe I'll try so I went over to bc And the dean of admission said, you know, you have you took great courses But your courses and put it in put it in mildly He says I'm not what we'd say our adequate for a college student Of course, that's always an effect He said, I'll tell you what I'll do. But the Korean War had only been over three years By that time he said, look, we want to help veterans If you'll take some special courses that were known for algebra, geometry, English and then take the college boards See how you can do we'll give you a shot I said, okay, so I did I want to I went to Newman Prep And it took out them John and they thought I was a mathematical genius But I And I was one of the leaders I was two of us one lay he was in the Air Force and we were any in the instructor device and two two classes and And we he put a problem on the board and we still could do it first and so forth and and we had teams And everything else. But what he didn't understand was I would just regurgitating What I thought I hadn't learned What I had learned it It mind the computer and then when I was in graduate school when I finished all my work I was one of the first my MA And he was literature and show my but I had two more prerequisites One was an oral examination which was going to be about seven or eight months in the future But one was coming up very shortly a french reading exam So I went to the head of the department dr. Mahoney. I had had him as a freshman He said look it. They gave me a french all french program over here in The summer at bc won't you sign up and see how you can do I said, okay. Well, I did I booked my She said if I had studied as hard in high school as I did over there I would have been a dollar petroleum for god's sake. Anyway, I put my brains and the irregular verse started to come back I said, you know, I know this stuff and Well, make it all short when I took the exam. It was on Shakespeare. Thank god. Anyway, I aced it I said, yeah, I should have kept up with it. I said, yeah, and I said thank you And then when I took my oral examination And I was that was a really I could have taken a written one But a friend of mine he had he had taken his MA years before he was a world war two guy He said look at take the oral because if you take the written and you start to write something That's not right. You know, you're going the wrong way You're done for but if you take the oral and you miss a point They can bring you up and you can get back, you know, that's what I did. It took the oral and I did very well Very good. Yeah I mean for high school dropouts, you know And my principal Ralph Duplan, he had been a navy commander in world war two. What a great guy. He was two. He's a tough and he was a math man, but He didn't when I when I first got the job there had that went from high school But he didn't he always said they always said to me in three years He said to me calling me mr. The Rose and so on and I was saying too much to me after that and then when when I got my Whatever you get, you know, you're there for for a full time You saw the call me brave when I got my me He was so proud of me. He did any interchrom The whole school and he says and and I was I was in my home He says now hear this now hear this You know navy cock He's uh, mr. The Rose says we see does that made in English literature you want to congratulate him She said I could have called him to the desk, you know, so they go for it Very good. Yeah, that was excellent So I have a couple other questions about your service More about the conflict So yeah, so the korean war Korean war has often been referred to as the forgotten war So so how did you feel? Number one you're serving in korea, but then seeing How the veterans from world war two were treated coming home versus Your time in service Because I think I may have told you You know the times but when I get home No, no one even though I'd been to korea and half the other people didn't know I was in the marine corps My uncle my uncle john. I loved him. He's a great guy He is later. He's talking about he said, uh, you went to korea You know, I said, yeah, I wasn't great, but that was the way it was You know, you just you were just you and nothing they didn't even know who you were And you felt that way, you know, you felt isolated. I felt that terrible for the vietnam guys I mean he attacked those poor guys. That was treasonous, but for us. It was just isolation It was indifference So I I think we felt that yeah, that was the only place we felt really good was down in american legion And before we got there, it was just we were two guys down there and some guys put the depression and all that but When the korea war guys get in there, boy It was standing moment and when you went there you talk about secondhand smoke You worked it almost as uh, you didn't have to light up She just take a deep breath and as one actor said to another one don't any of you guys ever inhale, you know Anyway, but but you're right. Well, you felt that way And it was just I felt I don't know how I felt But it was something I just couldn't couldn't grasp, you know And my family was all concerned about me, you know, they didn't know what to do And it was so patient with me and everything else, but I was very edgy very edgy You know, I could I could like that when I was working for the town one of the foremen He wasn't he wasn't the most Avable guy in the world anyway, but I we stayed away from each other But one day I was working on Pleasant Street by that cemetery there right by the end of my the church Coletta church Anyway, it's a hot day and the wall was there. There's a wall there. I was hitting with a sledgehammer or something Koba he came by he said hey come on Something about he criticized me. I took the crew. You know, happy day. I took that crew by flinging at him Just broke in this time he took off I know but that that's why I was you know instead of saying I'll forget it or which I would do today. Yeah, I wouldn't care You know But those days sorry I couldn't say anything to me much And the drinking and everything but you know, I drank it's interesting. I was not a drinker Thank god, I couldn't keep up with the big boys in the corner But I tried to but when I was drinking I was happy. I was a happy drink. That's why I drank You know, I felt good. So There was some guys just just the