I had just sat down for my 4th period health
class, just after lunch, when an announcement came over the intercom that
president Kennedy was shot while on a visit to Dallas Texas. Over the next
several minutes announcements came in over the intercom that he was doing well
and that he was in surgery. The bell rang at the end of Health class and we
moved to our next class, for me English. The halls were silent gone was the
usual chatter of teenagers. All talk was in hushed whispers some were crying
most were in shock. Shortly after I got to English class we learned that the
President was dead. The date November
23, 1964 the day John F Kennedy was assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald a day
I’ll never forget and a day that changed my life forever.
The change didn't take place immediately but over the course
of the next several years. But that day I started looking at the world with a
set of different eyes. Over the next
several days we watched as the nation mourned. I saw the president shot over
and over again each time with a commentator explaining what I was seeing. I saw
Jack Ruby on live television kill Oswald. Then we were shown both the assignation
and Oswald’s killing again and again in slow motion as the news men explained
what we saw as if we were too stupid to see and understand for ourselves what
had happened. We watch the funeral and mourned with the First Family and little
John I remember my mother crying softly as we watched.
They called it Camelot, we know now it wasn't but then it was, and we believed it. The Kennedy’s were
America’s family. We rejoiced over them and cried with them when Patrick was
still born. We laughed with them, I still have my First Family Album by Vaughn Meter. Finally we mourned with them. In many ways I believe my
generation still mourns Kennedy’s assassination.
Little did I
know how much Kennedy’s assignation was to effect my life and the lives of
millions of others around the world. Our whole family watched on live television as Linden
Johnson was sworn in as President. My mother the wonderful naive positive woman
that she was said that Johnson would be able to get all of Kennedy’s programs
passed because he had great influence in the congress. She was right Johnson
did pass a whole lot of legislation. Up to the Vietnam War Johnson was considered a
great president by my family and most democrats. But after the Gulf of Ton-kin Resolution his popularity would slide. Yet, between November 1963 and November 1965 my
life went on as though nothing had happened.
As my high school years started to draw to a close I started
to realize that I had very few options upon graduation. My grades barred me
from college, not that college ever entered my mind. I was the son of a blue
collar working man and other than graduating from high school continuing my
education never entered my mind. I believed then my future was the factory and maybe
a trade school but college… no way! My dad often talked of “college boys” and
how stupid they were when it came to the factory floor. It was a class
arrogance that still permeates our society today. Working men knew how to get things
done while college boys only had theory. It wasn't that education was frowned
upon it just wasn't pushed as a means to a good future for me. Dad kept pushing me to learn a trade
something, some skill that would make me valuable to my employer. He told me
many times that being a trade’s man allowed him to earn a living throughout
hard times.
My grandfather had worked for Electromotive and had pension
after he retired. Most of my uncles were blue collar and union men. Often the
discussions around the kitchen table revolved around being in the trades and
learning a trade. Dad went into an apprenticeship program at the age of 40 to
learn how to be a machinist at Union Carbide.
He attended night school over the course of his four year apprenticeship
program to learn higher mathematics and took other necessary courses so he
could become a journeyman at his trade. He was so proud when he finished the
apprenticeship program.
As I became more
aware of who and what I was, as most kids do during high school, I realized
that my future was not going to be in Dolton with my family and extended
family. I instinctively knew that for me to become anything but a general
factory worker I had to leave and get out on my own. I also knew that my
options were severely limited. My grades in high school were about average; I
failed some classes, I had to attend summer school twice for math, and did well
in others. But nothing that qualified me for college. I had no interest in cars
or the trades so my going to trade school wasn't going to happen.
As with most young men in the early 60's if
you didn't go to college or into a trade school or apprenticeship program you
got drafted. I knew the military was in my future. The one thing I knew for
sure was that I wanted to chart my own course after graduation. So late in the
summer of 1964 while my parents and sister were on vacation I had my number for
the draft moved up. I didn't want my
mother to know I would be going away especially into the military so moving up my number was a way to do it
without her knowing it was my choice. I wanted to go
after my birthday so I selected November as the date I would go. My plan was to
enlist after getting my draft notice. I
had no way of knowing it then but going into the military was going to change
my life forever in ways I could never imagine.
