April 5, 2025 • 52 mins
Steve Whitney's story begins in western Detroit, where as a young boy he earned money collecting golf balls at Rouge Park's course – a simple hustle that hinted at the resourceful nature that would define his life. Raised primarily by his Sicilian mother with limited communication from his father, Steve found himself drafted into the Army at age 19, marking the start of a journey that would shape his character and capabilities.
After basic training at Fort Knox and infantry instruction at Fort Polk, Steve found himself in an unusual situation. Destined for service on the Korean DMZ, military policy initially blocked his assignment because his brother was already serving in Vietnam – a protection against multiple casualties in one family. Undeterred, Steve signed a waiver to enable his deployment, temporarily angering his mother but creating the opportunity for accelerated advancement. Within his 13-month tour, he quickly rose from E2 to Sergeant, managing mortar teams and leading patrols in the tense buffer zone between North and South Korea.
What makes Steve's story remarkable isn't just his military service but how he carried its lessons throughout his civilian life. After returning home, he married his girlfriend Chris in 1972 and built a 35-year career at Ford Motor Company, evolving from warehouse operations to mechanics in the Executive Garage. Rather than slowing down at retirement, Steve launched directly into a second 19-year career in construction and remodeling, applying his problem-solving skills to everything from hotel renovations to sophisticated kitchen remodels.
Today, Steve remains deeply engaged in his community through the VFW, local theater productions (behind the scenes building sets), and various volunteer initiatives. His lifelong passion for photography, which began with a camera purchased at a Korean PX, continues to document his adventures. Steve's parting wisdom resonates with compelling truth: "Enjoy life when you're young. Do everything you can, because it gets harder as you age. Stay busy with your life." It's advice he lives by every day, having witnessed too many retirees fade away within two years of leaving work because "they got nothing to do." For Steve Whitney, a purposeful life has never been about prestige or position, but rather continuous learning, creating, and contributing.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Today is Friday, april 4th 2025.
We're talking to Steve Whitney,who served in the United States
Army.
So good morning Steve, goodmorning Bill, great to see you
this morning, good you be here,and I gotta say you got a
beautiful place out here.
I know we were talking about itbefore we did the recording,
but it's really nice.
Thank you All right.
Well, we're gonna get startedand I'm just gonna start with
(00:22):
some simple questions.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
So when, and I'm just going to start with some simple
questions so when and wherewere you born?
I was born October, no,february 16th, 1950 in Detroit.
Okay, at what was it?
Mark Carmel.
What was the name of thehospital?
Mount Carmel, mark Carmel, allright.
Detroit, west Detroit.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
For those who are watching and listening Steve's
wife, Chris, is kind of offcamera here watching everything
go on, so we may hear from herat some point in this.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
So I was born and went to school in Detroit.
Okay, the street I lived on.
It was a half block fromelementary school that was just
built, Mm-hmm.
So at two no, at second grade Istarted there Because they were
(01:16):
bussing me to another schoolfor kindergarten and first grade
because that school wasn'tbuilt yet.
Oh, okay, and then I startedthere at that school and then I
went to junior high Lester,Junior High in Detroit.
It's a mile walk.
And then I went to Cody HighSchool, which was another mile
(01:39):
walk, so you were right nearhome the whole time.
Yeah, and I was where we lived.
We were four blocks from thebiggest park in Detroit, rouge
Park, called Rouge Park, and ithad a golf course and it had
three Olympic swimming pools.
There too, brennan Pools, theywere called.
(01:59):
That park was my playground.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
Yeah, were you there all the time.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
A lot.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Well, I started, real young, started making money off
the golf course shagging balls,oh Balls coming over the first,
yeah, first fence andeverything, selling them back to
present golfers.
They get pissed.
No, sell them to somebody else,yeah, why not?
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
No one likes to buy their own ball back, though,
right.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
No, they don't, because they're pissed that they
knocked it off.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
Right, right.
Yeah, I've played a few roundsof golf myself.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
But I learned a couple other holes you can be on
in balls coming over the fence.
Then I started figuring out.
There's seven river holes.
I got a little older one or twoyears, started reading the
course.
Know exactly where the ballscollect their river.
Oh, and get a lot of balls,clean them all up, put them in
eight cartons and sell them.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
So you had quite an enterprise going.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Well, made good money .
Speaker 1 (03:02):
Yeah, Now did you have brothers and sisters?
Speaker 2 (03:04):
I had one brother younger, 11 months younger than
me, and one sister younger thanme, okay, and my brother
enlisted too, and that story hadcome out about him.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
Okay, and then.
So were you guys pretty closegrowing up, or not?
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Well, my childhood was a little problem because my
dad wouldn't communicate with us.
Okay, so it was just my mom.
So basically we grew up thatway.
Eventually I worked in it withmy dad, but that was his problem
, so pretty much your mom wasthe caretaker, then yeah, what
(03:43):
can you tell me?
About your mom.
She's a 100% Sicilian.
Uh-huh, she was reallyoutspoken and Don't remember how
much I had a concussion when Iwas younger Uh-huh, and I lost a
(04:04):
lot of my memory, exactly in myyounger years.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (04:08):
All right.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
So you're working your way through school
collecting golf balls.
Did you swim in those pools atall?
Oh, the Brennan Pools.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Gotcha.
Yeah, that must have beenpretty cool.
Big Olympic pools, three ofthem One shadow, one medium and
one a diving one.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
Did you do much diving?
Speaker 2 (04:29):
No, you didn't have to prove that you can dive.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
Oh, okay, yeah, I got you.
So.
Did you play sports or anythinglike that in school?
Speaker 2 (04:38):
No, no sports.
I was sort of like back then itwasn't called a geek I like all
the shops.
I was a of like back then itwasn't called a geek.
Right, I was, I like all theshops and I was a math.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
I loved math back then, so yeah, well, the nice
thing about math is it just iswhat it is.
Two plus two is always going tobe four, right, yeah, but you
get into geometry, algebra, yeah, all that stuff, yeah, so you,
you make it through school, I'massuming.
Well, no, I didn't.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
Okay, I stopped school because my parents
weren't pushing me Uh-huh, andthe school was pushing me toward
college.
I didn't like the classes theywere pushing me to.
Right.
I wanted to be standard, butnobody would listen to me.
So I just stopped, okay.
Boom, but nobody would listento me.
(05:27):
So I just stopped, okay, andthen made money, worked here,
there, there, and then getdrafted in 19 okay, got hired at
Ford 18 uh-huh, what'd you doit for him?
Well, this is National ParkDepot in Livonia.
It's a warehouse the onlysingle warehouse they have in
the nation that handles notfast-moving stock Okay, and I
(05:50):
worked stock for about 10 yearsthere.
Then I got into their executivegarage they created there as a
mechanic because I was alwayswrenching on the side, and I
managed to be the last 25 yearsor 35 years at Ford's being a
mechanic at Executive Garage.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
Okay, so you did your whole career there at Ford
after that career, yeah, yeah,so let's back.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
So I got drafted at 19 at Ford's and it was August.
I went in, got down to FortWayne where we were going to be
shipped out to Fort Knox,kentucky, and they had us all
stand in line, straight line ina long hallway and out walked a
(06:36):
sergeant Marine sergeant on theside door.
He walked in front of the lineand says, okay, if I point at
you one step forward, I wassweating, I wasn't playing in
the Marines, yeah.
But he picked out four or fiveguys and says okay, you guys are
in the Marines, follow me.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
You know, I've talked to a bunch of guys, same exact
situation and some of them gotpicked and some of them didn't.
It was yeah, that's a scaryproposition there.
Well, it is, because they don'ttell you ahead of time.
That's what's scary about it.
And when you're talking aboutFort Wayne, you're talking about
Fort Wayne in Detroit, right?
Speaker 3 (07:12):
Yeah, a lot of people don't even know that that
existed, I know.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
That was a great place to be yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
And then they bus us down to Fort Knox, kentucky, and
then I get introduced to basictraining.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
So tell me about that .
What do you remember about thatfirst day of basic training?
Speaker 2 (07:32):
No, it was all interesting to me Just learning
everything and meeting.
What's amazing to me?
Meeting the people, the guysfrom all over the the eastern
part of the state country.
That was amazing to me Meetingthe people.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
Yeah, because a lot of people will grow up in one
city and have the same friends.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
It could be Illinois, ohio, it could be New York,
whatever.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Yeah, all kinds of different people from all kinds
of different places.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
It's amazing.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
That is very cool and training was good.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
You learn about misery, agony and whatever the
third hill was called.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
Yeah, interesting thing about the Army is, no
matter where the base is at, itfeels like it's always hot and
always humid.
Did you run into that?
Not there In my infantrytraining down in Louisiana.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
I did Okay.
Did you run into that at FortKnox?
Not there In my infantry.
Training down in Louisiana?
I did Okay, Did you go to Fort?
Speaker 1 (08:28):
Polk.
Yes, all right, let's talk alittle bit about that.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
Okay, I get out of Knox and got shipped down to
Fort Polk and I met a guy inKnox that was from Lincoln Park,
so we kind of got together.
Speaker 3 (08:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
And we did our 192 strong company in Fort Port,
louisiana for empty training andthat was a good deal.
I mean I learned more, likeyou're supposed to Right, I end
up placing first place in thephysical test.
I didn't know I was capable ofdoing it Out of 192?
Speaker 1 (09:11):
Yeah, Jesus Christ, that's not.
Yeah, that's really good, and Igot a three-day pass out of
that.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
Oh yeah, but never had to pull KP either.
I don't know how I lucked outon that.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
Never, never.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
Well, no, I did once and that I think you should have
to go back and do it now.
I did it next, peeling potatoesor something like that.
Oh yeah, yeah.
But Fort Polk no, that was adifferent program there.
Okay, and that was an awesometime.
Okay, and that was an awesometime.
And then when in the Fort Polkthey gave us our orders, the guy
(09:52):
from Lincoln Park and me theother 190 had orders from them.
We didn't.
We were ordered back to Knoxfor track school and then Korea.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
So we didn't know what was going on.
Wow, it's almost like gettingthe lottery.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
Well, we didn't know Right, we didn't know what was
going on.
So we get down to Knox and well, it was during the holiday
Christmas, so we got there inJanuary, yeah, and then we did
our track school and then we gotshipped to Fort holiday
Christmas.
So we got there in January.
Yeah, and then we did our trackschool and then we got shipped
(10:32):
to Fort Lewis Washington, gotshipped over to Korea and we get
there.
I think it's the 8th Army.
They said, okay, it was asergeant.
He says, okay, you guys areassigned to the 2nd and 9th
Battalion, 2nd Division.
It's up on the DMZ of Korea.
You can't go why?
So that's when we found out.