opposite. They got a little mean but I just felt good. So that's why I drank but obviously A friend of mine. He was a foot cramp. He was in the second airport over there We talked and once he had been a big drinker too when he came back and everything else He said he was in a bar room one One morning about ten o'clock in the morning he was drinking down the green parrot down and came with somewhere and He just happened to turn around a nice sunny day and this young man With with an astrologer with a little child in it. He just happened to stop to rearrange something a toddler He looked at him and he said look at that guy. He said, you know, I'm 20 to 22 years old He's like, what am I doing in a bar room? He said they just put the drink down and I left and I never went back. That's the way I felt one day. I just woke up I said, oh I just get out of this rut. Sure. And that's when I started to work it out, you know Yeah, because at that time you didn't have any real support services available for veterans I didn't know I didn't even what was going on with me. You know, I never I was a good kid Now I can't talk. Yeah, I'm Jesus. Fuck right. What's going on here? Something was something was happening to me, but I didn't know what And uh, I was scared to a little bit And so anyway And then I met my future wife And so we started going steady and everything and she was a very steady influence on me And interest interest, you know, she was a Baptist and i'm a catholic and so She uh, she finally converted ultimately, but the mother the mother was a Baptist and the mother hated me Not because of me, but because I was a catholic So I used to go up to the house and bring the bar go in And she'd be coming to go to mass with me and And I came mother upstairs you go to your own church You know, there was that kind of conflict too. And that that lasted for about 20 years with her the father He didn't care he's a nice guy, you know I get along with him well, but the mother But there's some friction there, you know So if you could pass along some advice to The younger generation now about serving in the military What would you say to them? Because I don't know what the military is today, but I don't think the marine crew has changed that much But in in structure and technique it has, you know weapons and everything else But I think the core value is there You know love america jesus has suffered a lot of the marine You know have this have this uh, love if you will this appreciation of Being even being in the military, you know defending your country What higher can you go? How high can you go in that other than becoming a religious or something? You know that type of thing But it is a form of It's secular religion almost, you know the marine corps. It's you know a true man said about the two things about the marine corps You know when he when he denigrated them they killed they did die in Korea and he's saying he called them bill hops to the navy and then he said The marine corps has a great Propaganda system and Joseph Stalin and so that may be true. You know, I don't know but But they live up to it. Anyway, that's all I know And I was I was so proud and lee mob and cherub power those actors and stuff with Brian Keith Steve McQueen those guys the George C. Scott They all talk about the marine corps experience. You know, it was it's great. It's true of them Something made them something it gave them a different perspective in life. I know it gave me And I'm sure that's the way when they do when they go through it you have to live through it you know, but There it is And you learn lots of life lessons Did I ever there's no question about that just you know had I Not had that experience. I probably would have broken that they had I had you know, but I had that That back I always knew I had that background, you know And it's another story too about uh When I was uh, oh when I was when I retired I made a mistake of becoming a substitute teacher So I went to probably we got a job over there for a while in uh in uh, Winchester and so I'm uh I go in and so I went to the class and Your homeroom And I'm saying the kids are talking no talking and everything and everything in the line Rise and salute the flag and so forth. So as I'm leaving This little colored kid says to me, you know, not love but he's a young guy by night Brady said hey Mr. George. I said, yeah, were you in the army? I said no, I was in the marine corps, but when I was at winter of high school Later on during the Vietnam war a lot of the teachers they slacked off And then they didn't salute the flag or anything else But when I became chairman of the English department, they asked me once in a while if a teacher could be later Wouldn't be in where I take the homeroom I went to that homeroom Bill would ring eight o'clock bill everybody stand they're looking at each other. Who is this guy? Everybody stand Salute the flag of your country. Look I said salute the flag of your country So we salute the flag of our country and they thought I was some sort of idiot, you know But it started that it started in the 60s and You see who it is today, but and one other anecdote of this I was watching you, you know during the 60s terrible or watch the Students burning their rough draft cards and everything. I see guys around the stupid college kids and what do you expect from them? But when they burned the American flag and waving to be a car flag All right, Jesus I went into the recruiting station again opposite south station. I was about 34 now And I said, um, I was former arena when I rejoined so he looked at me. He said holy I saw about 35 and he says he married. I said yeah have children. I said, you know, I have four You should get the hell out of here. I said He was a goodie, you know, so I said, okay, you said look at your wife and children I explained the situation. I said is the major in the major ways. He was a head man there He said look at the major's not in so he said but he'll tell you the same thing I will if you have a wife, you have four children You're not going to do any more good, you know, the going you're going at this particular juncture So I said, okay. He said thanks for coming in. I said it's not so far That was it excellent well I want to thank you for your service And and and I really appreciate you Coming in and sharing your service with us