Work Hard, Stay Busy, and Keep Learning: Life Lessons from Vietnam-Era Veteran Steve Whitney

Steve Whitney's story begins in western Detroit, where as a young boy he earned money collecting golf balls at Rouge Park's course – a simple hustle that hinted at the resourceful nature that would define his life. Raised primarily by his Sicilian mother with limited communication from his father, Steve found himself drafted into the Army at age 19, marking the start of a journey that would shape his character and capabilities.

After basic training at Fort Knox and infantry instruction at Fort Polk, Steve found himself in an unusual situation. Destined for service on the Korean DMZ, military policy initially blocked his assignment because his brother was already serving in Vietnam – a protection against multiple casualties in one family. Undeterred, Steve signed a waiver to enable his deployment, temporarily angering his mother but creating the opportunity for accelerated advancement. Within his 13-month tour, he quickly rose from E2 to Sergeant, managing mortar teams and leading patrols in the tense buffer zone between North and South Korea.

What makes Steve's story remarkable isn't just his military service but how he carried its lessons throughout his civilian life. After returning home, he married his girlfriend Chris in 1972 and built a 35-year career at Ford Motor Company, evolving from warehouse operations to mechanics in the Executive Garage. Rather than slowing down at retirement, Steve launched directly into a second 19-year career in construction and remodeling, applying his problem-solving skills to everything from hotel renovations to sophisticated kitchen remodels.

Today, Steve remains deeply engaged in his community through the VFW, local theater productions (behind the scenes building sets), and various volunteer initiatives. His lifelong passion for photography, which began with a camera purchased at a Korean PX, continues to document his adventures. Steve's parting wisdom resonates with compelling truth: "Enjoy life when you're young. Do everything you can, because it gets harder as you age. Stay busy with your life." It's advice he lives by every day, having witnessed too many retirees fade away within two years of leaving work because "they got nothing to do." For Steve Whitney, a purposeful life has never been about prestige or position, but rather continuous learning, creating, and contributing.

Transcript

Early Life in Detroit

Speaker 1 0:33

Today is Friday, april 4th 2025. We're talking to Steve Whitney, who served in the United States Army. So good morning Steve, good morning Bill, great to see you this morning, good you be here, and I gotta say you got a beautiful place out here. I know we were talking about it before we did the recording, but it's really nice. Thank you All right. Well, we're gonna get started and I'm just gonna start with some simple questions.

Speaker 2 0:59

So when, and I'm just going to start with some simple questions so when and where were you born? I was born October, no, february 16th, 1950 in Detroit. Okay, at what was it? Mark Carmel. What was the name of the hospital? Mount Carmel, mark Carmel, all right. Detroit, west Detroit.

Speaker 1 1:16

For those who are watching and listening Steve's wife, Chris, is kind of off camera here watching everything go on, so we may hear from her at some point in this.

Speaker 2 1:28

So I was born and went to school in Detroit. Okay, the street I lived on. It was a half block from elementary school that was just built, Mm-hmm. So at two no, at second grade I started there Because they were bussing me to another school for kindergarten and first grade because that school wasn't built yet. Oh, okay, and then I started there at that school and then I went to junior high Lester, Junior High in Detroit. It's a mile walk.

Speaker 2 2:09

And then I went to Cody High School, which was another mile walk, so you were right near home the whole time. Yeah, and I was where we lived. We were four blocks from the biggest park in Detroit, rouge Park, called Rouge Park, and it had a golf course and it had three Olympic swimming pools. There too, brennan Pools, they were called. That park was my playground.

Speaker 1 2:36

Yeah, were you there all the time.

Speaker 2 2:39

A lot.

Speaker 1 2:40

Yeah.

Speaker 2 2:40

Well, I started, real young, started making money off the golf course shagging balls, oh Balls coming over the first, yeah, first fence and everything, selling them back to present golfers. They get pissed. No, sell them to somebody else, yeah, why not? Yeah.

Speaker 1 3:01

No one likes to buy their own ball back, though, right.

Speaker 2 3:03

No, they don't, because they're pissed that they knocked it off.

Speaker 1 3:06

Right, right. Yeah, I've played a few rounds of golf myself.

