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Well, there's not much all that remarkable about my life, except my wonderful family. Scan on down through my page and you'll find more about my family and I than you probably ever wanted to know! |
EARLY LIFE
In the 50s and early 60s,
the town I lived in, even though a south suburbs of Chicago, had a nice, safe,
small-town feel to it. I had what I believed to be an
ideal childhood and most of the things all other boys did. I had loving
parents who were involved in my activities, a dog, and friends on my block that
I played with. I was a Cub Scout, Boy Scout, and Explorer and my parents
participated in many Scouting events with me. My mother was a Cub Scout
Den Mother, my Dad became a Boy Scout District Commissioner and he participated
in many outings with my troop and me.
When I was in about 5th grade, my Dad started taking me to the local YMCA on Saturdays for swimming and wrestling classes and I found that I was pretty good at wrestling. I also loved football and we played sand-lot touch and tackle football almost every Saturday afternoon during the Fall.
My grade school didn't have much to offer in the way of sports except Basketball, which I was terrible at, but when I went to High School, I played football and wrestled all four years. Both my Mom and Dad attended almost all of the football games and wrestling matches. My parents were not particularly well off and luckily, I got a partial scholarship for football and wrestling at the local Junior College so, after High School, I went there.
My wife was born in
Massachusetts where she lived for the first nine years of her life. In
1959 her father was transferred to Chicago and they settled in Oak Forest, which
was just west of the town I lived in.
Hilary and I met
in mid May of 1966. I was finishing my first year of college and I'd
already enlisted in the Marines on the delayed entry program. Hilary was
finishing her Sophomore year of High School and was car-hopping at the Oak
Forest Dog n' Suds drive in, which is where we met.
It was love at first sight for me and we dated all summer until I left for Marine Boot Camp.
I got a job at the
corporate HQ for Wilson Sporting Goods Co to keep "the wolves away from
the door" and in June of 71, I left to join the police department.
During my almost eight years as a police officer I worked in uniformed
patrol, detective, and in undercover drug enforcement. While working
as a police officer I continued my schooling. I was working nights
on the police department and went to school days, earning my degree in
Criminology/Pre Law from the U of I Chicago in 1975.
officer recruiters that, at 30 years of age, I was too old to return to my
beloved Marine Corps. I didn't give up on returning to the military and a
couple months later I tried the Air Force. To my great relief, they told
me that I could get an age waiver and could become a commissioned officer.
Just after my 32nd birthday, I entered Air Force Officer Training School and,
three months later emerged as what I like to call "the world's oldest Air Force
2nd Lt." 
of the Middle-East "garden spots" such as Egypt, Yemen, Somalia,
Saudi Arabia, Kuwait; Qatar, etc. I was TDY
a lot but during the time at home four other fellow AF modelers and I (pictured at right) to
founded the IPMS Gamecocks chapter in Sumter. 
in
China Post #1of the American Legion. China Post 1 is one of the oldest
American Legion posts in the world, formed in 1919 after the "Great War" in
China and was officially chartered by the American Legion in 1920. In
order to gain membership, one must normally be recommended. I was lucky
enough to be sponsored by Col (ret)
Hal Fischer, a double Ace (10 kills) F-86 pilot from the Korean
War (sadly, Col Hal
