Before my parents were my parents, They both enlisted in the navy towards the end of World War II.  They were assigned to Pensacola. Florida when they first met. Shortly after they married, the war ended, and about a year later, I arrived.

My father was a photographer in the navy.  After the war he taught photography at Fort Holabird in Baltimore for the army military intelligence school.  He later taught in Washington D.C. for military attachés. Perhaps my love for both teaching and photography is located within my DNA.

My Uncle Ernest, who was known to all as Uncle “Choo,” was my second father as a young boy.  During the war he was an army MP where he served in France.  When he returned to the states he opened up a camera repair store where I worked part time in college. National Camera Repair was located just one block north of what is now Harbor Place in Baltimore City.  Another photography link…

My Uncle Leo was the youngest of my father’s brothers.  As a teenager he volunteered for the army where was sent to France and Germany.  He was assigned to tank duty, where he saw considerable action.  He was the head gunner, and he did not talk much about his experiences, but he did tell me was involved in the Battle of the Bulge.  My other uncles talked about him suffering from Shell Shock upon his return, which we now refer to as P.T.S.D.  After the war he became an electrical technician, and I think we may have shared a math gene.

My Uncle Lester was the oldest of my father’s brothers that served, and he saw the most action.  He was in the infantry where he fought in several major battles.  We never talked about his experiences but my uncle Choo told me that over three fourths of his company did not return.  In spite of all these conflicts, I remember him as a fun loving man. I lived with him during my last summer in high school when I worked as a camp counselor at the seminary at DeMatha High School outside Washington.  I think perhaps he may have given me his joy and respect for life.

My father’s only sister, Elsie, got married just prior to the start of WWII.  Her husband, Uncle Barney, saw action throughout France. One interesting thing I only discovered after his death was what a prolific and organized photographer he was.  I recently found several of his annotated photo albums that chronicled his travels throughout France.

My brother-in-law, Fred, served in the army during the war in Vietnam. He was a combat photographer and received a purple heart when a grenade exploded in front of him. His Graflex camera was destroyed, but it saved his face. Following the war he joined the Baltimore City Police Department. After only a few years as a police officer, he lost his life in the line of duty. The governor of Maryland recently honored Fred during a Fallen Heroes Ceremony.

Fred’s father held perhaps the highest rank in the family while serving in the army.  He was a sergeant in the 101^st Airborne, and he was one of the greats who fought in Normandy on D-Day,

My father-in-law, Sid, was the only marine in the family.  As a young man in the 1^st Marine Division in WWII, he saw considerable action on the islands of Peleliu and Pavuvu in the South Pacific. After the war, the decades passed, but the Corps remained a huge part of Sid’s life.  He was forever a former marine, not an ex-marine.

My oldest brother-in-law, Joe, was one of the first groups of marines to land in Vietnam. He was a combat marine basically living in the jungle for almost three years.  He later extended his stay in the marines for another five.  Joe is and always will be a “former marine.” However, his civilian career was later spent working as an environmentalist for the army at Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland. His new duties were to protect and nurture the hundreds of eagles that felt free on the post.