| The sixties was an era of great distress and | | | | was working part-time as a stockroom boy, in |
| confusions. Yet despite all the bad events, | | | | a Mama, and Papa Pharmacy earning ten dollars |
| taking place it was the age of innocence. | | | | a week. Out of my salary, I was able to pay |
| There was an unpopular War waging across a | | | | two dollars a week for my Mothers washing |
| large ocean, in a Country, which few people | | | | machine she had bought, and still have enough |
| new little about. A country, which had been | | | | to take my girlfriend to the movies in the |
| at war with France and had known war for | | | | weekends. |
| generations; a country, which the United | | | | |
| States in trying to help bring democracy | | | | However, when I saw my best friends come home |
| became in tangle with its internal affairs, | | | | in body bags I decided to do my part in |
| having unpleasant results. | | | | sharing the responsibility for going to |
| | | | Vietnam. I attended many funerals of friend |
| It was a time, when there were demonstrations | | | | with whom I had gone to school with, hang out |
| all across our Nation, dividing the country. | | | | and gone to parties. That is when I realized |
| Still it was an era rich with charm and | | | | I could not seat by idle while my friends |
| grace, a time of innocence when hippies, | | | | were being kill in a foreign land. |
| flower people held hands while protesting the | | | | |
| war. I was the era for giving, an era of | | | | I pulled my Father and Mother; aside and I |
| caring, an era for forgiving. The hippie's | | | | told them I needed to make a difference that |
| philosophy was to love your next-door | | | | I was not going to standing by while watching |
| neighbor, not meddle in other countries | | | | my friends die. Both my parents did not like |
| affairs and smoke grass. | | | | the idea however, after explaining to them |
| | | | the importance in helping my country they |
| A time when there was a War, which caused the | | | | understood. |
| US thousands of lives with nothing to show | | | | |
| for but a black marble wall in Washington DC | | | | It was a hot period during that summer school |
| with over fifty-eight thousands names on it. | | | | vacation in July 1962. Most fire hydrants |
| A time family members would gather on weekend | | | | throughout the city were open by young kids |
| BBQ's to discus the War that was unpopular, | | | | trying to keep cool. I was desperate; it was |
| and gather their thoughts about the doubts | | | | hot and nothing to do. Most of my friends had |
| that lay ahead. | | | | already left and joined the army. Most had |
| | | | already left for Vietnam. On July 11, 1962, I |
| We had the youngest president ever elected, | | | | decided to go downtown to the Army recruiting |
| John Fitzgerald Kennedy. A man with dreams | | | | station in lower Manhattan, Whitehall Street. |
| cut short by lunatics' bullet whose ideology | | | | |
| and twisted agenda we will never know. It was | | | | After a series of academics and psychological |
| suppose to have been the age of "Camelot" for | | | | test, I took my oath. I was proud that day |
| this country. It was a period in our | | | | because I new days, I was on my way to the |
| country's history when it was going through a | | | | Army training base at Fort Dix, New Jersey. |
| transition and everyone was full of | | | | When the day finally arrived, I was full of |
| uncertainties. A time when democracy was at | | | | gratitude knowing I was going to contribute |
| it highest and peoples rights tested. The war | | | | my share in the fight alongside my bodies. |
| was having grave negative impact to the | | | | |
| economy and was causing great disparity among | | | | I spend sixteen weeks in training. The first |
| our younger generation. | | | | eight weeks was basic Infantry training, the |
| | | | second eight weeks was in Advance Infantry |
| It was the age of the Supremes, Otis | | | | training. I graduated and I went to Fort |
| Redding's, the Impressions and many other | | | | Benning Georgia where I received training as |
| groups, which kept our young people and our | | | | a Paratrooper. |
| nation regardless of the war, dancing and | | | | |
| happy. An era of warm love when every one | | | | After graduating from paratrooper school I |
| cared for one another. It was the age of | | | | went to the elite 101st. Airborne Division, |
| innocence. | | | | "C" company 327 Infantry First Battalion |
| | | | First Brigade the "Screaming Eagles" at Fort |
| During the war, I was still in High School. I | | | | Campbell, Kentucky. |