(10:53):
Our mothers wrote letters ohgeez, he had a brother, younger
brother, and I had a youngerbrother.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
They both enlisted and they were a nom at that time
.
Okay, so your brother did, yourbrother he did.
He enlist after you.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
Yes, okay after Okay, after I got drafted Okay, and
then did he go?
Oh, no, didn't he Before.
Oh, before.
I thought it was after Okay,maybe before.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
Yeah.
So your brother enlisted beforeyou did you got drafted.
He went to Vietnam, yeah, andyour mom was like, ah, not two
of them, yep.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
So I said to the sergeant I says how much does
combat pay?
He said at that time it was $65a month.
I says anything we can do aboutit.
He says yeah, sign waivers.
We pissed our mothers off for aperiod of time but we signed
waivers.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
So I want to ask your mom is a Sicilian woman and you
already said that she doesn'thold back.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
I'll bet she was not happy when you did that that,
but I'm that was the miles away.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
So, yeah, what's she gonna do from there?
What's she gonna do until?
Speaker 2 (11:50):
you get home right?
Yeah, but she got over itbefore I got home oh, all right,
good move.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
So yeah, tell me a little bit about your experience
there it was good experience.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
Uh, I made rank fast.
I got over there as an E2, madeE3 as soon as I got there and
then two and a half months laterI was an E4.
And then I found out the unitthree line platoons and one
weapon platoon.
I was a weapons platoon.
They were committed for thezone every three months and then
(12:27):
the line between always hadlate duty in the weapons to
always had the duty.
But during that period I firstgot there they were off the zone
.
Okay, training period we callan R&R right and I found out
there was a Vance combattraining Academy going on up
there.
Uh-huh, and if you went throughit and got in the top ten you
(12:51):
got another grade, volunteeredright.
Good experience because all theinstructors were Vietnam people
, mm-hmm, and you learn a lotfrom them.
And I did learn a lot.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
I got my grade.
I was going to say you finishedin the top ten right.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
Yeah, I got my sergeant's strike.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
Wow, that's really fast.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
By anyone's standard that's really fast, but in the
war zone that's what happens.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
Right?
Well, I don't think it hurtthat you were good at what you
did.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
You were smart and you did what you were supposed
to do.
We had a good platoon daddy inE7.
He was really good.
He was a Vietnam vet too.
He was really good.
And then when he rotated out,they didn't have anybody to
replace him.
So myself and another guy fromRhode Island, Jeff Pace he was a
(13:45):
sergeant we were our two of uswere combined platoon daddies,
Okay.
So a lot happened during thatperiod of time before they got
somebody else in there, Right?
Speaker 1 (13:57):
So what kind of things did you do in Korea?
Speaker 2 (14:00):
When you're committed being a weapon platoon day duty
, you've got guard duty at thegates where the gun jeeps are.
That allows child wagons andpersonnel to get to the GPs in
the zone, and that's about whatwe did.
(14:23):
And then I ran patrols too.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
Okay, In the zone, okay.
So when you talk about in thezone, you sort of have a gate
here on our side and a gate hereon their side.
No, no, no, okay.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
MDL is a true north and south line between North
Korea and South Korea.
Then the DMZ is a two-milebuffer zone on each side of that
MDO line.
Okay, and that buffer zone iswhere you patrol, okay, two-mile
buffer zone.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
You just don't go any further than that.
No, no, right, yeah, anyexciting things happen while you
were there, anything that comesto mind.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
Well, we were never in a firefight, we did mind that
.
Well, we're never in afirefight.
We did one of the gun jeepscoming back from the GP.
They were coming in the curve.
I was set up as uh ambush thatday on patrol near their site
and saw somebody run across theroad in front of them into a
whole right padding.
(15:21):
So we got word on the radioabout that and they knew we were
there.
So we got my guys, we went overthere, did a sweep.
They brought in some moretroops, did more sweeps Not that
I knew what happened.
Guy went to ground.
I learned that from theadvanced training academy.
Yeah, they had tunnels, right.
Well, at that time they didn'tknow about the tunnels there,
(15:44):
right, but they had tunnels,right.
Well, at that time they didn'tknow about the tunnels there,
right, but they had tunnels, wow, yeah.
And then what else happened?
Well, there was a couple ofincidents where we were a MEC
unit, so Armored PersonalCarriers, and they were running
some Armored Personal Carriersand something happened at
(16:05):
another site in the DMZ and theywere running.
One of them tipped over andkilled the guy.
Oh yeah, when I got there justbacking up a little bit.
Oh yeah, when I got to thatcompany, in the mortar pool
there was a three-quarter tonpickup.
It was like Swiss cheese.
In the motor pool there was athree-quarter ton pickup.
It was like Swiss cheese, turnsout.
(16:28):
Two weeks prior there was twoengineers with that pickup truck
at the gate and they were antsyto get to the GP.
But the gun jeeps were with thechow wagon so they're waiting
Somehow.
They talked to the guy that wason the gate, opened it up, they
got in there and they gotambushed.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
Oh, geez, yeah, got to be careful, got to be, yeah.
So how long were you there?
Speaker 2 (16:55):
13 months.
Okay, Standard tour back then.
Yeah, Three months on, onemonth off, three months on.
I ran training too when thatmonth off.
That was fun.
So what kind of training didyou do With them?
Mortars, Worked with the guyswith the mortars and all that
(17:15):
crap.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
And then we got mortars inside our personal
carriers, big hatches on topthat you can fire control and
all that crap.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
So you fire mortars right out of the vehicle?
I didn't know that.
Yeah, they had the 4.2.
I think it was a 4.2.
There was a bigger diametertubes.
They were mounted in the uh,personal carriers.
Oh, that'd be kind of cool.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
Oh it is, it is so with your math background, I I
would imagine creating the firecontrol solution, and all that
was pretty, yes.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
I knew how to do that .
Speaker 3 (17:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
Fire control and where to set the rounds and how
to adjust and everything.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
Yeah, I think people that watch movies just see them
set up the mortar and yes, butthere's some science behind how
to get it to where it needs togo.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
Right, there is science because they know
exactly Well.
First, up and down the altitude, they didn't know how far it
would go for elevation.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
You, go from there Right Well, and you have to know
your own elevation and kind oftheir elevation and the wind and
the weather will impact that?
Speaker 2 (18:22):
No, the weather doesn't affect it.
Oh okay, all right, you justgot to know point A, point B,
that's it, you got to know.
You got to know the maps, right, the coordinates and everything
.
So we trained with that.
I trained with the armor-presolcarriers, and the guys didn't
(18:42):
like me when I did this, becausedown in Knox they did it to us.
They had an armor personalcarrier in a river, a shallow
river, and you'd throw a track.
You've got to put the trackback together again.
So I had to teach the guys that.
Speaker 1 (18:56):
In a river, in a river.
I could imagine they wouldn'tappreciate that very much.
Speaker 2 (18:59):
No, they didn't appreciate it, but hey, you've
got to repair them.
Especially if it comes from theaward zone, you have to repair
it immediately.
Speaker 1 (19:08):
Right, right, you've got to train as you fight.
Yeah, right Now was your friendthere the whole time, the buddy
you met at Coke, yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
He was in the company headquarters company.
He ended up driving the Colonelthe whole time there.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
Oh yeah, was that a driving the Colonel?
Oh, the whole time there.
Oh yeah, was that a cushy job?
Speaker 2 (19:27):
Yes, it was, but he had his perks.
I got the perks from what he'sgot.
Uh-huh, that's funny.
Anytime we ran out of beer,talk to him.
They get beer.
Speaker 1 (19:40):
Are you still in contact with him?
No, no.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
No, never did.
The other guy, Jeff Pace fromMaine, got to know him quite
well.
Never got back with him either.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
Oh, okay.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
All right, I wish I did now, but it never happened.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
Yeah Well, I mean, it's funny when you come back
and everyone kind of goes theirown separate ways, right, yes,
you might run into them or youmight not.
So you did your 13-month tourthere.
And come back to the.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
States, or is there anything else you want to?
Well, no, I haven't finishedthat yet, oh, okay.
Well, when we got near the endof my tour, the CEO, the captain
, came to me and two other E5sin the company and says okay,
you guys are getting short,we're getting committed again.
You guys are going to be onpermanent CQ.
You can rotate it between E3.
(20:35):
And then, when you're off thosetwo days, you can go anywhere
you want.
South Korean, get yourpaperwork done Done.
Deals captain Right.
Twist my arm, south Korean, getyour paperwork done done.
Deals cap right twist my arm butwhile I was CQ there was an
incident that happened and I hadto open the armory up, get guys
(20:57):
armed Because one of our newguys he was on guard duty that
night and he walked in the COclub and plugged.
Our first sergeant Really Foundout later it was an older guy
that talked this guy into doingit and they came back and got
him.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
Was there a reason why they did it?
Did they ever talk about that?
Speaker 2 (21:22):
The other guy that talked.
This guy and the first sergeantnever got along.
Speaker 1 (21:27):
Oh, okay, so it was just a grudge Grudge.
Wow, that's a pretty crazy wayto take care of it, and then,
when that happened, I had to getthe guys out.
Speaker 2 (21:37):
Okay, check all the barracks, and they found them in
one of the barracks, twohostages.
But they talked them out of it.
Then the helicopter comes in,takes them away, and then the
helicopter comes back and takesthe other guy away, and you
never saw them again.
But the first sergeant.
I felt so bad for him becausehe was a good guy and his last
(21:57):
tour was U of M recruiting.
Speaker 3 (22:03):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
Yeah, well, they come all the way to Korea and that
happened.
He had about 30 years ofservice 28 years 30 years, yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:13):
But then I finally rotated out Uh-huh, got back to
Fort Lewis Washington.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
How did you like Fort Lewis?
I really enjoyed it when I wasthere.
I didn't see much of it, ohokay, you were just kind of
Transportation dear.
Speaker 2 (22:27):
Yeah, yeah, didn't see much of it, okay, but I did
coming back from the airport andeverything.
That's when you realize thisVietnam country, what they felt
about the Vietnam War.
Yeah, that's when you realizewhat's going on, mm-hmm.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
What was that like for you?
Speaker 2 (22:48):
That was part of my language bullshit.
Mm-hmm, it's the way the okay.
The media ran with it and thegovernment never told them no,
don't do that.
I Blame the government doing it, but yeah, it's the media to
get carried away, mm-hmm.
That was the first time they input reporters right down the
(23:11):
scene.
Right, right, that's.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
Yeah, yeah, cuz you were the way, people weren't
getting context about what washappening.
They were just seeing it andkind of left to make up their
own story about it, right, yeah,what was it like to come back,
though, after being gone forthat long.
It was good, was it?
Speaker 2 (23:30):
I mean, it was a great experience, but get back
to my life.
