Call to Arms

Armed Forces Day is the third Saturday in May.

In World War II when I was a student at college, most of the male students rushed to enlist in a branch of the service. That left almost no male students, so the Navy moved in and filled the men's dorms and frat houses with sailors, to the delight of us girls.

I remember at Winter Carnival the sailors fashioned a P.T. boat, down to the last detail in the Ice Sculpture Contest. I still have a photograph of it.

My ex-husband served in the army in both theatres of operation. But when I begged him to tell me of his war experiences, the only thing he would tell me was about the time he gave candy to a little German girl who reminded him of his baby sister, Frannie. The only injury he sustained was polynoidal cysts from riding around in a Jeep.

That's one lucky Irishman!

Dottie O'Brien is a copywriter who retired to Manchester Village, but can't seem to stop writing.