Happy Veterans Day

Got a veteran in your family?

I have four - my three brothers and my dad.  Also, my maternal grandfather.  Some day I'll dig up the pic I have of him.  It's very neato.

This is my dad.

He enlisted in the Marines at age 16.  He would have been very tall by then - he eventually topped out at around 6'4" -, and so I guess they thought he was the age he claimed he was.  When they found out he was 16, they sent him home.

A few years later he enlisted again.  This was in the early 1950s, Korea-era.

One of my brothers once asked him how he 'dodged Korea.'  

This offended my father.  He made no attempts to dodge anything.  He was just lucky.  

The story was that he was on the bus -- or was it the train? -- that would take him and the other potential cannon fodder to the plane/ship that would run them to Korea.  Just before the bus/train left, a rep from Camp LeJeune got on, needing two recruits to come back, in order to help teach the new recruits (I forget what).  He picked two guys at random.  

'You, and you, come with me.'  

My dad happened to be one of those yous.

With those looks, he shoulda gone to Hollywood.