Right, that's what I did.
And then married her 72.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
Okay, well, you can't just say I just married Chris.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
No, no, no, We've got to hear this story Okay.
We dated since 17, a blind date, really.
Friends set us up and we datedfor five years and then, in 72,
we got married.
Speaker 1 (23:58):
Okay Was that shortly after you got back then, no,
got back in March of 71 okay,and then you go back to work at
Ford at that point okay, andthen?
She made an honest man out ofyou and about a year she tried
but two years later I got calledup.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
go up to Camp Grayling, Uh-huh.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
That six-year application?
Oh, because you're in theindividual ready reserve or
something like that Well, yourobligation when you're drafted
six years.
Speaker 3 (24:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:31):
So I got called go to Camp Grayling.
So I tried checking into it.
There was six other veteransthat were getting chipped with
the National Guard Uh-huh.
So we get up there, they bustus up there, and then the six of
us.
We went looking for the firstsergeant to find out what's
(24:53):
going on.
Right, we walked in.
He looked at all of us.
He started laughing.
He says I know who you guys are.
He says you're asking whatyou're here for.
He says yes, sir, body count.
That's all.
Just enjoy your time and teachthese guys what you know so they
(25:13):
just needed numbers.
Yes, oh, how nice so we didbecause I was mortars taught
some guys on the fine range howto shoot mortars.
Speaker 1 (25:23):
That was fun yeah, there's a it's.
It's a lot of fun when you getto use the the big guns yeah,
big weapons yeah we had, uh,what were called mark 19, and it
, that is a uh, it mounts on topof a vehicle and it's basically
a machine gun that firesgrenades.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:43):
Yeah, so we had those .
Speaker 2 (25:44):
The M79 Law?
I mean no yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:46):
M79 Green Launcher.
Yeah yeah, these sat up on topand they were belt fed, so that
was our fun stuff.
So you're just kind of hangingout at Camp Grayling just having
a good time.
Speaker 2 (25:57):
No, we were in training but had a good time.
Yeah, the first weekend shecame up and then I drove her
back and came back up there so Ihad a car there, mm-hmm, so
some of us would come back inthe car, right, chris?
Yeah, it was a good time.
Two weeks went fast.
(26:19):
Yeah, I mean the mortar guys,the guys I was teaching.
We were in the range poppingmortars and hitting, doing our
thing, and at the end I saysokay, guys, I'm going to show
you something.
Crank the tube straight up,drop an illumination round in
Poof Comes down with a parachute.
Speaker 3 (26:40):
Wow I.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
Says okay, well, I had to teach them to don't be so
fast on a mortar tube.
Hmm, you don't want to behanging one and one coming out
at the same time, right?
Speaker 1 (26:56):
Now can you overheat that mortar tube too, if you're.
Speaker 2 (26:59):
I've heard it being done, but I never had a chance
to do that.
Yeah, Because the only timethey overheat it say if you're
in a hill or something and you'dbe normal running and using the
mortars constantly.
That could happen, yes, yeah,but I don't think so.
Speaker 1 (27:17):
Because there's that amount of time for it to leave,
and then you have to actuallyload it again, so well you know.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
When it goes off, right, drop another one.
There's a firing pin right atthe bottom of that tube, uh-huh.
But I'm betrothed in Korea.
I always grabbed thecombination, the combination,
the grenade launcher and my M16combination package.
Speaker 1 (27:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:47):
Is it the M79?
That's the Mark 79.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:50):
I got to shoot one of those once.
Speaker 2 (27:51):
Those are.
Oh, that's a lot of fun.
Those grenades are so accurate.
Yeah, yeah, if you do it right,yeah, you can get done with it.
The little sight that pops uplike that.
Speaker 1 (28:00):
Yeah, yeah, we did a few of those at Grayling when I
was serving, so yeah, so you didyour two weeks at Grayling.
Anything else happen up thereor just head for home, just the
two weeks there and then comehome and get back to life.
Speaker 2 (28:15):
Yeah, so talk about what?
Getting back to life?
Yeah, so talk about what.
Did I spend?
35 years of fords, uh-huh.
Uh.
We never had kids, but I alwaysgot involved.
I got involved with one of mynieces.
Her dad died when she was youngand at 10 I started seeing her
every week.
So I was well for her till shegot where she got a teenager to
house.
Oh no, I don't want to'm busy.
(28:37):
You didn't want to do thatanymore.
But no, no, no, it was fun.
Yeah, and we always had huskiesand cats and everything.
Photography was always my thing.
We started doing these two-week, three-week vacations every
year.
We started in August, but thenwe switched it to September
(28:59):
Because September was great.
He had to make reservations,right, it was easy to travel in
this country and we pick a stateand spend up to a week
traveling back and forth, get tothat state it's been two weeks
in a particular state and seewhat we did.
A lot of things in every one ofthose states and that was fun.
(29:20):
And photography God, I got somany photo albums.
It's unbelievable, all right,what a great way to keep all
your memories to yeah anythingelse you get to this age, who's
gonna say them, yeah, well, yeah, I mean, you can enjoy them,
right.
Yeah, but I'm talking, we'retalking already to nephews and
nieces and stuff like that.
Okay, you want my guns, youwant my photographs, stuff like
(29:42):
that.
What do you want Because we'vegot a living trust, so we've got
to mark everything in there,right?
Speaker 1 (29:48):
Yeah, so when you were working at Ford, were you
still living in Detroit?
No, okay.
Speaker 2 (29:53):
But no, no.
Speaker 1 (30:00):
Yeah, working in Detroit.
Yeah, but we moved.
Yeah.
How long were you in Detroitthen, before you moved?
Was it 18 years?
Speaker 2 (30:03):
13 years, okay, 85, we moved to Canton, uh-huh,
bought a small ranch, built agarage and spent 21 years there.
Speaker 3 (30:15):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (30:16):
And then from there we bought this place two acres
and built this ranch.
Uh-huh.
Now we've been here for 19years.
Okay, this place.
Speaker 1 (30:24):
And how many huskies have you had over?
Speaker 3 (30:26):
that period of time Three, three of them.
Speaker 1 (30:27):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (30:28):
Plus puppies.
Speaker 1 (30:30):
What's that Plus?
Speaker 3 (30:31):
puppies.
Speaker 1 (30:32):
Oh, so you.
Speaker 2 (30:32):
Oh yeah, because the first husky we bred her Okay,
and we had a lot of puppies fromthere, and then we had an Oopsy
.
Speaker 1 (30:43):
Because he didn't think that they could climb
front seats.
Speaker 2 (30:44):
You had some puppies that weren't planned for All we
know is a black male.
Speaker 1 (30:49):
Like a Labrador or something like that.
Who?
Speaker 2 (30:51):
knows what it was, but we got some interesting
puppies from that one.
Did you have trouble getting?
Speaker 3 (30:56):
rid of those puppies.
Speaker 1 (30:58):
Yeah, anybody watching.
We've got a husky mug righthere that you're drinking out of
.
That's why, now, is that yourmost recent dog?
Speaker 2 (31:07):
Yes, yeah, that's the most recent.
She made it 14, passed lastyear.
Okay, what was her name?
Kia?
Kia, which is a native Alaska,means little wise one.
Oh yeah, that's her up there inthe wall, the little puppy.
Okay.
Speaker 1 (31:22):
So, just like kids, we got pictures of the puppies.
Speaker 2 (31:27):
And she was character from the first two Huskies
Uh-huh.
She really had a differentpersonality.
Speaker 1 (31:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (31:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (31:36):
So did you.
I want to go back a little bit.
So did you travel the wholetime?
You were working as well, or isthat just something that you
started doing later on in life?
Speaker 2 (31:45):
We did three weeks travel and where we lived in
Canton, our good neighbors, goodfriends now next door, they
would watch our animals orthey'd watch their animals.
Okay, it worked out great forus.
Yeah, so you didn't have totake the dogs with you.
Speaker 1 (32:02):
We all traveled, no, okay.
Speaker 2 (32:04):
No, we just do our travel yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:08):
Yeah Well, and how did you get interested in
photography?
Speaker 2 (32:12):
It meant a bit picked it up from my dad, okay okay.
But when I was in Korea I wasin the PX and I see this
beautiful Malota SRR 101 camerathey made great cameras, yes, I
bought it, found out it just hasa light meter in it, so I had
to learn everything about it.
(32:33):
Of course, at then you tookslides.
That was the most.
When you're in the army, that'sthe best way to handle pictures
slides.
So I did a lot of slidepictures and then I kept it up
when I got out and I got anotherMalota.
I got another Malota and thenwhen the digital world opened up
, malota didn't come out withtheir own digital SLR camera.
(32:55):
They sold part of theirtechnology to Sony.
So Sony came out with theirSony A cameras.
Sony lenses and Malotaautofocus lenses were fed on
those things.
Oh, so I bought a Sony A so Ican keep some of my lenses.
Speaker 1 (33:16):
That's a great idea.
Yeah, and now are youself-taught in photography.
Speaker 3 (33:20):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (33:20):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (33:22):
Well, I got books on it and everything, but I just
learned by taking pictures.
Speaker 3 (33:27):
Yeah, you know what you like Using filters and
everything and man that was funstuff to play with.
Speaker 1 (33:32):
Yeah, I'll bet, I'll bet.
So you retired, when did you?
Speaker 2 (33:38):
retire then from Ford .
I retired in Ford's in 03.
Speaker 1 (33:42):
Okay, but you didn't stop.
What did you do after?
Speaker 2 (33:44):
that.
No, I didn't stop, because Iwas always working on the side,
doing things for people, yeah.
Speaker 1 (33:49):
You seem like a guy that's got a lot of energy.
Speaker 2 (33:51):
Yeah, but I have a friend who's a contractor and I
started working for him underthe table Cash Cash, yeah, and
all he was doing at that time.
I helped him before that when Iwas working at Ford's.
He built some houses inWestland so I helped him with
(34:11):
that and then I started workingfor him Very first job he got.
It was with another friend whois a contractor, more in
commercial Marriott Hotel overat 6 Mile and 275.
Redo the whole thing, InteriorWow, that was a seven-month job.
(34:35):
We were there for eight months,something like that Started at
the third floor, second firstman, everything and then what he
got into.
After that he was doinginsurance work but then he
finally branched off justkitchens and baths and trimmings
and doors.
That's all I did for 19 yearswith him.
Speaker 1 (35:00):
And you did it all Like you did all of the.
You weren't like specialized.
Speaker 2 (35:02):
No, he liked me because I could figure things
out and small stuff like puttingdoor handles on or figuring out
how to do this or moveelectrical around boxes around.
I know how to do all that stufftoo.
And did all that.
Speaker 1 (35:20):
So let me ask you this A friend of mine helped me
with this one time.
