Fort Devens, MA - Dec 1960

On the first December my leave had not started yet.In the morning we went out in the forest and set up a tent.It was very cold. After dinner I went to Finance and got $193.20 travel pay..Then I pulled charge of quarters at the Motor Pool...(Some one need a jeep or truck I was there to see it signed out properly).

For dinner I walk to the Mess hall but a soldier drove me back,At the motor pool I studied mathematics and wrote letters.After midnight still writing letters.Then I got relieved went back to the barracks and slept until noon time

I ate dinner at the "Crossroads" snack bar and later I wash my field jacket and fatigue in a Laundromat in Ayer,Mass.At the Service club I called a Miss Carmel Randozzi (more later on that)The next day cleaning my M1 rifle and work as CQ in the motor pool studying Mathematics lessons.,On the 4th Dec the usual work day bu then I was packing my duffel bag to get ready to leave,,The 5th Dec was my last day with the 232nd Combat engineers.

I spent the day going back and forth doing all the paper work that was needed to clear post..I went to Ayer the town nearby and had dinner Mixed Fish,clams,shrimp,scallops,Then I bought ticket to Hartford,Conn. I called Miss Carmel Randozzi..after three calls got her and will see her tomorrow..I got on the bus at midnight,The Bus driver could not let me off in Hartford so I had to walk across a long bridge and walk a dozen blocks before I found a place to sleep at a YMCA..I went to the greyhound bus station and got my bags.I caught a bus to Putman Rd. to Burns school.To see a Miss Carmel Putman a 3rd grade school teacher. I stayed around the school until she got off and went to her house, then we went across the street to eat dinner I had three Manhattans and Veal cutlets, spaghetti,salad, port wine and black coffee. We just talked.
I write if she is that cold I'm headed for warmer climate"

Her father drove me to the YMCA..On the 7th Dec I called my sisters husband :Louis" come I say to New York to pick me up..and he says "no I wont", so it was a couple of days of walking around and sleeping at the YMCA,.Talk about a nothing affair that was it,,Don't ask me why..I went to see her..On the 8th Dec it was catch a bus to New Jersey.

Boarding School - NJ - 1948

Patterson, NJ 1933-1940

My earliest memories of my child hood were being baby-sat. They had me out in the hallway My Mother and father were going out somewhere. Before they left they gave the baby sitter a chocolate bar for me. It was a hot summer day so when the baby sitter gave it to me I put the soft sticky bar all over my face. When my parents came home and saw me they thought it was very funny.

In that same time frame my Father got in the sign business and printing stuff. One day I was in the workshop he had a miniature press for me and a

Toy ice truck. To play with I remember sitting on the floor and playing with the truck and press in those days you put ice in the Ice Box as they called it. The trick was to be there when the ice truck came when the iceman brought the ice in we would try in get little bit of ice off the floor of the truck.

Another real early memory I walked into a candy store and all I had was a penny in the display window was small bags of candy.” How much was it?

One penny and when the man gave it to me he said that some bags had a prize in it. I remember being in Kindergarten and playing with blocks.

It’s amazing how far back I cab go. We had a wood stove to keep us warm

So when I came home from school one day when I had wet my pants (and I don’t mean falling in the snow) I went straight to the stove to dry out.

It was in those good days that my father held me for the first time I could remember He would hold me only one more time. We lived on a corner

One day he picked me up put me on his shoulders and we went around the corner. There was a full moon that night and we just stood there looking at the moon. Its in that same place that one day I came home and somebody was sitting in a chair who had obviously drank to much by the sound of his voice.

One day there was a bad fire that destroyed a factory why I remember is that people were sitting on the sidewalks it was a very sad day. A Happier day was when the Catholic Italians had a street party. Each end of the street was blocked off carnival rides and by the sidewalks they sold different items. There were big tubs of water that I guess was meant to throw a coin and land in something. In the Church we went in and they showed a movie about some saint. The neighborhoods in those days were a mixture of Italian, polish; German.We still had not owned a radio or telephone that was still for those that had money.

My Mother brought us to the Baptist Church for bible classes; My Uncle was a deacon at that Church. First Hymn I ever learned “Jesus loves me yes I know for the bible tells me so” My Mother was always kind to the poor. I was going home with her when we stopped and said “Bill” my brother was at a party and how people liked him. Funny how I never forgot that incident.