Another Place Another Time - Episode Three

Another Place Another Time

Book One

Jake and Whispers

Episode Three

My mother and daddy were engaged before World War II began. The day after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, Daddy enlisted in the Navy. The night before he enlisted, he and mother spent the entire night considering whether to elope before he left. Finally, they decided that it would be best if they waited until he returned. Though they never said it, I think their primary consideration was the real possibility that he might not return.

Daddy never talked about the war. From bits of conversation I’d overheard when my parents didn't know that I was around, I knew he was in many naval battles in the Pacific. Once bored and home alone, I found a small leather-covered box in Daddy’s chest of drawers. I opened it carefully and found five medals. I went to the encyclopedia and searched until I discovered a photo and description of them listed under Naval Decorations. Two of them were ordinary, the National Defense Service Medal and the Pacific Campaign Medal. The other three were anything but ordinary: The Navy Commendation Medal, a Purple Heart, and a Bronze Star.

I tried even harder to get him to talk about the war, but he always said that was a long time ago, and it had nothing to do with his life today. Even then, I suspected that wasn't true, but I didn't push the point.

Because they decided not to marry until the war was over, my mother and daddy were twenty-six years old before they married. During the war years, they had both saved most of their pay. They used their savings to buy a small supermarket in Valdosta, a town in south Georgia, roughly two-hundred miles from Atlanta, Georgia, the only place they had ever lived.

They both wanted children, but they put that dream on hold until they got the store up and running. They were thirty years old when I was born. It was a difficult delivery for my mother. That, and their age, combined to convince them that one child was enough.

The store was doing well, and they were able to cut back on the number of hours they spent in it. They invested those saved hours in me. They listened to me; they talked to me as if I were an adult. They introduced me to the world outside Valdosta through books, day trips and magical summer vacations. They always supported me in everything that I did, even though I was obviously a bit different from the other kids in the neighborhood and later in school. No kid ever loved his parents more than I loved mine, and no kid was ever more loved by their parents than I was.

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In 1967, the military was desperate for men. On September 9, 1967, I turned 18. On October 9, 1967, I received my letter from the Harris County Selective Service Commission. It began, “Greetings from your friends and neighbors….” The letter went on to direct me to report to the Greyhound Bus station in Valdosta, Georgia, on October 14th, for transport to the nearest military induction center.

On the appointed day, my parents took me to the Greyhound bus station. It took a while for me to convince them not to stay until the bus arrived, but I finally managed. Mother cried and hugged me. Daddy shook my hand, and I saw that he was crying too. I pretended to be sad, but I wasn’t. I wasn’t happy or sad. I was about to start a new adventure. Beyond that, I had no expectations or judgments. I waved as they drove away, and then I joined the group of young men clustered around the Coca-Cola machine.