“To the trenches men... war is Hell, with a capitol ‘H’ “
But don’t get me wrong , the Sunland Tujunga Verdugo HillsSenior and Junior High School reality scene, wasn’t
all peaches and cream (Shangrila) as we posted earlier .But the World War 2 paratrooper’s son
who defied his genetic paternity, and enlisted in the Marines during the Korean “hiccup”.. that Generals Macarthur andRidgeway )39th
parallel) bloodshed , cast a chill over and under our minor planet.
Counting ten and pulling the rip cord from an air transport flyingover the 39th was c contemplated by civilian authority as
high as President Truman, who summarily fired the corn pipingfive star General “to the trenches men… War is Hell, with a capitol ‘H’
.
II
Bill Farmer, the head honcho (a handball player) led a cast: Katherine Burke, his secretary, Dorothy Roberts, head counselor, Herman Adams, Math and chess club virtuoso, CyKorach, Physical Education teacher, basketball coach, amillionn miles away in the galaxy, from Barney Cohen, Brooklyn’s Midwood High School hoops, during our saber tooth tiger yesterdays.
Larger than life students: Lenny Ross, Diane Keaton (MidwoodHigh’s Woody Allen) aka “Annie Hall”, a Buster Keaton kin, al mimic rival to Charlie Chaplin’s persona: derby mustache baggy pants and cane. On Venice’s skating rink, off the Venicespeedway, a sea gull’s flight from the pier and the Aragon Ballroom, Muscle Beach, the bingo joint on the boardwalk, and the penny arcade where Major Fenton indulged in the baseball replica, pre “ Arod’s“ suspension, the Yankee hot corner, for taking life enhancing drugs, covering up his sluggingderelictions…forty years old, he should have known better.
“Right neighbor? Right!”
Especially at 129 million big bucks some 7 decades later, as the tides crash the sands and cyber space.
August 4, 2013 Venice, California.