Speaker 2 3:09

But I learned a couple other holes you can be on in balls coming over the fence. Then I started figuring out. There's seven river holes. I got a little older one or two years, started reading the course. Know exactly where the balls collect their river. Oh, and get a lot of balls, clean them all up, put them in eight cartons and sell them.

Speaker 1 3:32

So you had quite an enterprise going.

Speaker 2 3:33

Well, made good money.

Speaker 1 3:35

Yeah, Now did you have brothers and sisters?

Speaker 2 3:37

I had one brother younger, 11 months younger than me, and one sister younger than me, okay, and my brother enlisted too, and that story had come out about him.

Speaker 1 3:49

Okay, and then. So were you guys pretty close growing up, or not?

Speaker 2 3:54

Well, my childhood was a little problem because my dad wouldn't communicate with us. Okay, so it was just my mom. So basically we grew up that way. Eventually I worked in it with my dad, but that was his problem, so pretty much your mom was the caretaker, then yeah, what can you tell me? About your mom. She's a 100% Sicilian. Uh-huh, she was really outspoken and Don't remember how much I had a concussion when I was younger Uh-huh, and I lost a lot of my memory, exactly in my younger years.

Speaker 3 4:40

Okay.

Speaker 1 4:41

Yeah.

Speaker 3 4:41

All right.

Speaker 1 4:42

So you're working your way through school collecting golf balls. Did you swim in those pools at all? Oh, the Brennan Pools.

Speaker 2 4:49

Gotcha. Yeah, that must have been pretty cool. Big Olympic pools, three of them One shadow, one medium and one a diving one.

Speaker 1 5:01

Did you do much diving?

Speaker 2 5:02

No, you didn't have to prove that you can dive.

Speaker 1 5:05

Oh, okay, yeah, I got you. So. Did you play sports or anything like that in school?

Finding Work and Getting Drafted

Speaker 2 5:11

No, no sports. I was sort of like back then it wasn't called a geek I like all the shops. I was a of like back then it wasn't called a geek. Right, I was, I like all the shops and I was a math.

Speaker 1 5:21

I loved math back then, so yeah, well, the nice thing about math is it just is what it is. Two plus two is always going to be four, right, yeah, but you get into geometry, algebra, yeah, all that stuff, yeah, so you, you make it through school, I'm assuming. Well, no, I didn't.

Speaker 2 5:37

Okay, I stopped school because my parents weren't pushing me Uh-huh, and the school was pushing me toward college. I didn't like the classes they were pushing me to. Right. I wanted to be standard, but nobody would listen to me. So I just stopped, okay. Boom, but nobody would listen to me. So I just stopped, okay, and then made money, worked here, there, there, and then get drafted in 19 okay, got hired at Ford 18 uh-huh, what'd you do it for him? Well, this is National Park Depot in Livonia. It's a warehouse the only single warehouse they have in the nation that handles not fast-moving stock Okay, and I worked stock for about 10 years there. Then I got into their executive garage they created there as a mechanic because I was always wrenching on the side, and I managed to be the last 25 years or 35 years at Ford's being a mechanic at Executive Garage.

Speaker 1 6:40

Okay, so you did your whole career there at Ford after that career, yeah, yeah, so let's back.

Speaker 2 6:47

So I got drafted at 19 at Ford's and it was August. I went in, got down to Fort Wayne where we were going to be shipped out to Fort Knox, kentucky, and they had us all stand in line, straight line in a long hallway and out walked a sergeant Marine sergeant on the side door. He walked in front of the line and says, okay, if I point at you one step forward, I was sweating, I wasn't playing in the Marines, yeah. But he picked out four or five guys and says okay, you guys are in the Marines, follow me.

Speaker 1 7:28

You know, I've talked to a bunch of guys, same exact situation and some of them got picked and some of them didn't. It was yeah, that's a scary proposition there. Well, it is, because they don't tell you ahead of time. That's what's scary about it. And when you're talking about Fort Wayne, you're talking about Fort Wayne in Detroit, right?

Speaker 3 7:45

Yeah, a lot of people don't even know that that existed, I know.

Speaker 1 7:50

That was a great place to be yeah.

