The Garand and a Love Story
A few months before I joined the Army back in 1961 I purchased a National Match M-1 from Greentop a family owned gun store outside Richmond that ran Gander Mountain out of business or maybe they ran themselves out of business.
After Basic and AIT at Ft. Jackson, SC, I was sent to West Point. Eventually I started to shoot with the 1st Bn, 1stBg, 1st inf team at West Point. They would not let me keep my Garand in Barracks but the 57th MP's kept it in their property lockup and i would check it out when we had a Rifle Match at Ft. Dix. Our rifle coach was Oscar Gallman, a real character from Tennessee who was also the cadet rifle team coach. He had a old 3cyl Saab and i often wondered if we would make it to Ft. Dix. Oscar smoked one of those long curved custom made Meerschaum pipes. A hand full of our shooters were in the USMA Band and they could shoot as well as play a instrument.
Well as time marched on I was interviewed to death and picked to be Gen. Westmoreland's driver. One day my sweetheart Diane who was the Dean's secretary came upstairs with some paperwork for the Supt. She dropped the papers with Pat the Supt's secretary and walked over to me and said "I understand you are Gen Westmoreland's new driver, would you like to have a cup of coffee with me" The aide looked at me like this girl has a lot of nerve (Can't use that other word here) bear in mind I have to be ready at a seconds notice. The aide rolled his eyes and pointed to the coffee room meaning it's OK. Much transpired after that much of which I can't reveal on a public forum.
We got engaged and were married by a Army chaplain ( Major) at the Post Chapel at West Point. I guess it was a pretty big deal because I was from Westy's office and Diane was from the Dean's office, BG Bessel. Every one came and the church was full.
Our plan was to go to Key West and we woke up the next morning to two feet of snow in a Motel in Newburgh, NY. What a shock. We were snowbound for a couple of days and finally reality set in. We really had very little money. Diane even paid for half the cost of her diamond. I had sold my NM Garand to a fellow shooter in the USMA Band because he kept after me and I needed the money for our honeymoon. I think I let it go for around a hundred dollars. I suppose a NM in its condition would go for around $4,000 today.
We drove to the PX at West Point and spent around $125 on food and household items that would last us a couple weeks. No inflation then and settled into our little apartment behind the baseball backstop in Highland Falls, NY. A few days later it was my birthday and Diane wanted to do something nice for me and baked my favorite cocoanut pie. As she was taking it out of the oven it burned the tip of her fingers and she dropped it. What a mess, it went everywhere. Diane started to cry hysterically and I told her I would clean it up. We were both down on our hands and knees and she looked up at me, stopped crying and started laughing. She looked me straight in the face and said "We did the right thing didn't we?" I said "Yes" and she said "I love you Raymond" We had a long run of 59 years.
A few months ago I parked behind the baseball backstop in Highland Falls near our apartment of 1964 and all the memories came flooding back. I had not shot a M-1 since my early days on the team at West Point. As I was shooting my M-1 that i purchased around 20 years ago I could see my old NM Garand passing from my hands to the new owner and my wife's beautiful face as we were about to be married. And, the memories came flooding back.
Sorry for the long read. I miss Diane so much today. Please, before the sun sets tonight, tell your sweetheart that you love her.
Merry Christmas to all. ———————————-Ray
PS: Finally after 25 years of marriage in 1989 we had our honeymoon. I bought a new truck and we crossed North America went up the Alaskan Highway and up the pipeline. Spent a month in Alaska.
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Thank you for sharing
Truly a great story of love
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Awesome story Ray. Thanks for sharing.
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I love a good love story.Sounds like you had a good run .
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Westmoreland's driver, eh? Got any stories?
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yoshmyster: 32607553460123/comments/32607555847835
Westmoreland's driver, eh? Got any stories?
He was a hardnosed General that always treated me right. I will try to drop some here as time goes by. Others will remain buried forever. I am probably too loyal. ———-Ray
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Loved every word of it Ray, thanks for sharing.
Wish I could get that NM rifle back for you.
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Ridefar, Oh well, my sweetheart Diane was worth a million dollars more than every dollar i got for the Garand. I suppose there are many of us here on the "Forum" that wished we could re-do a sale that took place long ago. ——-Ray
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There are many, many stories about Westy tucked away in my old memory bank. Here is one teaser.
Once during June Week the aides loaned me out for a few other dignitaries. I went almost three days without any sleep. After all, I was Government property! I was on the Palisades Pkwy one night with Westy and BG Stillwell the Commandant (son I believe of Vinegar Joe Stillwell) and I fell asleep for a nano second. I felt the shoulder of the road but did not over correct. Westy hollered and wanted to know if I was falling asleep. I explained my situation and asked if I could crack the window in the Chrysler. He even offered to drive. I got some fresh air and continued on to the Waldorf Astoria in NYC where there was a meeting of The NY Athletic Club. After driving underneath the building and letting them out Westy told me to climb in the back seat and get some sleep. "I will knock on the glass and wake you."
To the best of my knowledge he never spilled the beans of that incidence to anyone. I continued to drive him until his last day to go to Presidio to learn Vietnamese. Vietnam was on the horizon.
On my last day in front of Quarters 100 he asked me to keep my seat and talked to me quite a while about my future. Even asked me to re-up. I know a lot of guys in Nam hated him and some liked him. He was always a hardnosed General to work for but he was good to me. Trust me, not everything Mike Wallace had to say about him was Gospel. ————————-Ray
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Ray, Thank you for sharing. That was the best thing I have read on GB ever. PS, I live about 30 minutes from Dix in the pines. Oh the pines. Have you ever seen such a dense forest??? No one would believe you if you told them how much of a forest South Jersey is!!!!
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4205raymond: 32607553460123/comments/32607541010971
There are many, many stories about Westy tucked away in my old memory bank. Here is one teaser.
Once during June Week the aides loaned me out for a few other dignitaries. I went almost three days without any sleep. After all, I was Government property! I was on the Palisades Pkwy one night with Westy and BG Stillwell the Commandant (son I believe of Vinegar Joe Stillwell) and I fell asleep for a nano second. I felt the shoulder of the road but did not over correct. Westy hollered and wanted to know if I was falling asleep. I explained my situation and asked if I could crack the window in the Chrysler. He even offered to drive. I got some fresh air and continued on to the Waldorf Astoria in NYC where there was a meeting of The NY Athletic Club. After driving underneath the building and letting them out Westy told me to climb in the back seat and get some sleep. "I will knock on the glass and wake you."
To the best of my knowledge he never spilled the beans of that incidence to anyone. I continued to drive him until his last day to go to Presidio to learn Vietnamese. Vietnam was on the horizon.
On my last day in front of Quarters 100 he asked me to keep my seat and talked to me quite a while about my future. Even asked me to re-up. I know a lot of guys in Nam hated him and some liked him. He was always a hardnosed General to work for but he was good to me. Trust me, not everything Mike Wallace had to say about him was Gospel. ————————-Ray
I really enjoy hearing stories like this. Keep them coming. Don
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Oakie, thank you for your kind words. I remember one of our rifle matches and it was very long, 600 yards if my memory is correct. There was a bad fire burning in the area and we could barely see the targets. Still, the match continued on.
Me and one of the other shooters , also a USMA Band Member went on a date with two sisters who were from I believe Wrightstown a town close by? As I recall "61 or'62. Of course before I met my sweetheart Diane. ————-Ray
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Oakie, I also remember jet engines running all night near barracks at Ft. Dix where we slept. I think the engines were being tested. Was there a Air Force base next door? Pretty hard to sleep with that noise and get up in AM and shoot like a Expert. ——————Ray
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