So anytime you build a house,right, nothing's ever 100%
square.
But he figured out how to putthe trim up so that things that
weren't square would look square.
Speaker 2 (35:36):
Especially when you hang doors.
Yeah, you got to learn exactlyhow to hang doors.
Speaker 1 (35:41):
Yeah, it's like art and science got married.
On that one, I think.
Speaker 2 (35:46):
Well, go back when we started it was my friend
contractor told me about LanceCheap out in Livingston County
because he lived in LivingstonCounty, uh-huh.
So we started looking at houses, found one house that we liked,
but it was something about itwe didn't like and then we
decided to build.
It turns out that house wedidn't like was a modular home.
(36:07):
So we found out who the companyis down in Indiana.
We went and visited thatcompany.
They had the same model, butwith this room addition on it,
bought the plans from them, tookit to a home planner.
He tweaked everything insidewhen we want it and then
(36:30):
submitted the plans to Bill.
Wow, and that's this house.
Yes, and my friend educated meon this when you're looking for
a framer, go interview three andgo visit their present sites.
With a level and a square.
Found this guy.
(36:51):
He was building a house inGrass Lake.
Went down there he was framingit, checked it out and he was
right on.
Went down there, he was framingit, checked it out and he was
right on.
I hired him.
And then he says the same thingwith drywallers.
You check them out first too.
Oh, yes, and then when you want, then boom, you go.
It starts with the framer.
Speaker 1 (37:15):
Right, because if you start out with a good
foundation, everything elsecomes together.
Speaker 2 (37:20):
And that's the way this house came together.
Yeah, because I was the generalon it and then, once the
drywall was done, I dideverything else on the interior.
Speaker 1 (37:30):
Now, do you like doing drywall?
Do you know how to do drywall?
Speaker 2 (37:33):
I used to, but I don't like doing it anymore
because of dust, yeah, and it'sgetting harder to hang stuff for
my age, but I do repair work ondrywall.
Speaker 1 (37:45):
Okay, I was just curious because a lot of people
they'll do everything butdrywall because they don't like
it.
Speaker 2 (37:49):
Well, I used to do a lot of plumbing, but I got
weight from it years ago becauseI can't get down under the
sinks anymore.
Speaker 3 (37:57):
Stuff like that, yeah , so you got to back away.
Speaker 2 (37:59):
We used to do kitchens with backsplashes.
You know doing tile work.
I love doing tile work too, butbending over doing that got
your lower back too much.
Speaker 1 (38:12):
It's a young person's game, I think is what you would
call that.
Yeah, I find that as I getolder, I'm more apt to pay
somebody to do certain thingsright, Because it just makes
sense.
Speaker 2 (38:25):
We had one house, a kitchen.
That was amazing.
It was a big house, big kitchen.
Combining these two roomsprobably was most of the kitchen
.
Combining these two roomsprobably was most of the kitchen
, mm-hmm, one interior wall wasoff a half inch from top to
bottom, so we got to make thiswall hang the cabinets right,
(38:51):
yeah, so we had to build a falsewall to correct that problem.
You always have problems,especially when you do
demolition.
You come across so much.
Speaker 1 (39:02):
Oh, but so you finally stopped working just a
few years ago.
Speaker 2 (39:07):
Yeah, 2019.
Yeah 2019.
Speaker 1 (39:13):
I stopped.
All right, what have you beendoing since then?
Speaker 2 (39:17):
Too much.
Yeah really involved with VFWhere.
Then I got in, we got involvedwith the theater group here, the
Fourth of July committee.
Here they raised the money forthe fireworks.
Speaker 3 (39:35):
Historical.
Speaker 2 (39:37):
Historical Society at the fairgrounds for the
historical buildings, and I usedto repair some of that stuff
too Okay, and then found outthat too many bosses and
everything, so I left it.
Then I got into the theatergroup here and I started
building sets and props for them, do you?
Speaker 1 (39:54):
do any acting?
Speaker 2 (39:57):
They're trying to push me in that.
No, I like to be behind thescene.
Speaker 1 (40:04):
Get my hands on.
Yeah, you don't want to be onthat stage.
Speaker 2 (40:05):
Huh, yeah, well, I did one time, yeah, but they
didn't see me?
Oh, because it was a.
Uh, what was that thing I built?
It was some kind of a room orsomething, but it was movable,
okay.
So I had to be inside, move itout no speaking lines, though.
Speaker 1 (40:26):
No, no, okay, all right, so it sounds like you're
still keeping busy, even in, uh,even in retirement yeah I had
to back away a few things yeahone.
Speaker 2 (40:35):
I belong to the how gun club.
When we started years ago ayouth program for archery, we
got that up and running andthat's great because we supply
the equipment and we train themTrain adults too.
One good story the first yearthere was a mom that came with
three daughters and the threedaughters want to learn, but mom
(40:59):
didn't buy the second or thirdweek.
The mom wanted to learn mm-hmm.
By the fifth week, mom'scompeting against the oldest
daughter.
Oh really it was fun to watchthat stuff develop.
Speaker 1 (41:12):
Yeah, yeah yeah, it's interesting how parents will
like take their kids to get theminvolved in all.
Then, all of a sudden, theparents decide this is something
I enjoy.
Speaker 2 (41:22):
We taught grandmas.
They do women on target thereat the gun club in June
Ninety-six women come ininvolved in six stations they go
.
I was always part of thearchery group.
Teach women archery.
Some of them come back to ourclasses and learn more.
Wow, Wow.
Speaker 3 (41:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (41:42):
But it was too much time away from home, so I had to
back away from that, right,chris?
Speaker 1 (41:50):
And you so do.
You do a lot of stuff with theVFW.
Then yeah, okay.
Speaker 2 (41:55):
I'm a point man for a lot of things.
Yeah, right now I'm working on.
What am I working on?
I'm a point man for a lot ofthings.
Yeah, right now I'm working on.
What am I working on?
I'm working on a lot of things.
Oh, getting estimates for roof,parking lot and HVAC, and then
we're going to.
Well, I found out.
(42:17):
I started to go to find outabout grants.
I went to a real appellate inFallerville.
Asked the manager there how doyou do grants?
Oh, we used to hire somebody,but we don't anymore.
What?
Speaker 1 (42:31):
do you mean you?
Speaker 2 (42:31):
don't.
How do you do it?
She showed me Chat, cpt,artificial intelligence.
She brought her computer andshowed me how to do it.
You ask it Nonprofitorganization is looking for a
grant.
She'd walk you right through it.
I says okay, but how do youknow where to send it to?
(42:52):
Oh, you ask it Nonprofitorganization wants to send a
grant someplace in Michigan.
All these organizations pop up.
So I'm gonna try, I'm gonna dabinto it, see how far I can get.
I don't know if I could do itor not yeah somebody else to do
it.
Speaker 1 (43:11):
I can't right could become a grant writer no
artificial.
Yes, tell anyone, do that,right, right, have your computer
become a grandstander then yeah.
Speaker 2 (43:20):
And then my quartermaster put it on me at
the beginning of the year thedepartment VFW is coming down
with a new policy next year.
Everything in that post has tobe inventory.
So I'm in charge.
Inventory, so I'm in charge.
(43:46):
And then the wife taught me howto create a spreadsheet from
words, office words.
So I make sure when everythingI write down I create a
spreadsheet for what I'm doing.
Speaker 1 (43:53):
Yeah, there's a lot of stuff in these VFWs too, by
the way.
I've been to quite a few ofthem and they have some stuff.
Speaker 2 (44:01):
Well, my quartermaster wanted me to
inventory everything on a wall.
I says no.
He says I'm going to do it.
I'm taking pictures with mycamera and then I'll make prints
out and punch them and put themin a binder and put everything
together in a binder.
So everything together in abinder.
So you got everything there.
Yeah, he says okay, and I'vedone a couple of drawers in the
(44:24):
kitchen.
Pull the drawer.
Oh, there's too much stuff inthere.
Just took a picture of it.
Yeah, should be good enough, Igot it.
I got the main building done,the kitchen, the main hall, the
office.
I still got two other places towork on Three other places, but
I got the rest of the year todo it.
So no rush.
Speaker 1 (44:45):
Yeah, gotta make the commander happy.
Speaker 2 (44:48):
Well, to make the corn master happy.
Speaker 1 (44:49):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (44:50):
Yes, he runs the place there, you go Well.
Speaker 1 (44:54):
you have certainly led an interesting life.
You've done a lot of stuff andyou're still doing stuff.
It sounds like you've had acouple of different careers and
all kinds of things.
I've always wanted to stayactive.
Speaker 2 (45:05):
When I was at Ford's, I saw too much go on when I was
in the warehouse.
Retirees have nothing going onon the outside.
Speaker 3 (45:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (45:14):
And I try to tell them find something to do, join
an organization Volunteer work.
And I try to tell them findsomething to do.
Join an organization Volunteerwork, part-time job.
Why do I need a part-time job?
I got a job right now.
Okay, because I've seen toomany pass within two years after
they leave because they gotnothing to do.
Right, they get bored?
Speaker 1 (45:35):
Yeah, they get bored.
Well, that actually leads me to.
I have two questions really.
One is is there anything?
Speaker 2 (45:48):
that we haven't talked about that.
You want to talk?
Speaker 3 (45:51):
about?
I don't think so, okay, oh mybrother, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (45:55):
Let's talk about your brother.
He was 11 months younger thanme.
Every year with kids we had fun, because for one month we were
the same age.
We had fun with it.
How about?
Yeah, but we didn't see eye toeye a lot of things.
(46:17):
But anyway, he enlisted.
He did two tours in SignalCorps the first time.
Second time he went back hechanged his MOS.
He was a helicopter mechanic,so he got in with pilots and
they taught him how to fly too.
He put 17 years in the Army,but he couldn't re-up the last
(46:40):
three years because when he wasstationed in Germany he was in a
bad car accident, screwed hiship up, and he had a good friend
who was a general which was agodfather to his first child.
He wasn't around when he wasenlisted for the last 20 years,
(47:01):
so he had to get out.
Oh, okay, yeah.
So he got out, tried to go tothe IRS, get hired, but he
screwed himself out of that joband then he was up in the thumb
area living and in 98, he diedin a bad car accident.
He was a passenger.
Oh, head on too, that in a badcar accident.
Speaker 1 (47:22):
He was a passenger Head on too.
That's too bad yeah.
Speaker 2 (47:25):
That was a shocker.
Speaker 1 (47:27):
Yeah, it's hard when you lose a sibling like that.
Definitely Sounds like you havegood memories of him, though.
Oh yeah, well good and bad yeah.
Speaker 2 (47:36):
Well, I remember taking a bat to him too.
Oh wow, as a kid.
