In order to tell you about my time spent in the navy I will have to take you back to before I enlisted. In 1949 We were living in a government low rent housing development called “English Woods” At the time I thought it was a very nice place, I didnt know we were poor, no one ever told me. It has since deteriorated to a level that attracts drug dealers, welfare recipients or very low income people because the rent was and still is based on how much you earn and what you can afford to pay. I really enjoyed living there. I knew most of the people who lived within 1/2 mile of our apartment. In those days I was “dating” a girl named Lois who I remember as being well endowed, It wasn’t really dating because we never went anywhere that cost money. We just hung out together and smooched on the park bench behind my apartment. A strange thing I remember about that was Lois had a best friend that was rather plain looking and they were inseparable. She always sat on the steps next to us as though we were invisible. There came a time one summer that a traveling carnival came to the neighborhood. It set up everything on the baseball field area. The ball field was set in a deep ravine type of landscape that was surrounded on three sides by the apartment buildings which were about 50 feet above the field. Sometimes the guys I hung out with used to go to the field at night and pitch a tent and spend the night there. In those days that was a big deal. I remember my mother standing on the hill above the field shouting for me to come home and spend the night at home. I realize now what a worry that must have caused her and I would never have let any of my kids do that. It was also a big deal to stay awake all night. We used to walk to the White Castle restaurant which was at least 2 or 3 miles away. To get a couple of 10c “sliders” and a 5c cup of coffee.

On the night of the carnival it was the custom to spread blankets around the perimeter of the ball field and relax and talk. I had had a few beers and was relaxing when Lois’s best friend “Donna’ came by and sat beside me, I have to admit she was a very attractive girl who was very well built but a little short. She was engaged to a Marine who was in Korea. We talked for awhile as dozens of people milled around us so it was not very private but nevertheless she reached over and planted a big kiss on me just as Lois walked up to us. Talk about fireworks!!! There was some scheduled for that night. But Lois set off a few of her own. My memory is fuzzy about what happened after that but I knew our relationship was over.

More to follow...........