Today is a day of reflection ~

I was a very young yet mature boy who decided to fight the wars on the home front.

I had lived through the entire “Cold  War”.

Additionally I had relatives engaged in battle during the Korean Conflict, as it is referred to today. Yet it was war.

My draftable days surrounded the Vietnam conflict.

I refer to it as a “conflict” only because of the aforementioned.  It is my belief that we put our tails between our legs and eased back home.

My conflict would have been in Vietnam.

When the draft papers arrived I was devastated, To be in the service at 23, to me was not an option. My life would have been turned upside down.

I had purchased a business from my Dad and was still struggling to make a profit.

I had a home and a wife and a business. Being drafted would have surely ended all for which I had struggled.

I do sincerely love America.

The First Step

When being drafted, the first step is a pre-induction physical.

Myself and a group of other young men were bussed to Jacksonville for such a physical.

At a younger age I apparently indured a case of Polio, which is a devastating sickness for preteen youths.

As a child I spent six months in Hope Haven Hospital for crippled youth in Jacksonville, Florida. I was given daily treatments.

I could not stand up. I could not walk. Over six months in rehab was begun first in a wheelchair, then on  crutches, and finally, six  months later, released and allowed to return home.

My medical records were about 1 1/2 inches thick and I presented these during the final process of pre-induction.

The Sergeant was not impressed and said, “You walked in, and passed the physical, and you can expect your papers in 30 days.”

How This Chapter Ends

I had four deferments and on the fifth request I received a call from the local draft board stating, “Don’t call us, we will call you”.

I fully understood that I would not be contacted again.

My request from the draft board was, “We need businessmen and mechanics at home to keep vehicles operational.”

Few could say they were pro-war. I did not believe in the Vietnam Conflict yet I did not use that as an excuse.

I love America and will lay my life down for it to survive.

I do have guilt feelings for not being in the service. These feelings will be with me until my time in my grave.

“God, please bless America as you have done in the past”.

Charles Gene Bush