On the bus to Fort Dix

At the end of April, 1963, I was called by the draft board to report to the US Army center on Whitehall Street in Manhattan for a physical exam. I was told that if I passed the exam, I would, the same day, be transported to Fort Dix, New Jersey to begin basic training. I passed the exam and was soon on the bus to Fort Dix, with about another 20 men who also had passed the exam. One individual, who had a strong Italian accent, was loudly complaining that he had just put down a large deposit on a suit and he didn't know how he was going to get it back. It seemed that he didn't know that if he passed the physical that he would immediately be off to basic training. </p> <p>In June, 1992, my wife (who I had not met until July, 1967), my son and I went on a three week vacation to Italy. Midway in the trip, we visited a small town in Sicily. My wife's maternal grandparents were both born in this town, married and lived there and later immigrated to the US and settled in New York. My mother-in-law and wife were subsequently born in New York. When we said that we were going to Sicily, my wife's mother suggested that we visit the town where my wife's grandparents were from. My wife's grandparent's had died but her family had contact with a family in the town who had been friends of my wife's grandparents. She wrote to the family which consisted of the grandparent's friends (husband and wife) and their two adult sons. They supplied a telephone number. When we were in a city near the town, we called the friends and arranged to meet them the next day in the town. They all spoke some English but the sons were fluent. They showed us the house where my wife's grandparents lived and the "fountain" in the center where they said one would get water but also wash your clothes when the grandparents lived there. The whole town was about two city blocks long. They invited us to lunch at their home. </p> <p>At lunch, one of the sons said that he had lived in New York for a time before going back to Italy. I don't remember the conversation exactly but the son said while he was in the New York, he was drafted into the Army. I asked him about when that was and he said April, 1963. I asked him if when he was on the bus to Fort Dix, was he complaining about putting down a deposit on a suit. He was he.