Speaker 1 (47:42):
Oh, that's.
Speaker 2 (47:44):
That's boys.
Speaker 1 (47:45):
Yeah, well, you know, my sister and I were a year and
a half apart and we have somegreat stories about hitting each
other with toys and yeah, yeah.
So it's just.
Speaker 2 (47:56):
It's just being raised.
Yeah, sibling rivalry,childhood, it's just the way it
is.
Speaker 1 (48:02):
Exactly Well, so my only other question really is as
people will watch and listen tothis many, many years from now,
when we're probably all goneright, yes.
What message would you like toleave people with?
Speaker 2 (48:18):
Oh message yeah, Enjoy life.
Do everything you can whenyou're young, Because when you
get older it gets harder to dothings.
Enjoy it and stay busy withyour life and enjoy it All right
.
Speaker 1 (48:33):
Well, thank you for that message.
Thank you for taking time outtoday to sit and talk with me.
I appreciate it, thank you.
Today is Friday, april 4th 2025.
We're talking to Steve Whitney,who served in the United States
Army.
So good morning Steve, goodmorning Bill, great to see you
this morning, good you be here,and I gotta say you got a
beautiful place out here.
I know we were talking about itbefore we did the recording,
but it's really nice.
Thank you All right.
Well, we're gonna get startedand I'm just gonna start with
(00:22):
some simple questions.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
So when, and I'm just going to start with some simple
questions so when and wherewere you born?
I was born October, no,february 16th, 1950 in Detroit.
Okay, at what was it?
Mark Carmel.
What was the name of thehospital?
Mount Carmel, mark Carmel, allright.
Detroit, west Detroit.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
For those who are watching and listening Steve's
wife, Chris, is kind of offcamera here watching everything
go on, so we may hear from herat some point in this.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
So I was born and went to school in Detroit.
Okay, the street I lived on.
It was a half block fromelementary school that was just
built, Mm-hmm.
So at two no, at second grade Istarted there Because they were
(01:16):
bussing me to another schoolfor kindergarten and first grade
because that school wasn'tbuilt yet.
Oh, okay, and then I startedthere at that school and then I
went to junior high Lester,Junior High in Detroit.
It's a mile walk.
And then I went to Cody HighSchool, which was another mile
(01:39):
walk, so you were right nearhome the whole time.
Yeah, and I was where we lived.
We were four blocks from thebiggest park in Detroit, rouge
Park, called Rouge Park, and ithad a golf course and it had
three Olympic swimming pools.
There too, brennan Pools, theywere called.
(01:59):
That park was my playground.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
Yeah, were you there all the time.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
A lot.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Well, I started, real young, started making money off
the golf course shagging balls,oh Balls coming over the first,
yeah, first fence andeverything, selling them back to
present golfers.
They get pissed.
No, sell them to somebody else,yeah, why not?
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
No one likes to buy their own ball back, though,
right.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
No, they don't, because they're pissed that they
knocked it off.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
Right, right.
Yeah, I've played a few roundsof golf myself.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
But I learned a couple other holes you can be on
in balls coming over the fence.
Then I started figuring out.
There's seven river holes.
I got a little older one or twoyears, started reading the
course.
Know exactly where the ballscollect their river.
Oh, and get a lot of balls,clean them all up, put them in
eight cartons and sell them.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
So you had quite an enterprise going.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Well, made good money .
Speaker 1 (03:02):
Yeah, Now did you have brothers and sisters?
Speaker 2 (03:04):
I had one brother younger, 11 months younger than
me, and one sister younger thanme, okay, and my brother
enlisted too, and that story hadcome out about him.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
Okay, and then.
So were you guys pretty closegrowing up, or not?
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Well, my childhood was a little problem because my
dad wouldn't communicate with us.
Okay, so it was just my mom.
So basically we grew up thatway.
Eventually I worked in it withmy dad, but that was his problem
, so pretty much your mom wasthe caretaker, then yeah, what
(03:43):
can you tell me?
About your mom.
She's a 100% Sicilian.
Uh-huh, she was reallyoutspoken and Don't remember how
much I had a concussion when Iwas younger Uh-huh, and I lost a
(04:04):
lot of my memory, exactly in myyounger years.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (04:08):
All right.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
So you're working your way through school
collecting golf balls.
Did you swim in those pools atall?
Oh, the Brennan Pools.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Gotcha.
Yeah, that must have beenpretty cool.
Big Olympic pools, three ofthem One shadow, one medium and
one a diving one.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
Did you do much diving?
Speaker 2 (04:29):
No, you didn't have to prove that you can dive.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
Oh, okay, yeah, I got you.
So.
Did you play sports or anythinglike that in school?
Speaker 2 (04:38):
No, no sports.
I was sort of like back then itwasn't called a geek I like all
the shops.
I was a of like back then itwasn't called a geek.
Right, I was, I like all theshops and I was a math.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
I loved math back then, so yeah, well, the nice
thing about math is it just iswhat it is.
Two plus two is always going tobe four, right, yeah, but you
get into geometry, algebra, yeah, all that stuff, yeah, so you,
you make it through school, I'massuming.
Well, no, I didn't.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
Okay, I stopped school because my parents
weren't pushing me Uh-huh, andthe school was pushing me toward
college.
I didn't like the classes theywere pushing me to.
Right.
I wanted to be standard, butnobody would listen to me.
So I just stopped, okay.
Boom, but nobody would listento me.
(05:27):
So I just stopped, okay, andthen made money, worked here,
there, there, and then getdrafted in 19 okay, got hired at
Ford 18 uh-huh, what'd you doit for him?
Well, this is National ParkDepot in Livonia.
It's a warehouse the onlysingle warehouse they have in
the nation that handles notfast-moving stock Okay, and I
(05:50):
worked stock for about 10 yearsthere.
Then I got into their executivegarage they created there as a
mechanic because I was alwayswrenching on the side, and I
managed to be the last 25 yearsor 35 years at Ford's being a
mechanic at Executive Garage.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
Okay, so you did your whole career there at Ford
after that career, yeah, yeah,so let's back.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
So I got drafted at 19 at Ford's and it was August.
I went in, got down to FortWayne where we were going to be
shipped out to Fort Knox,kentucky, and they had us all
stand in line, straight line ina long hallway and out walked a
(06:36):
sergeant Marine sergeant on theside door.
He walked in front of the lineand says, okay, if I point at
you one step forward, I wassweating, I wasn't playing in
the Marines, yeah.
But he picked out four or fiveguys and says okay, you guys are
in the Marines, follow me.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
You know, I've talked to a bunch of guys, same exact
situation and some of them gotpicked and some of them didn't.
It was yeah, that's a scaryproposition there.
Well, it is, because they don'ttell you ahead of time.
That's what's scary about it.
And when you're talking aboutFort Wayne, you're talking about
Fort Wayne in Detroit, right?
Speaker 3 (07:12):
Yeah, a lot of people don't even know that that
existed, I know.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
That was a great place to be yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
And then they bus us down to Fort Knox, kentucky, and
then I get introduced to basictraining.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
So tell me about that .
What do you remember about thatfirst day of basic training?
Speaker 2 (07:32):
No, it was all interesting to me Just learning
everything and meeting.
What's amazing to me?
Meeting the people, the guysfrom all over the the eastern
part of the state country.
That was amazing to me Meetingthe people.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
Yeah, because a lot of people will grow up in one
city and have the same friends.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
It could be Illinois, ohio, it could be New York,
whatever.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Yeah, all kinds of different people from all kinds
of different places.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
It's amazing.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
That is very cool and training was good.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
You learn about misery, agony and whatever the
third hill was called.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
Yeah, interesting thing about the Army is, no
matter where the base is at, itfeels like it's always hot and
always humid.
Did you run into that?
Not there In my infantrytraining down in Louisiana.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
I did Okay.
Did you run into that at FortKnox?
Not there In my infantry.
Training down in Louisiana?
I did Okay, Did you go to Fort?
Speaker 1 (08:28):
Polk.
Yes, all right, let's talk alittle bit about that.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
Okay, I get out of Knox and got shipped down to
Fort Polk and I met a guy inKnox that was from Lincoln Park,
so we kind of got together.
Speaker 3 (08:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
And we did our 192 strong company in Fort Port,
louisiana for empty training andthat was a good deal.
I mean I learned more, likeyou're supposed to Right, I end
up placing first place in thephysical test.
I didn't know I was capable ofdoing it Out of 192?
Speaker 1 (09:11):
Yeah, Jesus Christ, that's not.
Yeah, that's really good, and Igot a three-day pass out of
that.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
Oh yeah, but never had to pull KP either.
I don't know how I lucked outon that.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
Never, never.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
Well, no, I did once and that I think you should have
to go back and do it now.
I did it next, peeling potatoesor something like that.
Oh yeah, yeah.
But Fort Polk no, that was adifferent program there.
Okay, and that was an awesometime.
Okay, and that was an awesometime.
And then when in the Fort Polkthey gave us our orders, the guy
(09:52):
from Lincoln Park and me theother 190 had orders from them.
We didn't.
We were ordered back to Knoxfor track school and then Korea.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
So we didn't know what was going on.
Wow, it's almost like gettingthe lottery.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
Well, we didn't know Right, we didn't know what was
going on.
So we get down to Knox and well, it was during the holiday
Christmas, so we got there inJanuary, yeah, and then we did
our track school and then we gotshipped to Fort holiday
Christmas.
So we got there in January.
Yeah, and then we did our trackschool and then we got shipped
(10:32):
to Fort Lewis Washington, gotshipped over to Korea and we get
there.
I think it's the 8th Army.
They said, okay, it was asergeant.
He says, okay, you guys areassigned to the 2nd and 9th
Battalion, 2nd Division.
It's up on the DMZ of Korea.
You can't go why?
So that's when we found out.
(10:53):
Our mothers wrote letters ohgeez, he had a brother, younger
brother, and I had a youngerbrother.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
They both enlisted and they were a nom at that time
.
Okay, so your brother did, yourbrother he did.
He enlist after you.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
Yes, okay after Okay, after I got drafted Okay, and
then did he go?
Oh, no, didn't he Before.
Oh, before.
I thought it was after Okay,maybe before.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
Yeah.
So your brother enlisted beforeyou did you got drafted.
He went to Vietnam, yeah, andyour mom was like, ah, not two
of them, yep.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
So I said to the sergeant I says how much does
combat pay?
He said at that time it was $65a month.
I says anything we can do aboutit.
He says yeah, sign waivers.
We pissed our mothers off for aperiod of time but we signed
waivers.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
So I want to ask your mom is a Sicilian woman and you
already said that she doesn'thold back.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
I'll bet she was not happy when you did that that,
but I'm that was the miles away.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
So, yeah, what's she gonna do from there?
