Ground Pounder

I’ve lived in North Chicago on and off most of my life. I lived in Phoenix. And I moved back here because my mom got Alzheimer's. So she lived here all her life. She's been here in this house, for 85 years. My uncle lives right here. And that used to be her sister’s house.

North Chicago back in the 50s and 60s, was a real nice place. It used to be a lot more than what it is. The only reason my mom stayed here was because she had the siblings. Yeah. Because my my grandmother lived downstairs. We lived upstairs and my Aunt, aunt and uncle lived next door. So there was they had five boys. We had two boys and sister. And my other cousin was from Lake Bluff. So he would come down. So you know, we were all getting into trouble and you know,

You mentioned that you served in Vietnam.

I was a ground ground pounder.

I’m not familiar with that term.

Well, we'd go out on search and destroy missions. Marine Corps.

That's some pretty hard core stuff. And then what do you do?

When I got out? It was a whole different time. You know? I landed in San Francisco and got off the plane and I was going to get on the train to come back to Chicago and people would be spitting on you. It was like I said, it was a completely different time. Now all the soldiers, you know, somebody comes home and they show up, pray for him– you know, back then not so much. When I got home, it took a long time to get over just being there, you know? And that post traumatic stress syndrome that took a long time to get over. I got a job at Ammco Tools, machining, you know, and then all of a suddent it seemed like all the industry moved out of Lake County, you know, there's nothing in here anymore. We used to have the steel mill, we used to have the tannery down by the lake…

This house was built in 1917. Lake County, Illinois used to be the highest paid per capita, even over Chicago. We had we had the most industry here in Lake County. And then when you got into the 70s, and 80s, everything left.

Tell me something about yourself. What what trait do you admire that others? What trait Do you possess that others admire in you?

I don't know. I really don't know.

Something that people who know you would say. “I know that guy. He's...”

An *sshole.

No! Someone who likes you!

No, those are the people who like me!

What do you think your best trait is?

Well, as you grow, you gain wisdom, and compared to what I used to be when I was 18, to 20, and that I think I mellowed out a lot and, you know, became a better person.

You mentioned that you like to travel and see new things. If you could go anywhere, where would it be if time and money weren’t an issue?

I'd probably go back to Vietnam. There's a lot of open wounds left over there. And we lost a lot of people over there. And I would like to go back to a couple of the major battles that I was in just in– and just, ah, I would like to bring some, like on Palm Sunday, cut up some palms and take it over there with all the guys names that were killed that I knew over there, and just release them. And trace the battles that I were in. I mean, because you were so proud of your uniform, when you came back, you know, and then all of a sudden, everybody's protesting...

There's so many wounds. And you can you can just be walking or driving down some place and a certain smell will take you back. I was married when I came back that caused the divorce, just because I couldn't handle what I went through and I couldn't express– I couldn't tell anybody what I went through. Only by going to the VA is it that I'm able to talk this much about me– and I can't talk about a lot of people over there– because you know, it's just way too much.

When are you the happiest? What makes you happy?

When I'm on vacation, I like going to California and Phoenix. I mean, I've been I've been to Germany. I've been to Cancun, I've been to Cozumel.

Edited and condensed, this conversation took place in 2016.