“I was drafted into the Marine Corps on October 26, 1945, and I served the Corps faithfully and proudly for twenty-one years. I moved more than twenty times and I attended eleven schools in twelve years. My job was to be a stranger, to know no one’s name on the first day of school, to be ignorant of all history and flow and that familial sense of relationship and proportion that makes a town safe for a child.“
I don’t know when I ‘entered military duty,’ maybe in 1950 sometime. We moved from Whitehouse to Selfridge AFB, MI – just up the road. From then, until 1964 when I left home, I attended eleven schools twelve years; in 4 states, 3 countries and 1 possession. The longest we ever lived anywhere was 3 years.
In 7th grade I became great friends with Jay Karp. He always talked about Tampa, FL. On and on he would go. for a couple years we played together day in and day out. We were on the same Little League team, the Yankees. I always thought he was a dear friend…
In 1986 I flew into MacDill AFB, FL – just across the bay from Tampa. After I got to the O’Club that night I settled into a phone booth, and looked him up. And wouldn’t you know it, there he was! Oh, how excited I was as he dialed his number.
When he answered, I introduced myself and told him we played together as kids. He didn’t have a clue who I was. Then I told him about the cookies his Mom used to make, and I was “spot on” with that, but he still couldn’t remember me. I became a bit uncomfortable, and after a while just kinda went away… here I had “carried him around with me” all these years, and he couldn’t remember me. Back into the bar, and soon everything was ‘okay,’ as it always was…
So, I know first hand, what Pat means with, ‘My job was to be a stranger that first day of school.’ There are times today I think I am a stranger to myself…