Dad and the Army

Dad went into the Army during WWII. He became a 50cal. air cooled machine gunner. He had told me a few times that he really wanted to go into battle. He would get sent to some other outfit and then the outfit he just left would ship out to go to battle areas. He never did go to war. I think that is a good thing. He said that the life expectancy of a machine gunner in battle was like ten or fifteen minutes. It was short anyway. When Dad joined the Army he joined with a friend. They were getting to the end of their enlistment and had been discussing going into the Air force. Dad's enlistment was up before his friend so he joined up with the Air force expecting his friend to do the same but he never did.
My older sister, Janice was born while he was in the Army. I came along while he was in the Air force. Dad was stationed in New Mexico while Mom was having me in Chicago. After I was born we all got together in New Mexico and became a whole family.

My Mother

I don't know a lot about my mothers side of the family. Her name was Shirley.She was born in Lone Rock Wisconsin. I don't know her mother and fathers name. I do know that her father was a druggist and he died shortly after I was born but I don't know why. She had two sisters. The oldest was my aunt Dorthy, then there was my mom and she had a younger sister named Helen, we called her Aunty Bea. Mom also had two brothers. There was Uncle Bill and Uncle Bob. One of them was the one everyone thought was in Pearl Harbor when the Japs said HELLO. My mom moved to Chicago, got a job and was living with my great aunt Helen. Aunt Helen was my mothers mothers sister and she worked for a CPA named Mr. Winsor. Some how Shirley and my dad met and went out dancing quite a bit. My dad loved big band music and they danced to the big bands. The real bands. Not records, CD's or IPod's. He used to talk about dancing to Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey, listening to Gene Krupa and Jimmy Durante and I just can't remember them all.

Now there you go, they are together now and this is a good place to quit for the night.
Good night, pleasant dreams.

Not even a gleam in my fathers eye

Some of what happened in the early parts of this blog occured prior to my birth so obviously it is hearsay, but it comes from a reliable source, my parents, Shirley and Ed Everman.

My dad was born in Chicago to Grace and Barton Everman. He was the oldest of two children, both boys. His younger brothers name is Duane and now lives in Las Vegas NV. The boys attended a Catholic school, Our Lady of Angels, in Chicago. Grace Everman was a cook in one of the Chicago schools and Barton Otis worked on the trolley cars. He was in the Navy or merchant marines in his younger years, I don't know which. When my dad was old enough he was an operator on the Chicago trolleys. I think there were a lot of relatives in Chicago, aunts, uncles and cousins. I have some pictures of some family gatherings that I will scan and post this weekend with as much information as I have available. During a conversation Dad told me that after WWII started he remembered men pushing carts through the streets calling out for people to bring out their scrap metals to support the war effort. One of my uncles on my mothers side was in the navy and his ship had been in Pearl Harbor for repairs. All of his relatives and friends knew he was in Pearl Harbor so when the Japanese attacked they figured he was there and were worried. The repairs had been made on his ship and was out on a check out cruise, so he wasn't there when the Japanese said HELLO.
More later.

Here I am

My other blog is on hold for a while yet. I have not received my PI slides back yet and I want to write. So here here it begins but not just yet. I have to go to bed and get my beauty sleep. I feel ugliness creeping up on me.
More later, good night.