Fort Bragg, North Carolina

As with most bases we stayed in the same apartment/house once we moved on base. At Fort Bragg we moved into an apartment that was in a converted hospital. The apartments were in long rows with 6 to 8 apartments per building. All of the buildings where connected by a covered, elevated walkway. The backs of two apartments where fairly close together. The gaps between the fronts were huge, at least to my second grade eyes. My dad was still an NCO then so these where NCO quarters. A quick check of Google maps fails to show these apartments, so they are likely replaced by now.

There was a forest just across a field from our apartment. I spent a lot of hours there. Part of a theme of my childhood was spending time in forests or wooded areas, or most any area that is wild. While in these woods I once tried to grab a cotton mouth snake. It threatened me, that's how I found out it was a cotton mouth, an fortunately for me it left quickly. We hunted frogs and tadpoles in the forest. Once coming out of the forest there was a doe with her fawn within a few feet of where I came out. The did not startle right away so I got a good look.

with some friends I worked on building my first tree house. The tree was in the middle of a field near the apartments. We used ropes to climb the tree. Once when I wanted to come down the rope got caught in a nail. I pulled and it seemed strong enough so I started down the tree with my feet on the trunk and leaning back on the rope. Half way down the nail bent releasing the rope. I fell flat on my back, biting a good chunk out of my tongue. I could not stand up straight and went straight home crying all the way. My parents decided that I was alright so no hospital visit. I don't think I ever returned to that tree.

As was common at that time groups of neighborhood kids would run together. There were five or six of us that ran around together doing kid stuff. One of our neighbors had a son, about our age, with sever cerebral palsy. He was wheel chair bound with very little control over his body and could not talk. His mother would bring him out and we would concentrate our play in front of him so he could watch. We often spoke to him in an effort to include him. His mother said he enjoyed being out with us.

A boy a little older or possibly just bigger than us move into the neighborhood. He became the bully, at least to us. We put up with it for a while until one day I lost my temper and fought him. The fight consisted mostly of inept wrestling. An older boy or possibly a GI came by and gave me encouragement. It seemed like we fought for hours. It was probably only for ten of fifteen minutes, until one of us was called home for dinner. As with most of my physical encounters there was no clear winner. The next day he told me that he threw up that night and it was my fault. We did not have trouble with him again. I seem to recall that he joined us in play on several occasions.

On a couple of occasions I complained to my father about bullies wanting him to take care of the problem. His response was that he could come and enforce his will, but could not protect me all the time. I would have to resolve the problem myself. It was the only way to bring the issue to closure.

Several times during the summer trucks would drive along the covered walk spraying DDT to keep the mosquitoes at bay. We would go out and run through the clouds of DDT. Our parents and thus we believed that the DDT was harmless to humans. There were a lot of bugs and our parents got a new product that was supposed to repel the bugs. It was oily and I think I resisted using it. My parents tried it on Jean several times. something about her body chemistry turned it into an attractant. she would come back inside from playing and her face was covered with trapped and dead gnats.

I think my sisters had their First Communion when we were at Bragg. They were towheads at the time. I do not remember my first communion.

Once Billy and I found a lost dog (the post had leash laws). We brought it home and mom found the owner who thanked us and invited us over for hot chocolate. We took her up on it.

One incident occurred that had a lasting impact on me. Living on base we interacted with a polyglot of people. Blacks, Orientals, Jews, Native Americans, etc. It was all part of my life. Once we went into town to a department store. While my parents where looking through clothes I got thirsty and went in search of a water fountain. There were two, one with a line and another with no line. I opted for the one with no line. It worked and the water was good. About the time I returned to my parents the manager came over and asked us to leave. I had taken a drink from the Colored fountain and that was not allowed. Much later it occurred to me that it was highly likely that Colored were not even allowed in the store. But they had to have a fountain for them. These people where locked into a rigid structure that allowed no room for thought; they had enslaved themselves. To be fair I returned to North Carolina in around 2008, some 50 years later,  and saw several black and white professionals working together giving respect. My parents tried to explain what happened to me, but I did not understand as I had no reference. I was not in trouble with them. I think my parents were upset that there was in issue.

Miss Jacomet

I attended four different high schools. Three in my freshman year.

I find it humorous that the worst high school I attended had two of the best teachers I ever had.

The best teacher was Miss Jacomet my chemistry teacher at Ecorse High School. On the first day of chemistry class she walked down the desk aisles dropping the periodic table of elements on each of our desks. The announcement was simple. By the end of September we where to be given a test that expected us to know each element, its symbol, abbreviation, atomic weight, and valence. We were not going to cover the table in class. We were expected to learn it outside (homework).

Miss Jacomet the proceeded to teach us chemistry. At that time the high school had three 7 or 8 week grading periods per semester. We had to do about 60 assignments per grading period, including lab reports. We were encouraged to form study groups. I joined one composed of about 4 students from Ft. Wayne, one an attractive young lady that I become good friends with; almost loosing my girl friend.

My parents had taken a laissez-faire approach to our studying/homework. "If they want good grades they will study". As a consequence I have never developed good study habits. The upshot is that I did not want to do the work. As a result Miss Jacomet gave me a failing grade for the first term. My first one ever!

So I wanted out of the class. After making a lot of noise one of my parents (My father I think) and I were meeting with my counselor waiting for Miss Jacomet to join us so I could drop the class. She walked in said that I was smart enough to do the work and that she would not allow me to drop the class and walked out. There was no discussion.

Needless to say I stayed in the class, buckled down, and got a B and A for the next two marking periods. Miss Jacomet always had time to answer questions and help us understand. One of our assignments was a term paper. One other student and I selected the proton as our subject. We both spent hours at the Detroit Public Library (at the time it was an outstanding reference library, one of the best in the country). This was during the 1964-1965 school year and not a lot of information on the interior of atoms was available. We collaborated on the research but wrote the papers individually. We both came in several pages short of the requirement. Miss Jacomet accepted the papers and commended us for the effort made on a difficult subject.

Miss Jacomet was an exceptional teacher in that:
1. Her attitude was that her students were smart enough to do the work. This was right out of the box.
2. She was more interested in teaching us how to ask questions and learn.
3. Was happiest when her students did well or had an Aha! moment.

I did not get to finish the year with her. My dad got orders and we moved to Fairfax, Va. I excelled in the new chemistry class, coasting as we had already covered all the material in Ecorse. I did so well that the chemistry teacher asked me to be the lab assistant the next year, my senior year. I accepted and set up the experiments for the chemistry class.