I had already signed up for the U.S. Marine Corps
in December of 1967. As
soon as I graduated from Verdugo, I was in Boot Camp. And by July of 1968, I
was in Vietnam where I completed a 13 month tour-of-duty. In Vietnam, I was
with the 3rd Battalion, 4th Marine, 3rd Marine Division. We were up along
the DMZ stomping around the jungle. I was a 2531 Field Radio Operator and
Forward Observer (F.O.) for mortars, artillery, and air support. I was
responsible for reading the maps and knowing where we were at all times, for
guiding in the heavy guns, and calling air support as needed. This was not
the most pleasant time in my life.
I continued on, spending ten years in the Corps with tours in Okinawa, Japan,
and the Philippines. During these ten years, I was married and divorced
twice with no children.
After my ten years in the Corps, I began working as a machinist with small
side trips into truck driving. As a machinist, I am mostly self taught with
the assistance of a few really good tool makers in a shop in Long Beach, CA.
I was the Foreman of the shop while working for Bendix of San Diego and an
Experimental Machinist for Coopervision before they closed the plant.
As far as trucking goes, I hauled dirt mostly in the Northern part of San
Diego County in an end dump (long tailored dump truck), did demolition work
and hauled big boulders (Texas "P" gravel -around 10 tons each). I drove
produce across country a couple of times, but decided I wanted to stay closer
to home so didn't do much of that. I also drove a low bed delivering heavy
equipment.
From 1972 to 1998, I called Carlsbad, California home. I remarried for the
third time which also ended in divorce five years later. I often think I
married again just to see if it was the Corps or me that they couldn't live
with. I guess it was me!
Around the time of our twenty year reunion, my girlfriend informed me that a
baby was coming our way. Just after I turned forty, she gave birth to the
one thing I can truly say "made my day." We named her Emmelia Ann.
By her
5th birthday, her mother (twenty-two years my junior) wanted a younger man in
her life and we parted company. The custody battle is still going strong to
this date.
I started my move to Florence Mississippi in October, 1998 , and have made
five trips back and forth. I have everything moved back here accept my
daughter. Both sides of my family are from Central Mississippi and unlike
everyone else here, I am related to almost the entire community.
My mother passed last year and I am presently living in her house which I
designed and drew the plans for. I took Architecture Drafting in Verdugo and
worked summers and weekends for a couple of general contractors. They went a
long way in teaching me how to build homes. I am presently building my own
simple one-story home with a one-man machine shop attached. My Mother left 40
acres of land along the East bank of the Pearl River to build on.
I have often been called a "workaholic" and so any spare time I've had, I
spent restoring a 1970 Mach I Mustang - a four year endeavor!
And, that's my life so far in a nutshell ...............
Below are some
pictures of me when I was in the Service, after with my Mustang, and the house in
Mississippi that I designed.
This is the truck that I worked with
when I was in San Diego
