By may senior year I was firmly committed to joining the Marine Corps and seeing combat in Viet Nam. My mother, teachers and especially my high school councilor were mystified by my plans. They all told me that I was such a good student it would be a shame if I didn't go to college. They finally wore me down but I insisted on a two year technical college. I figured the war wouldn't end in two years and I would still have a chance to see war first hand. I enrolled into the Ohio College of Applied Science but my heart wasn't in it. I spent more time watching and reading  news about the fighting in Viet Nam then studying. I dropped out in the second quarter and enlisted into the Marine Corps. All of my friends thought I was crazy. Young men by the thousands were in college to avoid the draft or were running to Canada. No one around me could understand why I was running towards the war. As my graduation photo shows I was a studious young man. But the lure of war and the call of high adventure was more than I could resist. On the fifteenth of January,1969, I boarded a plane to San Diego, the Marine Corps Recruit Depot and what I though would be a twenty year career in the Corps. Boot camp was a shock to me and all of the training bordered on brutal but I was determined to see it through. I grew stronger and was able to do things that I'd never dreamed of doing.

    I'd enlisted to be a warrior, a ground pounder, a grunt, but the Marine Corps in it's infinite wisdom decided I should be a truck driver. After all the weapons and combat training they wanted me to drive a truck. I was outraged! I tried several times to have my MOS changed to no avail. I finished my drivers training and by July of 1969 I was at last in the war zone in Viet Nam. I volunteered for guard duty over mess duty for the month long acclamation period and for base security over a driving job. Our job was to patrol the perimeter of Quang Tri combat base to free up the infantry units for operations in the bad bush. The next three months of humping the hills gave me a whole new appreciation of the meaning of fatigue. The insects were terrible and the heat was worse. I also learned that there is no heroic theme music in war. There was only endless searching for enemy sniper positions, mortar pits and rocket launching sites the VC used to attack the base. There ware no Sgt. Rocks or John Waynes. There was only young men desperately trying to stay alive in a war that the politicians didn't seem to want to win..

    After three months I'd had enough and I requested a driving job and was told that I would get the next one available. Two more months passed. Days and nights of trying to avoid snipers and booby traps. When I noticed that other Marines new in country, especially white Marines, were getting the driving jobs I requested Mast (an audience with the company commander) to vent my frustration. I did get a driving assignment... but as an assistant driver/.50 Cal. machine gunner on a mine sweeping detail along the most dangerous road in I Corps, Viet Nam. But I was riding instead of humping the hills around Quang Tri. I quickly found out that machine gunners were a prime target of Viet Cong snipers and I'd climbed out of the frying pan into the fire. Although it was more dangerous I grew to like the job. I got to see a lot more of the country. Finally, after six more months I was assigned as primary driver... for a month and a half... before my tour ended. After thirty days leave I was ordered to participated in a NATO training exercise in Europe which included liberty ports in Greece and Spain. At the end of my enlistment I had no intentions of reenlisting. I had become disillusioned with the way the war was being fought, and life in the Corps. In later years I would become angry when I read the history of Viet Nam. In spite of those feelings I have no regrets about enlisting and serving in Viet Nam. It was living a part of history that I will always remember.

    I was discharged in January of 1971 and spent the next four months transitioning myself into civilian life. I gained employment with the City of Cincinnati as a laborer, married my girlfriend and started a family. I continued my education in the University Of Cincinnati Evening College and earned a BS in Civil Engineering and State certification as a Registered Professional Engineer. I served the City for twenty-eight years in various capacities as a laborer, truck driver, survey crew member and leader, civil engineering technician, civil engineer and administrator. 

     I never lost my love of art and over the years created many works of art for family members and friends. I took an early retirement in May of 1999 to pursue a second career and realize my dream of living the life of an artist. The last photograph was taken a week before I retired. Notice the big smile. My dream, since I was a kid, of living the life of an artist had finally come true.

I am living my American dream!

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