What's she gonna do until?
Speaker 2 (11:50):
you get home right?
Yeah, but she got over itbefore I got home oh, all right,
good move.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
So yeah, tell me a little bit about your experience
there it was good experience.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
Uh, I made rank fast.
I got over there as an E2, madeE3 as soon as I got there and
then two and a half months laterI was an E4.
And then I found out the unitthree line platoons and one
weapon platoon.
I was a weapons platoon.
They were committed for thezone every three months and then
(12:27):
the line between always hadlate duty in the weapons to
always had the duty.
But during that period I firstgot there they were off the zone
.
Okay, training period we callan R&R right and I found out
there was a Vance combattraining Academy going on up
there.
Uh-huh, and if you went throughit and got in the top ten you
(12:51):
got another grade, volunteeredright.
Good experience because all theinstructors were Vietnam people
, mm-hmm, and you learn a lotfrom them.
And I did learn a lot.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
I got my grade.
I was going to say you finishedin the top ten right.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
Yeah, I got my sergeant's strike.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
Wow, that's really fast.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
By anyone's standard that's really fast, but in the
war zone that's what happens.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
Right?
Well, I don't think it hurtthat you were good at what you
did.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
You were smart and you did what you were supposed
to do.
We had a good platoon daddy inE7.
He was really good.
He was a Vietnam vet too.
He was really good.
And then when he rotated out,they didn't have anybody to
replace him.
So myself and another guy fromRhode Island, Jeff Pace he was a
(13:45):
sergeant we were our two of uswere combined platoon daddies,
Okay.
So a lot happened during thatperiod of time before they got
somebody else in there, Right?
Speaker 1 (13:57):
So what kind of things did you do in Korea?
Speaker 2 (14:00):
When you're committed being a weapon platoon day duty
, you've got guard duty at thegates where the gun jeeps are.
That allows child wagons andpersonnel to get to the GPs in
the zone, and that's about whatwe did.
(14:23):
And then I ran patrols too.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
Okay, In the zone, okay.
So when you talk about in thezone, you sort of have a gate
here on our side and a gate hereon their side.
No, no, no, okay.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
MDL is a true north and south line between North
Korea and South Korea.
Then the DMZ is a two-milebuffer zone on each side of that
MDO line.
Okay, and that buffer zone iswhere you patrol, okay, two-mile
buffer zone.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
You just don't go any further than that.
No, no, right, yeah, anyexciting things happen while you
were there, anything that comesto mind.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
Well, we were never in a firefight, we did mind that
.
Well, we're never in afirefight.
We did one of the gun jeepscoming back from the GP.
They were coming in the curve.
I was set up as uh ambush thatday on patrol near their site
and saw somebody run across theroad in front of them into a
whole right padding.
(15:21):
So we got word on the radioabout that and they knew we were
there.
So we got my guys, we went overthere, did a sweep.
They brought in some moretroops, did more sweeps Not that
I knew what happened.
Guy went to ground.
I learned that from theadvanced training academy.
Yeah, they had tunnels, right.
Well, at that time they didn'tknow about the tunnels there,
(15:44):
right, but they had tunnels,right.
Well, at that time they didn'tknow about the tunnels there,
right, but they had tunnels, wow, yeah.
And then what else happened?
Well, there was a couple ofincidents where we were a MEC
unit, so Armored PersonalCarriers, and they were running
some Armored Personal Carriersand something happened at
(16:05):
another site in the DMZ and theywere running.
One of them tipped over andkilled the guy.
Oh yeah, when I got there justbacking up a little bit.
Oh yeah, when I got to thatcompany, in the mortar pool
there was a three-quarter tonpickup.
It was like Swiss cheese.
In the motor pool there was athree-quarter ton pickup.
It was like Swiss cheese, turnsout.
(16:28):
Two weeks prior there was twoengineers with that pickup truck
at the gate and they were antsyto get to the GP.
But the gun jeeps were with thechow wagon so they're waiting
Somehow.
They talked to the guy that wason the gate, opened it up, they
got in there and they gotambushed.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
Oh, geez, yeah, got to be careful, got to be, yeah.
So how long were you there?
Speaker 2 (16:55):
13 months.
Okay, Standard tour back then.
Yeah, Three months on, onemonth off, three months on.
I ran training too when thatmonth off.
That was fun.
So what kind of training didyou do With them?
Mortars, Worked with the guyswith the mortars and all that
(17:15):
crap.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
And then we got mortars inside our personal
carriers, big hatches on topthat you can fire control and
all that crap.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
So you fire mortars right out of the vehicle?
I didn't know that.
Yeah, they had the 4.2.
I think it was a 4.2.
There was a bigger diametertubes.
They were mounted in the uh,personal carriers.
Oh, that'd be kind of cool.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
Oh it is, it is so with your math background, I I
would imagine creating the firecontrol solution, and all that
was pretty, yes.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
I knew how to do that .
Speaker 3 (17:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
Fire control and where to set the rounds and how
to adjust and everything.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
Yeah, I think people that watch movies just see them
set up the mortar and yes, butthere's some science behind how
to get it to where it needs togo.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
Right, there is science because they know
exactly Well.
First, up and down the altitude, they didn't know how far it
would go for elevation.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
You, go from there Right Well, and you have to know
your own elevation and kind oftheir elevation and the wind and
the weather will impact that?
Speaker 2 (18:22):
No, the weather doesn't affect it.
Oh okay, all right, you justgot to know point A, point B,
that's it, you got to know.
You got to know the maps, right, the coordinates and everything
.
So we trained with that.
I trained with the armor-presolcarriers, and the guys didn't
(18:42):
like me when I did this, becausedown in Knox they did it to us.
They had an armor personalcarrier in a river, a shallow
river, and you'd throw a track.
You've got to put the trackback together again.
So I had to teach the guys that.
Speaker 1 (18:56):
In a river, in a river.
I could imagine they wouldn'tappreciate that very much.
Speaker 2 (18:59):
No, they didn't appreciate it, but hey, you've
got to repair them.
Especially if it comes from theaward zone, you have to repair
it immediately.
Speaker 1 (19:08):
Right, right, you've got to train as you fight.
Yeah, right Now was your friendthere the whole time, the buddy
you met at Coke, yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
He was in the company headquarters company.
He ended up driving the Colonelthe whole time there.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
Oh yeah, was that a driving the Colonel?
Oh, the whole time there.
Oh yeah, was that a cushy job?
Speaker 2 (19:27):
Yes, it was, but he had his perks.
I got the perks from what he'sgot.
Uh-huh, that's funny.
Anytime we ran out of beer,talk to him.
They get beer.
Speaker 1 (19:40):
Are you still in contact with him?
No, no.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
No, never did.
The other guy, Jeff Pace fromMaine, got to know him quite
well.
Never got back with him either.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
Oh, okay.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
All right, I wish I did now, but it never happened.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
Yeah Well, I mean, it's funny when you come back
and everyone kind of goes theirown separate ways, right, yes,
you might run into them or youmight not.
So you did your 13-month tourthere.
And come back to the.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
States, or is there anything else you want to?
Well, no, I haven't finishedthat yet, oh, okay.
Well, when we got near the endof my tour, the CEO, the captain
, came to me and two other E5sin the company and says okay,
you guys are getting short,we're getting committed again.
You guys are going to be onpermanent CQ.
You can rotate it between E3.
(20:35):
And then, when you're off thosetwo days, you can go anywhere
you want.
South Korean, get yourpaperwork done Done.
Deals captain Right.
Twist my arm, south Korean, getyour paperwork done done.
Deals cap right twist my arm butwhile I was CQ there was an
incident that happened and I hadto open the armory up, get guys
(20:57):
armed Because one of our newguys he was on guard duty that
night and he walked in the COclub and plugged.
Our first sergeant Really Foundout later it was an older guy
that talked this guy into doingit and they came back and got
him.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
Was there a reason why they did it?
Did they ever talk about that?
Speaker 2 (21:22):
The other guy that talked.
This guy and the first sergeantnever got along.
Speaker 1 (21:27):
Oh, okay, so it was just a grudge Grudge.
Wow, that's a pretty crazy wayto take care of it, and then,
when that happened, I had to getthe guys out.
Speaker 2 (21:37):
Okay, check all the barracks, and they found them in
one of the barracks, twohostages.
But they talked them out of it.
Then the helicopter comes in,takes them away, and then the
helicopter comes back and takesthe other guy away, and you
never saw them again.
But the first sergeant.
I felt so bad for him becausehe was a good guy and his last
(21:57):
tour was U of M recruiting.
Speaker 3 (22:03):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
Yeah, well, they come all the way to Korea and that
happened.
He had about 30 years ofservice 28 years 30 years, yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:13):
But then I finally rotated out Uh-huh, got back to
Fort Lewis Washington.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
How did you like Fort Lewis?
I really enjoyed it when I wasthere.
I didn't see much of it, ohokay, you were just kind of
Transportation dear.
Speaker 2 (22:27):
Yeah, yeah, didn't see much of it, okay, but I did
coming back from the airport andeverything.
That's when you realize thisVietnam country, what they felt
about the Vietnam War.
Yeah, that's when you realizewhat's going on, mm-hmm.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
What was that like for you?
Speaker 2 (22:48):
That was part of my language bullshit.
Mm-hmm, it's the way the okay.
The media ran with it and thegovernment never told them no,
don't do that.
I Blame the government doing it, but yeah, it's the media to
get carried away, mm-hmm.
That was the first time they input reporters right down the
(23:11):
scene.
Right, right, that's.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
Yeah, yeah, cuz you were the way, people weren't
getting context about what washappening.
They were just seeing it andkind of left to make up their
own story about it, right, yeah,what was it like to come back,
though, after being gone forthat long.
It was good, was it?
Speaker 2 (23:30):
I mean, it was a great experience, but get back
to my life.
Right, that's what I did.
And then married her 72.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
Okay, well, you can't just say I just married Chris.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
No, no, no, We've got to hear this story Okay.
We dated since 17, a blind date, really.
Friends set us up and we datedfor five years and then, in 72,
we got married.
Speaker 1 (23:58):
Okay Was that shortly after you got back then, no,
got back in March of 71 okay,and then you go back to work at
Ford at that point okay, andthen?
She made an honest man out ofyou and about a year she tried
but two years later I got calledup.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
go up to Camp Grayling, Uh-huh.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
That six-year application?
Oh, because you're in theindividual ready reserve or
something like that Well, yourobligation when you're drafted
six years.
Speaker 3 (24:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:31):
So I got called go to Camp Grayling.
So I tried checking into it.
There was six other veteransthat were getting chipped with
the National Guard Uh-huh.
So we get up there, they bustus up there, and then the six of
us.
