I was born in Culver City, California. Pop was in the Army Air Corps and was assigned to a Ferrying squadron. He would fly the good planes, mostly B-17's and B-24's, over to the combat areas, and then fly the damaged ones back. He had a few close calls and interesting stories, but on the whole, he didn't talk much about them.
Mom would travel to wherever he was based. They had only been married since July - yes, nine months earlier - so they wanted to be together whenever they could. Before California, Pop was assigned to Miami. Mom loved both locations.
Anyhow, Mom's favorite actor at the time Ronald Reagan. She would often sit outside Century City Studios in a car with her girlfriend waiting to get his autograph. Sometimes, they would even try to follow him, but never with any success. So she did the next best thing; she named me Ronald (personally, I'm glad I wasn't called Gip. One of Pop's brothers, Ira, was called Dutch by everyone, so that wouldn't have been too bad.
Six weeks after I was born, Mom and I had to travel back to Pensylvania to live with her mother (The same grandmother who would give me a crisp $2 bill on my birthday every year). Pop had contracted tuberculosis and was being sent to a hospital near Denver. We traveled on a train that was mostly Army and other military veterans. Mom had her girlfriend along for company.
After we got on the train and it left the station, Mom realized she had lost the diaper bag. She had left it in the station. When it became known what happened, the soldiers kept providing her with white T-shirts for diapers during the entire three-day trip. Maybe that's why I became a soldier.
Pop stayed in Denver for about nine months and then was discharged to Pennsylvania. He had a collapsed lung, but it never bothered him or kept him from doing what he wanted (He was almost 81 when he died of complications from the flu).
Happy Birthday to me!
(Arial 12)
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