Speaker 2 7:52

And then they bus us down to Fort Knox, kentucky, and then I get introduced to basic training.

Speaker 1 7:58

So tell me about that. What do you remember about that first day of basic training?

Speaker 2 8:05

No, it was all interesting to me Just learning everything and meeting. What's amazing to me? Meeting the people, the guys from all over the the eastern part of the state country. That was amazing to me Meeting the people.

Speaker 1 8:24

Yeah, because a lot of people will grow up in one city and have the same friends.

Speaker 2 8:28

It could be Illinois, ohio, it could be New York, whatever.

Basic Training and Infantry School

Speaker 1 8:31

Yeah, all kinds of different people from all kinds of different places.

Speaker 2 8:35

It's amazing.

Speaker 1 8:37

That is very cool and training was good.

Speaker 2 8:41

You learn about misery, agony and whatever the third hill was called.

Speaker 1 8:47

Yeah, interesting thing about the Army is, no matter where the base is at, it feels like it's always hot and always humid. Did you run into that? Not there In my infantry training down in Louisiana.

Speaker 2 8:56

I did Okay. Did you run into that at Fort Knox? Not there In my infantry. Training down in Louisiana? I did Okay, Did you go to Fort?

Speaker 1 9:01

Polk. Yes, all right, let's talk a little bit about that.

Speaker 2 9:05

Okay, I get out of Knox and got shipped down to Fort Polk and I met a guy in Knox that was from Lincoln Park, so we kind of got together.

Speaker 3 9:20

Yeah.

Speaker 2 9:20

And we did our 192 strong company in Fort Port, louisiana for empty training and that was a good deal. I mean I learned more, like you're supposed to Right, I end up placing first place in the physical test. I didn't know I was capable of doing it Out of 192?

Speaker 1 9:44

Yeah, Jesus Christ, that's not. Yeah, that's really good, and I got a three-day pass out of that.

Speaker 2 9:51

Oh yeah, but never had to pull KP either. I don't know how I lucked out on that.

Speaker 1 10:01

Never, never.

Speaker 2 10:03

Well, no, I did once and that I think you should have to go back and do it now. I did it next, peeling potatoes or something like that. Oh yeah, yeah. But Fort Polk no, that was a different program there. Okay, and that was an awesome time. Okay, and that was an awesome time. And then when in the Fort Polk they gave us our orders, the guy from Lincoln Park and me the other 190 had orders from them. We didn't. We were ordered back to Knox for track school and then Korea.

Speaker 1 10:38

So we didn't know what was going on. Wow, it's almost like getting the lottery.

Service on the Korean DMZ

Speaker 2 10:44

Well, we didn't know Right, we didn't know what was going on. So we get down to Knox and well, it was during the holiday Christmas, so we got there in January, yeah, and then we did our track school and then we got shipped to Fort holiday Christmas. So we got there in January.

Speaker 2 11:02

Yeah, and then we did our track school and then we got shipped to Fort Lewis Washington, got shipped over to Korea and we get there. I think it's the 8th Army. They said, okay, it was a sergeant. He says, okay, you guys are assigned to the 2nd and 9th Battalion, 2nd Division. It's up on the DMZ of Korea. You can't go why? So that's when we found out. Our mothers wrote letters oh geez, he had a brother, younger brother, and I had a younger brother.

Speaker 1 11:28

They both enlisted and they were a nom at that time. Okay, so your brother did, your brother he did. He enlist after you.

Speaker 2 11:34

Yes, okay after Okay, after I got drafted Okay, and then did he go? Oh, no, didn't he Before. Oh, before. I thought it was after Okay, maybe before.

Speaker 1 11:42

Yeah. So your brother enlisted before you did you got drafted. He went to Vietnam, yeah, and your mom was like, ah, not two of them, yep.

Speaker 2 11:51

So I said to the sergeant I says how much does combat pay? He said at that time it was $65 a month. I says anything we can do about it. He says yeah, sign waivers. We pissed our mothers off for a period of time but we signed waivers.

Speaker 1 12:09

So I want to ask your mom is a Sicilian woman and you already said that she doesn't hold back.

Speaker 2 12:19

I'll bet she was not happy when you did that that, but I'm that was the miles away.

