Out of Kalamazoo County

ISBN-13: 9781503031487 / Angielski / Miękka / 2014 / 128 str.

Richard Franklin Bishop

Opis

Personal memories of a boyhood on a farm in southern Michigan and later of his 25 years in the U.S. Air Force as a Non-combatant (without deadly force). From playing the strange game of Soccer at a one-room schoolhouse beginning at the tender age of four to his graduation from High School and entrance into College at the age of 16, there is never a dull moment in his rural life on this farm. It covers work on the farm, part-time employment at a Fishing Tackle plant while "working his way through College" and all the mistakes in between; i.e., setting a run-away grass fire, shooting a hole in a brand-spanking new trailer-home, and bouncing an arrow off his sister. It was no different in the Military. Paydays and unusual additional duties occupied his life. Totin' a .38 Special while classified as a Non-combatant just muddied up the water as to what kind of a "Troop" he was supposed to be. Within this book, there is an unabashed Homage to the unsung "Support Personnel" of all kinds: "In all our Wars, when the perimeter defendants at outposts faced the prospect of being overrun and reached for a weapon to defend themselves, it made no difference if the words 'Farrier', 'Quartermaster', 'Cook', or 'Disaster Control' were tattooed on their forehead, the shots 'fired-in-anger' at them were just as devastating as if they were real Combat Troops. They were all 'at risk.' . . . . They were there and had been ready." Finally, he muses over hero worship at a young age and in memoriam of the Centennial of WW I, describes his Father's service "over there" as an Automatic Rifleman while a Doughboy in the U.S. Expeditionary Corps where he was gassed and earned the Purple Heart medal.