We went looking for the firstsergeant to find out what's
(24:53):
going on.
Right, we walked in.
He looked at all of us.
He started laughing.
He says I know who you guys are.
He says you're asking whatyou're here for.
He says yes, sir, body count.
That's all.
Just enjoy your time and teachthese guys what you know so they
(25:13):
just needed numbers.
Yes, oh, how nice so we didbecause I was mortars taught
some guys on the fine range howto shoot mortars.
Speaker 1 (25:23):
That was fun yeah, there's a it's.
It's a lot of fun when you getto use the the big guns yeah,
big weapons yeah we had, uh,what were called mark 19, and it
, that is a uh, it mounts on topof a vehicle and it's basically
a machine gun that firesgrenades.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:43):
Yeah, so we had those .
Speaker 2 (25:44):
The M79 Law?
I mean no yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:46):
M79 Green Launcher.
Yeah yeah, these sat up on topand they were belt fed, so that
was our fun stuff.
So you're just kind of hangingout at Camp Grayling just having
a good time.
Speaker 2 (25:57):
No, we were in training but had a good time.
Yeah, the first weekend shecame up and then I drove her
back and came back up there so Ihad a car there, mm-hmm, so
some of us would come back inthe car, right, chris?
Yeah, it was a good time.
Two weeks went fast.
(26:19):
Yeah, I mean the mortar guys,the guys I was teaching.
We were in the range poppingmortars and hitting, doing our
thing, and at the end I saysokay, guys, I'm going to show
you something.
Crank the tube straight up,drop an illumination round in
Poof Comes down with a parachute.
Speaker 3 (26:40):
Wow I.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
Says okay, well, I had to teach them to don't be so
fast on a mortar tube.
Hmm, you don't want to behanging one and one coming out
at the same time, right?
Speaker 1 (26:56):
Now can you overheat that mortar tube too, if you're.
Speaker 2 (26:59):
I've heard it being done, but I never had a chance
to do that.
Yeah, Because the only timethey overheat it say if you're
in a hill or something and you'dbe normal running and using the
mortars constantly.
That could happen, yes, yeah,but I don't think so.
Speaker 1 (27:17):
Because there's that amount of time for it to leave,
and then you have to actuallyload it again, so well you know.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
When it goes off, right, drop another one.
There's a firing pin right atthe bottom of that tube, uh-huh.
But I'm betrothed in Korea.
I always grabbed thecombination, the combination,
the grenade launcher and my M16combination package.
Speaker 1 (27:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:47):
Is it the M79?
That's the Mark 79.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:50):
I got to shoot one of those once.
Speaker 2 (27:51):
Those are.
Oh, that's a lot of fun.
Those grenades are so accurate.
Yeah, yeah, if you do it right,yeah, you can get done with it.
The little sight that pops uplike that.
Speaker 1 (28:00):
Yeah, yeah, we did a few of those at Grayling when I
was serving, so yeah, so you didyour two weeks at Grayling.
Anything else happen up thereor just head for home, just the
two weeks there and then comehome and get back to life.
Speaker 2 (28:15):
Yeah, so talk about what?
Getting back to life?
Yeah, so talk about what.
Did I spend?
35 years of fords, uh-huh.
Uh.
We never had kids, but I alwaysgot involved.
I got involved with one of mynieces.
Her dad died when she was youngand at 10 I started seeing her
every week.
So I was well for her till shegot where she got a teenager to
house.
Oh no, I don't want to'm busy.
(28:37):
You didn't want to do thatanymore.
But no, no, no, it was fun.
Yeah, and we always had huskiesand cats and everything.
Photography was always my thing.
We started doing these two-week, three-week vacations every
year.
We started in August, but thenwe switched it to September
(28:59):
Because September was great.
He had to make reservations,right, it was easy to travel in
this country and we pick a stateand spend up to a week
traveling back and forth, get tothat state it's been two weeks
in a particular state and seewhat we did.
A lot of things in every one ofthose states and that was fun.
(29:20):
And photography God, I got somany photo albums.
It's unbelievable, all right,what a great way to keep all
your memories to yeah anythingelse you get to this age, who's
gonna say them, yeah, well, yeah, I mean, you can enjoy them,
right.
Yeah, but I'm talking, we'retalking already to nephews and
nieces and stuff like that.
Okay, you want my guns, youwant my photographs, stuff like
(29:42):
that.
What do you want Because we'vegot a living trust, so we've got
to mark everything in there,right?
Speaker 1 (29:48):
Yeah, so when you were working at Ford, were you
still living in Detroit?
No, okay.
Speaker 2 (29:53):
But no, no.
Speaker 1 (30:00):
Yeah, working in Detroit.
Yeah, but we moved.
Yeah.
How long were you in Detroitthen, before you moved?
Was it 18 years?
Speaker 2 (30:03):
13 years, okay, 85, we moved to Canton, uh-huh,
bought a small ranch, built agarage and spent 21 years there.
Speaker 3 (30:15):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (30:16):
And then from there we bought this place two acres
and built this ranch.
Uh-huh.
Now we've been here for 19years.
Okay, this place.
Speaker 1 (30:24):
And how many huskies have you had over?
Speaker 3 (30:26):
that period of time Three, three of them.
Speaker 1 (30:27):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (30:28):
Plus puppies.
Speaker 1 (30:30):
What's that Plus?
Speaker 3 (30:31):
puppies.
Speaker 1 (30:32):
Oh, so you.
Speaker 2 (30:32):
Oh yeah, because the first husky we bred her Okay,
and we had a lot of puppies fromthere, and then we had an Oopsy
.
Speaker 1 (30:43):
Because he didn't think that they could climb
front seats.
Speaker 2 (30:44):
You had some puppies that weren't planned for All we
know is a black male.
Speaker 1 (30:49):
Like a Labrador or something like that.
Who?
Speaker 2 (30:51):
knows what it was, but we got some interesting
puppies from that one.
Did you have trouble getting?
Speaker 3 (30:56):
rid of those puppies.
Speaker 1 (30:58):
Yeah, anybody watching.
We've got a husky mug righthere that you're drinking out of
.
That's why, now, is that yourmost recent dog?
Speaker 2 (31:07):
Yes, yeah, that's the most recent.
She made it 14, passed lastyear.
Okay, what was her name?
Kia?
Kia, which is a native Alaska,means little wise one.
Oh yeah, that's her up there inthe wall, the little puppy.
Okay.
Speaker 1 (31:22):
So, just like kids, we got pictures of the puppies.
Speaker 2 (31:27):
And she was character from the first two Huskies
Uh-huh.
She really had a differentpersonality.
Speaker 1 (31:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (31:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (31:36):
So did you.
I want to go back a little bit.
So did you travel the wholetime?
You were working as well, or isthat just something that you
started doing later on in life?
Speaker 2 (31:45):
We did three weeks travel and where we lived in
Canton, our good neighbors, goodfriends now next door, they
would watch our animals orthey'd watch their animals.
Okay, it worked out great forus.
Yeah, so you didn't have totake the dogs with you.
Speaker 1 (32:02):
We all traveled, no, okay.
Speaker 2 (32:04):
No, we just do our travel yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:08):
Yeah Well, and how did you get interested in
photography?
Speaker 2 (32:12):
It meant a bit picked it up from my dad, okay okay.
But when I was in Korea I wasin the PX and I see this
beautiful Malota SRR 101 camerathey made great cameras, yes, I
bought it, found out it just hasa light meter in it, so I had
to learn everything about it.
(32:33):
Of course, at then you tookslides.
That was the most.
When you're in the army, that'sthe best way to handle pictures
slides.
So I did a lot of slidepictures and then I kept it up
when I got out and I got anotherMalota.
I got another Malota and thenwhen the digital world opened up
, malota didn't come out withtheir own digital SLR camera.
(32:55):
They sold part of theirtechnology to Sony.
So Sony came out with theirSony A cameras.
Sony lenses and Malotaautofocus lenses were fed on
those things.
Oh, so I bought a Sony A so Ican keep some of my lenses.
Speaker 1 (33:16):
That's a great idea.
Yeah, and now are youself-taught in photography.
Speaker 3 (33:20):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (33:20):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (33:22):
Well, I got books on it and everything, but I just
learned by taking pictures.
Speaker 3 (33:27):
Yeah, you know what you like Using filters and
everything and man that was funstuff to play with.
Speaker 1 (33:32):
Yeah, I'll bet, I'll bet.
So you retired, when did you?
Speaker 2 (33:38):
retire then from Ford .
I retired in Ford's in 03.
Speaker 1 (33:42):
Okay, but you didn't stop.
What did you do after?
Speaker 2 (33:44):
that.
No, I didn't stop, because Iwas always working on the side,
doing things for people, yeah.
Speaker 1 (33:49):
You seem like a guy that's got a lot of energy.
Speaker 2 (33:51):
Yeah, but I have a friend who's a contractor and I
started working for him underthe table Cash Cash, yeah, and
all he was doing at that time.
I helped him before that when Iwas working at Ford's.
He built some houses inWestland so I helped him with
(34:11):
that and then I started workingfor him Very first job he got.
It was with another friend whois a contractor, more in
commercial Marriott Hotel overat 6 Mile and 275.
Redo the whole thing, InteriorWow, that was a seven-month job.
(34:35):
We were there for eight months,something like that Started at
the third floor, second firstman, everything and then what he
got into.
After that he was doinginsurance work but then he
finally branched off justkitchens and baths and trimmings
and doors.
That's all I did for 19 yearswith him.
Speaker 1 (35:00):
And you did it all Like you did all of the.
You weren't like specialized.
Speaker 2 (35:02):
No, he liked me because I could figure things
out and small stuff like puttingdoor handles on or figuring out
how to do this or moveelectrical around boxes around.
I know how to do all that stufftoo.
And did all that.
Speaker 1 (35:20):
So let me ask you this A friend of mine helped me
with this one time.
So anytime you build a house,right, nothing's ever 100%
square.
But he figured out how to putthe trim up so that things that
weren't square would look square.
Speaker 2 (35:36):
Especially when you hang doors.
Yeah, you got to learn exactlyhow to hang doors.
Speaker 1 (35:41):
Yeah, it's like art and science got married.
On that one, I think.
Speaker 2 (35:46):
Well, go back when we started it was my friend
contractor told me about LanceCheap out in Livingston County
because he lived in LivingstonCounty, uh-huh.
So we started looking at houses, found one house that we liked,
but it was something about itwe didn't like and then we
decided to build.
It turns out that house wedidn't like was a modular home.
(36:07):
So we found out who the companyis down in Indiana.
We went and visited thatcompany.
They had the same model, butwith this room addition on it,
bought the plans from them, tookit to a home planner.
He tweaked everything insidewhen we want it and then
(36:30):
submitted the plans to Bill.
