When I went to Vietnam the first time Linda and I had been married for less than a six months. She had decided to stay with my parents while I was away, staying with my family had it's ups and downs but Linda settled in to her new life. She got a job at Becker's Bakery just down the street from where Dad worked and they often rode together.
Getting to know my siblings was ok especially getting to know Clint and Ronnie, when things got a little overwhelming they seemed to know when she needed to get away. Getting to know Vicky had it's ups and downs, I think their relationship didn't really mature until much later, Vicky was just starting into her teenage years and could be a handful at times. Mom helped Linda enhance her cooking skills and taught her a lot about sewing an art she excelled in for the rest of her life. Dad was proud of his daughter in law and took opportunities to show her off.
All was not always cheerful and bright, Mom could be testy at times and Dad had a drinking problem. Linda wrote to me about how she would be scared of Dad's driving when he had been drinking. Being the man I was at the time I immediately fired off a letter to Dad and chewed him out for driving Linda around when he was drinking, in retrospect I should have calmed down before writing the letter but I didn't. This created some hard times for Linda.
When I finally got back to the states I was anxious to get back home and bring Linda to California but the Navy wanted me to start six weeks of KP before going on leave. It took some arguing but I won out and got leave. During all of this I would call home and say I was getting leave then call back and say I wasn't then call back and say I was, in the mean time things were getting a little testy at home so Linda decided to take things in to her own hands.
I finally got leave and called home to say I was on my way, Mom answered the phone and told me Linda had loaded the car and was own her way to California. Mom got on the phone with the highway patrol and they found Linda somewhere west of Nashville. The story Linda told me was that she was so upset and mad that when the trooper stopped her she rolled down the window and defiantly said "what". The trooper was understanding and gave her my flight number, she turned around and met me at the airport.
We probably should have headed straight out for California but we went home instead, I returned to a cool reception. The next day we headed out, halfway to Memphis we heard on the radio that Dr. Martin Luther King had been killed in Memphis and riots were starting to form. We made it through Memphis an hour before the curfew started, then we headed on to Little rock where again we beat out the curfew. We didn't stop that night until somewhere in Oklahoma.
Day's later we arrived in California and went looking for a place to stay. We found a place and the realtor started filling out the paperwork then he asked us for a $100 for the first months rent and another $200 for deposit. We didn't have all of the money, Linda was devastated and started to cry the realtor took pity on us and let us move in with out any deposit.
-------------------------------------
The second time I returned from Vietnam was in the spring of 1969, Linda had gone back to Florida while I was overseas and was working for the local newspaper.
I caught a flight from San Diego to Orlando, it was a night flight and believe it or not there were few passengers. During this time there had, for years, been several high jackings of passenger planes to Cuba. Several passengers were of obvious Spanish decent and the thought crossed my mind that I just spent seven months in Vietnam and now I could be on my way to Cuba. As it turned out we landed in Orlando with out a hitch, Linda was waiting for me and we spent the night in a local motel. A couple of days later we started our drive back to San Diego.
Several months later I was discharged from the Navy in San Diego and was faced with a long drive back to Tennessee. Linda had been ill and had a surgical procedure she wasn't able to drive as yet. We had a 1962 Chevy which we loaded up with all our worldly possessions including a large trunk strapped to the roof.
I had a friend from Tennessee who had broken his arm and was going home on leave, he opted to ride with us and help with the driving. Back then I was more interested in getting from point "A" to point "B" than stopping to look at anything in between, Linda on the other hand was interested in the view and the places we could see.
Our first issue was crossing the lower Sierra mountains out of California. the climb was too much for the car and it overheated, fortunately for us a friendly state trooper came along and helped us out, overheating plagued us the entire trip.
When we got into Arizona Linda insisted we see the Grand Canyon so I relented and we made the detour. I planned on spending a couple of hours but we wound up spending the whole day, after spending the night in a local motel it was a race back to Tennessee.
-----------------------------------
I was 18 when I went in the Navy, I was the first to leave home, my youngest sibling was my brother Ronnie he was seven when I left. Returning on leave was usually a big deal especially for Ronnie. On one of my returns from Vietnam it was quite late when Linda and I got in Mom was up and waiting for us Dad had not gotten home as yet, Ronnie had fallen asleep waiting for us. I went into Ronnie's bedroom and sat on the side of his bed and woke him up, he rubbed his eyes saw it was me then he gave me the biggest hug, that night I was a proud brother.
There have been many homecomings over the years each with it's own joys and sorrows. Kay and I have been back several times now, it's different from years ago. Home as I remember is no longer there, my family has gotten smaller the places I remember have changed or disappeared. Time has taken it's toll or progress has moved things along - take your choice. The important thing is that even though I have a home in Georgia now Tennessee is my real home every where I have been has been an adventure in the scheme of life.
No comments:
Post a Comment