The Orphan
His Dad died a few days before his 6th
birthday. His Mom died when he was 8.
He then lived with his cousins, where his aunt did not
like him.
He was mediocre in schools because he hated to do
homework.
He could not date or go to proms because he had no money,
nor was he searching for a job.
After 3 years of Catholic high school, he transferred to
a public school which did not accept religion classes as credits, meaning he
had to go to summer school, thus missing graduation.
After summer school, another uncle took him to
California, promising a job there.
There was no job there, and that aunt did not like him
either.
Luckily he found a job as a dishwasher at a local
hospital.
His aunt kicked him out of her house so he had to find an
apartment.
He lost his job at the hospital, and now he had nowhere
to go and no income.
He had just enough money for a plane to Chicago where his
brother took him in and got him a job where he worked. If his brother had not done this, he could
have become a homeless bum on the streets of LA.
A year later he was drafted
by the Army, but instead he elected to join the Air Force to learn electronics.
During basic training,
despite advice to avoid volunteering, he volunteered to do some typing for the
sergeants, thus missing a first aid class and later failing the test. Those who passed got to visit the Alamo,
which he would have loved to see since he was a fan of Davy Crockett.
During tech school he had
just enough money to take leave with a standby ticket for a flight to Chicago
where his brother let him stay for a week.
The end of that week was
marked by the famous 1967 blizzard which shut down the airport, which opened
again on the day he was supposed to return.
Somehow his brother got him
to the airport despite snowy streets, and he had to sweat out getting on a
flight since he only had a standby ticket. Name after name was called for
standbys, and just when he was having a panic attack, they finally called his
name.
He arrived at the base and
signed in just before midnight, otherwise he would have been AWOL. The following
morning, he was chewed out by the squadron officer for not arriving earlier and
for taking the risk of a standby ticket, which was all he could afford.
The Air Force made a man out
of him. The rest of tech school went well, and he reached the status of
squadron leader, wearing a red rope, leading marches for over 100 troops,
conducting exercises and inspections.
He was assigned for transfer
to Taiwan, where he had the misfortune of taking leave during the time when
promotions were being handed out, so he suffered the embarrassment of having to
wear one stripe fewer than his comrades.
Next he was assigned to
Vietnam during the Tet Offensive, but his air base was well protected. After
taking another leave to Chicago, upon return to Vietnam he was surprised to see
everyone packing up for transfer to a different base. He could have lost all
his belongings if he had arrived one day later.
After his 4 year duty was
over, he came back to Chicago with only a few hundred dollars to his name, but
with enough credentials in electronics to find a good job.
That person was me.