Wow, and that's this house.
Yes, and my friend educated meon this when you're looking for
a framer, go interview three andgo visit their present sites.
With a level and a square.
Found this guy.
(36:51):
He was building a house inGrass Lake.
Went down there he was framingit, checked it out and he was
right on.
Went down there, he was framingit, checked it out and he was
right on.
I hired him.
And then he says the same thingwith drywallers.
You check them out first too.
Oh, yes, and then when you want, then boom, you go.
It starts with the framer.
Speaker 1 (37:15):
Right, because if you start out with a good
foundation, everything elsecomes together.
Speaker 2 (37:20):
And that's the way this house came together.
Yeah, because I was the generalon it and then, once the
drywall was done, I dideverything else on the interior.
Speaker 1 (37:30):
Now, do you like doing drywall?
Do you know how to do drywall?
Speaker 2 (37:33):
I used to, but I don't like doing it anymore
because of dust, yeah, and it'sgetting harder to hang stuff for
my age, but I do repair work ondrywall.
Speaker 1 (37:45):
Okay, I was just curious because a lot of people
they'll do everything butdrywall because they don't like
it.
Speaker 2 (37:49):
Well, I used to do a lot of plumbing, but I got
weight from it years ago becauseI can't get down under the
sinks anymore.
Speaker 3 (37:57):
Stuff like that, yeah , so you got to back away.
Speaker 2 (37:59):
We used to do kitchens with backsplashes.
You know doing tile work.
I love doing tile work too, butbending over doing that got
your lower back too much.
Speaker 1 (38:12):
It's a young person's game, I think is what you would
call that.
Yeah, I find that as I getolder, I'm more apt to pay
somebody to do certain thingsright, Because it just makes
sense.
Speaker 2 (38:25):
We had one house, a kitchen.
That was amazing.
It was a big house, big kitchen.
Combining these two roomsprobably was most of the kitchen
.
Combining these two roomsprobably was most of the kitchen
, mm-hmm, one interior wall wasoff a half inch from top to
bottom, so we got to make thiswall hang the cabinets right,
(38:51):
yeah, so we had to build a falsewall to correct that problem.
You always have problems,especially when you do
demolition.
You come across so much.
Speaker 1 (39:02):
Oh, but so you finally stopped working just a
few years ago.
Speaker 2 (39:07):
Yeah, 2019.
Yeah 2019.
Speaker 1 (39:13):
I stopped.
All right, what have you beendoing since then?
Speaker 2 (39:17):
Too much.
Yeah really involved with VFWhere.
Then I got in, we got involvedwith the theater group here, the
Fourth of July committee.
Here they raised the money forthe fireworks.
Speaker 3 (39:35):
Historical.
Speaker 2 (39:37):
Historical Society at the fairgrounds for the
historical buildings, and I usedto repair some of that stuff
too Okay, and then found outthat too many bosses and
everything, so I left it.
Then I got into the theatergroup here and I started
building sets and props for them, do you?
Speaker 1 (39:54):
do any acting?
Speaker 2 (39:57):
They're trying to push me in that.
No, I like to be behind thescene.
Speaker 1 (40:04):
Get my hands on.
Yeah, you don't want to be onthat stage.
Speaker 2 (40:05):
Huh, yeah, well, I did one time, yeah, but they
didn't see me?
Oh, because it was a.
Uh, what was that thing I built?
It was some kind of a room orsomething, but it was movable,
okay.
So I had to be inside, move itout no speaking lines, though.
Speaker 1 (40:26):
No, no, okay, all right, so it sounds like you're
still keeping busy, even in, uh,even in retirement yeah I had
to back away a few things yeahone.
Speaker 2 (40:35):
I belong to the how gun club.
When we started years ago ayouth program for archery, we
got that up and running andthat's great because we supply
the equipment and we train themTrain adults too.
One good story the first yearthere was a mom that came with
three daughters and the threedaughters want to learn, but mom
(40:59):
didn't buy the second or thirdweek.
The mom wanted to learn mm-hmm.
By the fifth week, mom'scompeting against the oldest
daughter.
Oh really it was fun to watchthat stuff develop.
Speaker 1 (41:12):
Yeah, yeah yeah, it's interesting how parents will
like take their kids to get theminvolved in all.
Then, all of a sudden, theparents decide this is something
I enjoy.
Speaker 2 (41:22):
We taught grandmas.
They do women on target thereat the gun club in June
Ninety-six women come ininvolved in six stations they go
.
I was always part of thearchery group.
Teach women archery.
Some of them come back to ourclasses and learn more.
Wow, Wow.
Speaker 3 (41:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (41:42):
But it was too much time away from home, so I had to
back away from that, right,chris?
Speaker 1 (41:50):
And you so do.
You do a lot of stuff with theVFW.
Then yeah, okay.
Speaker 2 (41:55):
I'm a point man for a lot of things.
Yeah, right now I'm working on.
What am I working on?
I'm a point man for a lot ofthings.
Yeah, right now I'm working on.
What am I working on?
I'm working on a lot of things.
Oh, getting estimates for roof,parking lot and HVAC, and then
we're going to.
Well, I found out.
(42:17):
I started to go to find outabout grants.
I went to a real appellate inFallerville.
Asked the manager there how doyou do grants?
Oh, we used to hire somebody,but we don't anymore.
What?
Speaker 1 (42:31):
do you mean you?
Speaker 2 (42:31):
don't.
How do you do it?
She showed me Chat, cpt,artificial intelligence.
She brought her computer andshowed me how to do it.
You ask it Nonprofitorganization is looking for a
grant.
She'd walk you right through it.
I says okay, but how do youknow where to send it to?
(42:52):
Oh, you ask it Nonprofitorganization wants to send a
grant someplace in Michigan.
All these organizations pop up.
So I'm gonna try, I'm gonna dabinto it, see how far I can get.
I don't know if I could do itor not yeah somebody else to do
it.
Speaker 1 (43:11):
I can't right could become a grant writer no
artificial.
Yes, tell anyone, do that,right, right, have your computer
become a grandstander then yeah.
Speaker 2 (43:20):
And then my quartermaster put it on me at
the beginning of the year thedepartment VFW is coming down
with a new policy next year.
Everything in that post has tobe inventory.
So I'm in charge.
Inventory, so I'm in charge.
(43:46):
And then the wife taught me howto create a spreadsheet from
words, office words.
So I make sure when everythingI write down I create a
spreadsheet for what I'm doing.
Speaker 1 (43:53):
Yeah, there's a lot of stuff in these VFWs too, by
the way.
I've been to quite a few ofthem and they have some stuff.
Speaker 2 (44:01):
Well, my quartermaster wanted me to
inventory everything on a wall.
I says no.
He says I'm going to do it.
I'm taking pictures with mycamera and then I'll make prints
out and punch them and put themin a binder and put everything
together in a binder.
So everything together in abinder.
So you got everything there.
Yeah, he says okay, and I'vedone a couple of drawers in the
(44:24):
kitchen.
Pull the drawer.
Oh, there's too much stuff inthere.
Just took a picture of it.
Yeah, should be good enough, Igot it.
I got the main building done,the kitchen, the main hall, the
office.
I still got two other places towork on Three other places, but
I got the rest of the year todo it.
So no rush.
Speaker 1 (44:45):
Yeah, gotta make the commander happy.
Speaker 2 (44:48):
Well, to make the corn master happy.
Speaker 1 (44:49):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (44:50):
Yes, he runs the place there, you go Well.
Speaker 1 (44:54):
you have certainly led an interesting life.
You've done a lot of stuff andyou're still doing stuff.
It sounds like you've had acouple of different careers and
all kinds of things.
I've always wanted to stayactive.
Speaker 2 (45:05):
When I was at Ford's, I saw too much go on when I was
in the warehouse.
Retirees have nothing going onon the outside.
Speaker 3 (45:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (45:14):
And I try to tell them find something to do, join
an organization Volunteer work.
And I try to tell them findsomething to do.
Join an organization Volunteerwork, part-time job.
Why do I need a part-time job?
I got a job right now.
Okay, because I've seen toomany pass within two years after
they leave because they gotnothing to do.
Right, they get bored?
Speaker 1 (45:35):
Yeah, they get bored.
Well, that actually leads me to.
I have two questions really.
One is is there anything?
Speaker 2 (45:48):
that we haven't talked about that.
You want to talk?
Speaker 3 (45:51):
about?
I don't think so, okay, oh mybrother, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (45:55):
Let's talk about your brother.
He was 11 months younger thanme.
Every year with kids we had fun, because for one month we were
the same age.
We had fun with it.
How about?
Yeah, but we didn't see eye toeye a lot of things.
(46:17):
But anyway, he enlisted.
He did two tours in SignalCorps the first time.
Second time he went back hechanged his MOS.
He was a helicopter mechanic,so he got in with pilots and
they taught him how to fly too.
He put 17 years in the Army,but he couldn't re-up the last
(46:40):
three years because when he wasstationed in Germany he was in a
bad car accident, screwed hiship up, and he had a good friend
who was a general which was agodfather to his first child.
He wasn't around when he wasenlisted for the last 20 years,
(47:01):
so he had to get out.
Oh, okay, yeah.
So he got out, tried to go tothe IRS, get hired, but he
screwed himself out of that joband then he was up in the thumb
area living and in 98, he diedin a bad car accident.
He was a passenger.
Oh, head on too, that in a badcar accident.
Speaker 1 (47:22):
He was a passenger Head on too.
That's too bad yeah.
Speaker 2 (47:25):
That was a shocker.
Speaker 1 (47:27):
Yeah, it's hard when you lose a sibling like that.
Definitely Sounds like you havegood memories of him, though.
Oh yeah, well good and bad yeah.
Speaker 2 (47:36):
Well, I remember taking a bat to him too.
Oh wow, as a kid.
Speaker 1 (47:42):
Oh, that's.
Speaker 2 (47:44):
That's boys.
Speaker 1 (47:45):
Yeah, well, you know, my sister and I were a year and
a half apart and we have somegreat stories about hitting each
other with toys and yeah, yeah.
So it's just.
Speaker 2 (47:56):
It's just being raised.
Yeah, sibling rivalry,childhood, it's just the way it
is.
Speaker 1 (48:02):
Exactly Well, so my only other question really is as
people will watch and listen tothis many, many years from now,
when we're probably all goneright, yes.
What message would you like toleave people with?
Speaker 2 (48:18):
Oh message yeah, Enjoy life.
Do everything you can whenyou're young, Because when you
get older it gets harder to dothings.
Enjoy it and stay busy withyour life and enjoy it All right
.
Speaker 1 (48:33):
Well, thank you for that message.
Thank you for taking time outtoday to sit and talk with me.
I appreciate it, thank you.
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