Carl served in the armed forces. We honor that service here.
Life story
The year was 1954…my dad was in the Marines. He just got a new assignment to Camp Lejuene, NC. My mom was pregnant with Carl. The family was driving to Camp Lejuene, when on the way there, my mom went into labor. It just so happened to be in Texas—Anson, TX…to be exact! My mom and dad always laughed about that saying, “Carl was so wild, he wanted to be born in Texas!” He was the only one of us kids that was lucky enough to be born in the great state of Texas!
Our dad gave Carl $5 to get my haircut. Carl scoped out this new barber down by the railroad tracks. This barber had a bottle of gin/whiskey in his boot! Needless to say, this barber was wasted! He put me in the chair and started spinning me like a top! Trying to cut my hair, and take a swig at his whiskey, all at the same time! This of course lead to several bald spots. Not to mention…a lot of cuts! Carl was rolling. I never seen Carl laugh so hard! That is, until we got home! Dad grabbed his belt accusing Carl of cutting my hair, so he could have $5! Dad was in disbelief. He was about to give Carl one hell of a beating! I pleaded to my dad, Carl didn’t do it! My dad said, “There was know way a barber did that!” Once he believed us, he made us stay home. He told us don’t move, until I get back!
I don’t know what happened? Carl said dad kicked his ass…thru his bottle across the PK lot and got his money back!…Carl told me that, he will never forget that day! That was the funniest thing he has ever seen! Lord have mercy!
We were fishing at the brazos river for the first time. We caught a lot of catfish that day. We were using cane poles my dad put together…on our way out, we had to scale this pretty big cliff. My dad was leading the way, I was only 6, so was struggling pretty bad. Dad told Carl to help your little brother! Have Edmund grab your cane pole. I reached up to grab it and 3-5 seconds later Carl let go! I tumbled down the side of the cliff. I guess you could say I was baptized in the holy water of the Brazos River! I was scraped up, from head to toe!
I was so mad, but we all laughed about it, later. My dad said that I looked liked a midget tumbling down the cliff. Once we got home, mom was mad! I guess I looked pretty bad. Mom poured monkey blood all over me! Monkey blood is what us kids called “Iodine” that was the alcohol/peroxide of my day! I miss those days of hanging out with my big brother. Love you Carl!
