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Being raised in a small town in upstate New York during the fifty's and early sixty's we had the good fortune to know just about every kid in town. The village had decided to keep the kids busy with a wide vary of actives and a recreation department that was one of the best in the area provided a number of places for entertaining us plus a few of our own.Being a member of the baby bloomers generation meant there where more kids in the schools than there were schools so they have us go 1/2 days. To have this as an excuse to go half a day was a truly great thing and was made better by having to go just in the mornings with afternoons off just was a joy.
So having set this up a little let me begin. My first meeting with my friend was at Sunday school.most of my friends all went to one form or another of early Sunday school my way was that it was right across the street and there was no reason why I could not go and for years had perfect attendance,[still hear that damn bell] in my class were six of the smartest boys in the town and they would go on to prove with the honors they received and grades they made. The other two members of the class were me and this other guy from the other end of town and he went to another school in town and was in another group of students. The brains were the six guys who could name all the books of the bible both old and new testaments and we were lucky to get Matthew, Mark,Luke and John hold the horse and I'll get on,sorry that's what I remember.
So naturally we become friends, you know birds of a feather flock together, and so on. Being that so many kids were in public schools they were using different sites for schools example would be Church's,theaters,and bars, yeah really a bar. So being the type with a good sense of humor and bored to death in school is not a good mix for studies or respect for teachers so I got to use a lot of different venues for school.So by the fourth grade I was sent to West End the name of the school and there was a couple of friends there that went mornings and had afternoons off. One was my Sunday School class mate. and the bond we had form became stronger and again we were not the brightest bulbs in the pack.He was quiet, a little shy and already be coming an outstanding sports athlete star.
For him I think athletics's help him come out more and devolve his leadership skills.meaning when we play baseball his position was catcher, football he was the quarterback. When we play small fry football there were three teams a traveling team where he was the quarterback and this was a team made of the best kids most were 2-3 years older than him, but he was a starter. We remained good friends and by that i mean as a boy you have friends you do things with and learn things from. He interduced me to fishing, i had my first over nite sleep out and fishing experience and my first beer with him. We play against each other in little league,Babe Ruth baseball and between the lines played hard.On my team one time I was playing second and one close friend Don was playing shortstop and my friend had just hit a double and was standing on second when the ball came in to and we exchanged pleasantries "like nice hit, how ya doing" that kind of thing,the way you talk during a game.Next batter line drive to Don at short,I come in behind the runner at second,Don flips me the ball we pick him off doubleplay. As he's coming back to base he spikes me from just below my knee to top of my spikes
and going back to dugout I look down and see the area of the sock is torn. I bat that inning, walking to plate I say"hey man, you spiked the shit out of me"smiling at me he says"next time get the fuck out of the way" a lesson learned. Another time we were in one of the three pools halls in town shooting pool and he was kicking my ass and I started playing around,he gets pissed and throws his cue on table saying to me "next time we play ether play to win or don't bother playing get it". Never hurt friendship still we reminded good friends.
When we reached high school, starting varsity quarterback 10th grade me JV running back he walks to me grabs my face mask looks me in eye and smiles says"helmet tight enough" no intend to hurt me just checking on me and making sure I'm alright,friends. This is what friends do for each and things you remember all the rest of your life about a person. I have a few more stories about my friend, but I will save them for another time and I will finish with this last part of this story.
On a warm summer night in July 1968, in a bar that we all liked, I was standing with my two close friends from growing up in the Village of Waverly NY. I was with my friends Ken LoVecchio and Greg Stiger,at the time I was AWOL from the USNavy, Greg was home on leave from USArmy to spend time with his wife who was pregnat before going to Vietnam he knew I was Awol and was asking me about it and how did I do it.At the time I had by then seen a lot of Marines in Brooklyn where I was station come out of hospital at St Albans just shot to shit and was very much in my anti-war mode. Here was a man who's wife was pregant,had been president of our class, president of student council two time captain of football team.As friends he had taken me fishing shared my first beer with me my first sleepout been to underage drinking partys together sold me my first car and asked me and Kenny if we would be ashamed of him if he went to Canada with his wife. We told him no, we understand why he would want to. Shortly after that he said he was going home cause he was leaving the next day to go back for deployment and want to spend the remaining time with his wife.
November of 1968 I was in the Brig in Brooklyn Navy Yards and trying to decide if I wanted to return to the fleet and finish my time in the service. I recieved a letter from my mother and newspaper clippings she told me that my friend, Greg Stiger had been killed in Vietnam, he had been in country for less than one month, to say I was stunned is an understatement, that helped to make my mind up.
Today is Greg's birthday he would have been 62 years old he still 19, I still visit he grave, I think of him often. I think the anicent Greeks said that if you remember someone after their death they are immortal, I do remember my friend and have for over 40 years.
In the summer of 1999 the Traveling Wall,Vietnam War Memorial came to visit Waverly and was set upon the playing field of Memorial Stadium the home of WHS football. On the Wall names of men killed in Vietnam, 4 of them played football on that field.
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