Speaker 1 12:21

So, yeah, what's she gonna do from there? What's she gonna do until?

Speaker 2 12:23

you get home right? Yeah, but she got over it before I got home oh, all right, good move.

Speaker 1 12:29

So yeah, tell me a little bit about your experience there it was good experience.

Speaker 2 12:33

Uh, I made rank fast. I got over there as an E2, made E3 as soon as I got there and then two and a half months later I was an E4. And then I found out the unit three line platoons and one weapon platoon. I was a weapons platoon. They were committed for the zone every three months and then the line between always had late duty in the weapons to always had the duty. But during that period I first got there they were off the zone. Okay, training period we call an R&R right and I found out there was a Vance combat training Academy going on up there. Uh-huh, and if you went through it and got in the top ten you got another grade, volunteered right. Good experience because all the instructors were Vietnam people, mm-hmm, and you learn a lot from them. And I did learn a lot.

Speaker 1 13:40

I got my grade. I was going to say you finished in the top ten right.

Speaker 2 13:43

Yeah, I got my sergeant's strike.

Speaker 1 13:46

Wow, that's really fast.

Speaker 2 13:49

By anyone's standard that's really fast, but in the war zone that's what happens.

Speaker 1 13:53

Right? Well, I don't think it hurt that you were good at what you did.

Speaker 2 13:57

You were smart and you did what you were supposed to do. We had a good platoon daddy in E7. He was really good. He was a Vietnam vet too. He was really good. And then when he rotated out, they didn't have anybody to replace him. So myself and another guy from Rhode Island, Jeff Pace he was a sergeant we were our two of us were combined platoon daddies, Okay. So a lot happened during that period of time before they got somebody else in there, Right?

Speaker 1 14:30

So what kind of things did you do in Korea?

Speaker 2 14:33

When you're committed being a weapon platoon day duty, you've got guard duty at the gates where the gun jeeps are. That allows child wagons and personnel to get to the GPs in the zone, and that's about what we did. And then I ran patrols too.

Speaker 1 14:59

Okay, In the zone, okay. So when you talk about in the zone, you sort of have a gate here on our side and a gate here on their side. No, no, no, okay.

Speaker 2 15:09

MDL is a true north and south line between North Korea and South Korea. Then the DMZ is a two-mile buffer zone on each side of that MDO line. Okay, and that buffer zone is where you patrol, okay, two-mile buffer zone.

Speaker 1 15:24

You just don't go any further than that. No, no, right, yeah, any exciting things happen while you were there, anything that comes to mind.

Speaker 2 15:33

Well, we were never in a firefight, we did mind that. Well, we're never in a firefight. We did one of the gun jeeps coming back from the GP. They were coming in the curve.

Speaker 2 15:43

I was set up as uh ambush that day on patrol near their site and saw somebody run across the road in front of them into a whole right padding. So we got word on the radio about that and they knew we were there. So we got my guys, we went over there, did a sweep. They brought in some more troops, did more sweeps Not that I knew what happened. Guy went to ground. I learned that from the advanced training academy. Yeah, they had tunnels, right. Well, at that time they didn't know about the tunnels there, right, but they had tunnels, right. Well, at that time they didn't know about the tunnels there, right, but they had tunnels, wow, yeah. And then what else happened? Well, there was a couple of incidents where we were a MEC unit, so Armored Personal Carriers, and they were running some Armored Personal Carriers and something happened at another site in the DMZ and they were running. One of them tipped over and killed the guy.

Speaker 2 16:44

Oh yeah, when I got there just backing up a little bit. Oh yeah, when I got to that company, in the mortar pool there was a three-quarter ton pickup. It was like Swiss cheese. In the motor pool there was a three-quarter ton pickup. It was like Swiss cheese, turns out. Two weeks prior there was two engineers with that pickup truck at the gate and they were antsy to get to the GP. But the gun jeeps were with the chow wagon so they're waiting Somehow. They talked to the guy that was on the gate, opened it up, they got in there and they got ambushed.

Speaker 1 17:20

Oh, geez, yeah, got to be careful, got to be, yeah. So how long were you there?

