Tomfoolery and Tragedy

Every person has periods in his life, when life as he knows it, suddenly changes, sometimes drastically. My first book, "Whoa Yonder " was about my childhood growing up on the family farm in the 1950's and early '60's. Those years were about as peaceful and idyllic as you can imagine. But this book, "Tomfoolery and Tragedy" is a collection of stories taken from 1963-1965, when my world suddenly began to tremble. The farm boy had grown into a throbbing 16 year old who was beginning to anxiously respond to the calls of a mysterious, exciting and sometimes dangerous world. Crossing over the bridge between childhood and the rest of my life in many ways was a wonderful and delightful journey, and a big portion of this book consists of funny and interesting stories drawn from those experiences. For example, girls had my full attention during this time, and I seem to have suffered more misadventures in this category than most young men. I couldn't resist telling several dating stories...wrestling with Betty Sue at the Sunset Drive-in, the surprises Cheryl gave me on my one and only double-date with my older brother, the first time I ever got unlucky with a girl, and the night Angel taught me all about swish-poppa. My girly stories are not too graphic, and I doubt they will arouse any prurient interests in anyone, but they were all big events in this teenager's life. I also felt compelled to share some of the mischief my buddies and I managed to live through. For example the scary night Tommy and I spent in the almost-empty Colquitt Hotel, the day Wayne and I spent 8 hours in the Folly Burlesque Hall, or the confrontation Luke and I faced on the sidewalks of Kansas City after leaving an old whorehouse, are just a few examples of some of my juvenile adventures. At the same time that my personal life seemed to resemble a runaway train, America also appeared to have lost its mooring. The assassination of President Kennedy in November, 1963, rattled every American, young and old. That event I feel was directly responsible for my brother's decision to join the Marines in January, 1964...the biggest decision he would ever make. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the historic moments of the Civil Rights Movement during 1963 shook up my segregated world, and it also shook me up. Bull Connor's frontal assault on black men, women, and children in Birmingham, the "I have a dream speech" in front of 250,000 demonstrators in Washington, and the death of 4 little black girls at the 16th Street Baptist Church would cause waves of change to roll over most Americans and break down our resistance to racial integration. Yet, nothing has affected my life more than my brother's death in Vietnam in May, 1965. His dedication to duty, and his bravery in that muddy ditch 50 years ago is a story that must be told and retold. In the last chapter I share hand-written letters from other Marines and treasured photos of my hero brother's last days. Finally, I make an effort to understand what really happened to place our Nation in a long, bloody war halfway around the world. I hammer away on lessons that I think were bought with the lifeblood of over 51,000 Americans. Soldiers whose lives were not sacrificed in vain as long as we recognize, remember and value the lessons to be learned from Vietnam. In the end, it is my hope that my stories will make you laugh...and cry, and when you put my book aside, there will be a tear-stained smile on your face.