While skimming some Facebook pages I came across a service that an organization was providing grandfathers to write their life history to be passed onto their grandchildren.

     Of course you had to pay $59 for the service, and an additional $20 to $25 for additional books. So, I decided to write my own at a minor cost of $4.95. That’s what I paid the Conshohocken librarian when I ran off some 19 pages of my life history. It included five colored pages of books I self-published, and another six cartoon etches of my life highlights. (It cost 40 cents for colored pages and 15 cents for black and white ones.)

Altar Boy, Going Steady & Singing on TV

     I started off by sharing that I served as an altar boy at age 12, followed by my request of a girl to go steady with me at age 14 Next came one my highlight of highlights when the Doo Wop group I sang bass with appeared on television at a Rock & Roll show.

       June 3, 1968 was the day I got drafted into the army at age 19. I tell of how my oldest brother, George, suggested that I go to OCS (Officer Candidates School). Six months of rigorous training put me in great shape as well as teaching me survival skills for war. I became the second youngest candidate to graduate on August 22, 1969 as a commissioned Officer and a Gentleman by an Act of Congress.

Vietnam War Discussed but not Analyzed

     I did not spend much time on the Vietnam War where I served as a combat infantry platoon leader but I share what had come the worst day of my life when five infantrymen in one of my squads were wounded by “friendly fire” from mortar shell fired by our own side. I got blamed for calling in the wrong coordinates and was relieved of my duty.

     I was given other platoons to lead and the last one I was in charge of had given me a 21-gun salute on the last day I was in a combat zone.

Reporter, Union Organizer & Lawyer

     Returning home, I became the first one in my family to go to college and then got my first adult job as a newspaper reporter, and then a union organizer. I finally ended up working as a public defender in Philadelphia when I retired after PTSD blowups began to occur.

     The final chapter included me starting a Blog post and then writing five books, dedicating two of them to my grandkids. (They loved seeing their names in the books!)

     I recommend all grandparents write their life histories like I did. The writing service known as “Memo Write,” shared a story of a Harvard study which said that people for more than 80 years found one thing predicted a happy life above everything else was not money, nor success, but by being truly known by people you love.