Speaker 2 17:28

13 months. Okay, Standard tour back then. Yeah, Three months on, one month off, three months on. I ran training too when that month off. That was fun. So what kind of training did you do With them? Mortars, Worked with the guys with the mortars and all that crap.

Speaker 1 17:56

And then we got mortars inside our personal carriers, big hatches on top that you can fire control and all that crap.

Return to Civilian Life

Speaker 2 17:59

So you fire mortars right out of the vehicle? I didn't know that. Yeah, they had the 4.2. I think it was a 4.2. There was a bigger diameter tubes. They were mounted in the uh, personal carriers. Oh, that'd be kind of cool.

Speaker 1 18:11

Oh it is, it is so with your math background, I I would imagine creating the fire control solution, and all that was pretty, yes.

Speaker 2 18:19

I knew how to do that.

Speaker 3 18:21

Yeah.

Speaker 2 18:22

Fire control and where to set the rounds and how to adjust and everything.

Speaker 1 18:26

Yeah, I think people that watch movies just see them set up the mortar and yes, but there's some science behind how to get it to where it needs to go.

Speaker 2 18:34

Right, there is science because they know exactly Well. First, up and down the altitude, they didn't know how far it would go for elevation.

Speaker 1 18:46

You, go from there Right Well, and you have to know your own elevation and kind of their elevation and the wind and the weather will impact that?

Speaker 2 18:55

No, the weather doesn't affect it. Oh okay, all right, you just got to know point A, point B, that's it, you got to know. You got to know the maps, right, the coordinates and everything. So we trained with that. I trained with the armor-presol carriers, and the guys didn't like me when I did this, because down in Knox they did it to us. They had an armor personal carrier in a river, a shallow river, and you'd throw a track. You've got to put the track back together again. So I had to teach the guys that.

Speaker 1 19:29

In a river, in a river. I could imagine they wouldn't appreciate that very much.

Speaker 2 19:32

No, they didn't appreciate it, but hey, you've got to repair them. Especially if it comes from the award zone, you have to repair it immediately.

Speaker 1 19:41

Right, right, you've got to train as you fight. Yeah, right Now was your friend there the whole time, the buddy you met at Coke, yeah.

Speaker 2 19:49

He was in the company headquarters company. He ended up driving the Colonel the whole time there.

Speaker 1 19:57

Oh yeah, was that a driving the Colonel? Oh, the whole time there. Oh yeah, was that a cushy job?

Speaker 2 20:00

Yes, it was, but he had his perks. I got the perks from what he's got. Uh-huh, that's funny. Anytime we ran out of beer, talk to him. They get beer.

Speaker 1 20:13

Are you still in contact with him? No, no.

Speaker 2 20:17

No, never did. The other guy, Jeff Pace from Maine, got to know him quite well. Never got back with him either.

Speaker 1 20:26

Oh, okay.

Speaker 2 20:27

All right, I wish I did now, but it never happened.

Speaker 1 20:31

Yeah Well, I mean, it's funny when you come back and everyone kind of goes their own separate ways, right, yes, you might run into them or you might not. So you did your 13-month tour there. And come back to the.

Speaker 2 20:46

States, or is there anything else you want to? Well, no, I haven't finished that yet, oh, okay. Well, when we got near the end of my tour, the CEO, the captain, came to me and two other E5s in the company and says okay, you guys are getting short, we're getting committed again. You guys are going to be on permanent CQ. You can rotate it between E3. And then, when you're off those two days, you can go anywhere you want. South Korean, get your paperwork done Done. Deals captain Right. Twist my arm, south Korean, get your paperwork done done.

Speaker 2 21:19

Deals cap right twist my arm but while I was CQ there was an incident that happened and I had to open the armory up, get guys armed Because one of our new guys he was on guard duty that night and he walked in the CO club and plugged. Our first sergeant Really Found out later it was an older guy that talked this guy into doing it and they came back and got him.

Speaker 1 21:51

Was there a reason why they did it? Did they ever talk about that?

Speaker 2 21:55

The other guy that talked. This guy and the first sergeant never got along.

Speaker 1 22:00

Oh, okay, so it was just a grudge Grudge. Wow, that's a pretty crazy way to take care of it, and then, when that happened, I had to get the guys out.

