Veterans 2011 Creative Arts Competition
Creative Writing: Personal Experience (Patriotic) category.
Ashley’s Homework Assignment
“Grandpa! Do you think you could help me with my social science assignment?” Ashley politely asked.
“I don’t know, Mi-hita, I’ll try. What’s it about?”
“Well, Grandpa, our teacher gave us an assignment to write a paper, describing what the traits are of an American patriot.”
“Hmm,” I said, at the same time rubbing my chin and trying to think. “Let’s go to the dictionary and see what we find for the meaning of patriot. P-a-t-r. Here we are, ‘Patriot: One who loves, supports, and defends his or her country.’ I can tell you a story that may fit the description of an American patriot. Maybe you can use the material for your assignment, shall we try?”
“Okay, Grandpa.”
“The year was 1944. WWll was raging in Europe and the South Pacific, Now in the war’s fifth year. The American and Allied forces were winning on all fronts, and soon the war would be over. However, like so many young kids of this era, this one particular fourteen-year-old boy still wanted to avenge Pearl Harbor. He wanted a crack at our attackers. The scuttlebutt of the day was. The merchant Marines were taking young boys at fourteen, providing their parents would sign for them. Maybe it was not too late. Well, that idea did not go over too well with his mom, so this boy had to bide his time until he reached age seventeen to enlist.
The Essay on Two Boys One American Dream
TWO BOYS, ONE AMERICAN DREAM Baseball is a rugged sport, uniquely American. Two Jewish boys meet during one of the most hotly contested baseball games of the high school season, in New York City during World War II. The teams' rivalry-one team are Hassidim, the other orthodox-fuels intense acrimony between them until a freak accident during the game sends one to the hospital with an injury that ...
“In the meantime, the boy drops out of school after only reaching the seventh grade, in order to pursue full time employment as a cook at the old downtown Hilton Hotel in Albuquerque. He had been working there four years by the time he reached sixteen. By now he was well on his way to becoming a professional cook.
“One day, the executive chef calls him to his office and tells him that the Hilton Hotel had chosen him for a full scholarship to attend the Cornell Culinary Institute in New York. He thinks about the offer very carefully. Realizing, this could be the answer to his dream. That is becoming a chef at the Waldorf Astoria some day. He realizes what a wonderful opportunity this would be that would dramatically change his life. However, he declines the offer, his heart set on reaching seventeen and enlisting in the service.
“In September of 1947, a week after his seventeenth birthday, he enlists in the U.S. Army Air Force. Before the ink is even dry on his enlistment papers, he finds himself in the newly reorganized United States Air Force and shipped off to boot camp in Texas. Soon after, he finds himself in the Base hospital, recovering from a serious injury. During combat maneuvers, he was hurled into the air land in a dry rocky creek bed, when knocked off a steep incline. All caused by a two-hundred pound overly jubilant opposing team member. The doctors at Lakeland AFB strongly recommend a medical discharge for the injured soldier, but he adamantly rejects the idea, at the same time convincing superiors that he is capable and more than willing to continue in the service of his country and fulfill the terms of his enlistment.
“Next thing you know, he’s En route to his overseas duty assignment, which turned out to be The Famed 449th Night Fighter Squadron, re-activated to the Alaskan Air Command of the Eleventh Air Force on the island of Adak, a Small hunk of rock in the Aleutians. After the usual interview with his commanding officer, It is determined that he will be allowed to continue in his civilian career as cook. Using his culinary skills serving the officers and men of the 449th in their newly appointed family-styled mess hall, dubbed “The – [Tilt’n Hilton on the Rock. With all the ring-of-fire earthquakes and the constant violent williwaws and snowstorms on Adak, the small Quonset complex would soon be well deserving of its name, and also would attract such military VIPs as General Jimmy Doolittle, followed by Colonel Charles Lindbergh, each on their way home from Japan.
The Essay on The First Time Air Veronica Snow
The First Time Slush, Slush, Slush, 'Ahhhhhhhhhh!' 'Well, there goes another graceful one,' Looked admirably down the slope, 'How do they do that?' 'With lots of practice? !' Veronica replied sarcastically. 'No kidding!' I gave her a look. Then with a unsure voice I said, 'I'm going to try it myself, wish me luck.' 'Break a leg? !' 'Ha, Ha, very funny.' Slowly, I crabbed walked up the slope. ...
“You can’t imagine how very proud this young New Mexico boy is to play a small part in this important yet unheralded time in Cold War history. Our outdated and severely aged WW-II P-61“Black Widow” fighters are scrambled almost daily to stave off the new Russian jets that are anxious to test our presence in the Aleutians.
“His culinary skills and creativity are allowed to blossom to new heights when he discovers the scarcity of the usual condiments, with nothing but powered eggs and milk to make cakes and pastries for tired, hungry, and weary flight crews coming off the line, in the wee hours of the morning.
“Well Mi-hita! What do you think? Does the story give you some idea of the description of what could be an American patriot?”
“Yes, it sure does, Grandpa, but at the same time I am thinking…”
“Yes, Mi-hita, tell me, what are you thinking?”
“It was not too long ago that Grandma was telling me a little about you and your experiences as a young boy. She mentioned that you worked at the Hilton Hotel and also that you were stationed on an Aleutian island with lots of earthquakes, Grandpa! Is this story about you?”
I paused and thought seriously before I answered her. “Ashley,” I said, “it was a very, very long time ago… I hardly remember that boy, he was so young, but what I clearly remember is that what he wanted most in the world, at no matter what personal cost, was to put on his country’s uniform and defend his country’s flag. He strongly felt that he was in the service of his country to do whatever, whenever, where ever.
“Thank you, Grandpa. I like that story.”
“You’re welcome, Mi-hita, and I hope you make a good grade in your social science class.”
