My Brother My Love

After graduating from Port Neches High School, at about the middle of a class of 143 individuals, I entered the United States Navy and devoted four years to fun, games, and a great deal of dismay and disgust. Upon completing boot camp at San Diego, California, I entered Machinist Mate School at Great Lakes; Illinois where I finished number three in the class. My academic standing, along with consultation with a helpful Chief Petty Officer, enabled me to pick my ship duty, known as a 'billet', and I selected the USS Piedmont, AD17, on which I served for the remainder of my enlistment. During that period, I was fortunate to visit Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, China, Formosa, the Philippine Islands, and the Hawaiian Islands. During May of 1956, I entered The University of Texas at which I earned a BBA. That, perhaps, was at least part of the best period of my life where I lived on beer, potato chips, and beans; after four years of servitude it felt like I was in heaven, and I was almost, since I was back to, and at the heart of the state of Texas. Grateful does not describe the feeling I have for the high school English teacher who told me that I 'probably' had an aptitude for writing, and here I am 50 years later.