It's my Dad's Birthday
It’s my dad’s birthday today. He’s going to be 79 years old. That’s pretty old – hell it’s 553 in Dog years.
I’d like to get all sentimental about this but – well my dad really isn’t that kind of person. At least not on the surface. Actually he’s a lot more sensitive than he lets on but hell he was born in 1929 grew up in depression/ World War 2 era Brooklyn – were as he once said “a man was measured by how much he could drink and how many people he could beat up” so any sensitivity got buried like right quick.
As he grew up he drifted a bit – finally ending up in the army – were in what was then camp hood Texas– after a forced march in full packs on water discipline – where you ran ten minutes then walked ten minutes with a 5 minute break every hour where you could take one swallow from your canteen – they checked. There were ambulances following behind the company to pick up the soldiers who keeled over. Then he decided that he was going to do something else with his life that didn’t involve this.
He finished out his army service – went to college, met my mom about this time, then was called back for the Korean war – by this time he was a medical technician – he handed the doctor the instruments in an operating room – and spent about a year working in a hospital in the State of Washington near Seattle where they put the wounded after Korea and Japan were filled.
He’s never talked much about those days – other than one time saying “we killed hundreds” and you have to wonder what working there day after bloody day would do to a man - one thing he was always vehemently anti-war – as an example he’s extremely pissed at the democratic party for doing nothing about ending the war in Iraq once they got control of congress (judging by congress’s approval rating 9% - which is down there with Dick Cheney and ringworm I don’t think he’s alone).
He ended up in Germany for the end of the war (we had taken so many troops out we needed to put them back – then back home – off the finish college – get marred have 4 kids work for a long time in the advertising business – he has at least one commercial in the Broadcast Museum in New York – the one where the chimpanzee operates a Xerox photocopier but to his credit he doesn’t haul things like that out much.
He had a fierce temper and a fierce loyalty to those he loved and god help those he thought were hurting them. – He wasn’t a man of reasoned responses.
He loves movies – especially westerns and comedies – The Marx Brothers, W.C Fields and Clint Eastwood are high on his list but as long as it was moving he’d watch it – Oh yes Zulu is a great favorite – I don’t know how many times he’s seen that one.
He also loves golf – a game whose appeal eludes me I have to say.
We had our problems as I was growing up and we lost a lot of years when we weren’t talking. Now with him this old it feels like such a loss – but we still have some time left and the old man has given me a lot. More than I can say really.
Happy Birthday Dad.
I’d like to get all sentimental about this but – well my dad really isn’t that kind of person. At least not on the surface. Actually he’s a lot more sensitive than he lets on but hell he was born in 1929 grew up in depression/ World War 2 era Brooklyn – were as he once said “a man was measured by how much he could drink and how many people he could beat up” so any sensitivity got buried like right quick.
As he grew up he drifted a bit – finally ending up in the army – were in what was then camp hood Texas– after a forced march in full packs on water discipline – where you ran ten minutes then walked ten minutes with a 5 minute break every hour where you could take one swallow from your canteen – they checked. There were ambulances following behind the company to pick up the soldiers who keeled over. Then he decided that he was going to do something else with his life that didn’t involve this.
He finished out his army service – went to college, met my mom about this time, then was called back for the Korean war – by this time he was a medical technician – he handed the doctor the instruments in an operating room – and spent about a year working in a hospital in the State of Washington near Seattle where they put the wounded after Korea and Japan were filled.
He’s never talked much about those days – other than one time saying “we killed hundreds” and you have to wonder what working there day after bloody day would do to a man - one thing he was always vehemently anti-war – as an example he’s extremely pissed at the democratic party for doing nothing about ending the war in Iraq once they got control of congress (judging by congress’s approval rating 9% - which is down there with Dick Cheney and ringworm I don’t think he’s alone).
He ended up in Germany for the end of the war (we had taken so many troops out we needed to put them back – then back home – off the finish college – get marred have 4 kids work for a long time in the advertising business – he has at least one commercial in the Broadcast Museum in New York – the one where the chimpanzee operates a Xerox photocopier but to his credit he doesn’t haul things like that out much.
He had a fierce temper and a fierce loyalty to those he loved and god help those he thought were hurting them. – He wasn’t a man of reasoned responses.
He loves movies – especially westerns and comedies – The Marx Brothers, W.C Fields and Clint Eastwood are high on his list but as long as it was moving he’d watch it – Oh yes Zulu is a great favorite – I don’t know how many times he’s seen that one.
He also loves golf – a game whose appeal eludes me I have to say.
We had our problems as I was growing up and we lost a lot of years when we weren’t talking. Now with him this old it feels like such a loss – but we still have some time left and the old man has given me a lot. More than I can say really.
Happy Birthday Dad.
posted by Unknown at 1:10 PM
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