Speaker 2 22:10

Okay, check all the barracks, and they found them in one of the barracks, two hostages. But they talked them out of it. Then the helicopter comes in, takes them away, and then the helicopter comes back and takes the other guy away, and you never saw them again. But the first sergeant. I felt so bad for him because he was a good guy and his last tour was U of M recruiting.

Speaker 3 22:36

Wow.

Speaker 1 22:36

Yeah, well, they come all the way to Korea and that happened. He had about 30 years of service 28 years 30 years, yeah.

Speaker 2 22:46

But then I finally rotated out Uh-huh, got back to Fort Lewis Washington.

Speaker 1 22:52

How did you like Fort Lewis? I really enjoyed it when I was there. I didn't see much of it, oh okay, you were just kind of Transportation dear.

Speaker 2 23:00

Yeah, yeah, didn't see much of it, okay, but I did coming back from the airport and everything. That's when you realize this Vietnam country, what they felt about the Vietnam War. Yeah, that's when you realize what's going on, mm-hmm.

Speaker 1 23:46

What was that like for you?

Speaker 2 23:48

That was part of my language bullshit. Mm-hmm, it's the way the okay. The media ran with it and the government never told them no, don't do that. I Blame the government doing it, but yeah, it's the media to get carried away, mm-hmm. That was the first time they in put reporters right down the scene. Right, right, that's.

Speaker 1 24:16

Yeah, yeah, cuz you were the way, people weren't getting context about what was happening. They were just seeing it and kind of left to make up their own story about it, right, yeah, what was it like to come back, though, after being gone for that long. It was good, was it?

Speaker 2 24:30

I mean, it was a great experience, but get back to my life. Right, that's what I did. And then married her 72.

Speaker 1 24:40

Okay, well, you can't just say I just married Chris.

Career at Ford and Side Businesses

Speaker 2 24:42

No, no, no, We've got to hear this story Okay. We dated since 17, a blind date, really. Friends set us up and we dated for five years and then, in 72, we got married.

Speaker 1 24:58

Okay Was that shortly after you got back then, no, got back in March of 71 okay, and then you go back to work at Ford at that point okay, and then? She made an honest man out of you and about a year she tried but two years later I got called up.

Speaker 2 25:20

go up to Camp Grayling, Uh-huh.

Speaker 1 25:22

That six-year application? Oh, because you're in the individual ready reserve or something like that Well, your obligation when you're drafted six years.

Speaker 3 25:30

Yeah.

Speaker 2 25:31

So I got called go to Camp Grayling. So I tried checking into it. There was six other veterans that were getting chipped with the National Guard Uh-huh. So we get up there, they bust us up there, and then the six of us. We went looking for the first sergeant to find out what's going on. Right, we walked in. He looked at all of us. He started laughing. He says I know who you guys are. He says you're asking what you're here for. He says yes, sir, body count. That's all. Just enjoy your time and teach these guys what you know so they just needed numbers.

Speaker 2 26:14

Yes, oh, how nice so we did because I was mortars taught some guys on the fine range how to shoot mortars.

Speaker 1 26:23

That was fun yeah, there's a it's. It's a lot of fun when you get to use the the big guns yeah, big weapons yeah we had, uh, what were called mark 19, and it, that is a uh, it mounts on top of a vehicle and it's basically a machine gun that fires grenades.

Speaker 2 26:42

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 26:43

Yeah, so we had those.

Speaker 2 26:44

The M79 Law? I mean no yeah.

Speaker 1 26:46

M79 Green Launcher. Yeah yeah, these sat up on top and they were belt fed, so that was our fun stuff. So you're just kind of hanging out at Camp Grayling just having a good time.

Speaker 2 26:57

No, we were in training but had a good time. Yeah, the first weekend she came up and then I drove her back and came back up there so I had a car there, mm-hmm, so some of us would come back in the car, right, chris? Yeah, it was a good time. Two weeks went fast. Yeah, I mean the mortar guys, the guys I was teaching. We were in the range popping mortars and hitting, doing our thing, and at the end I says okay, guys, I'm going to show you something. Crank the tube straight up, drop an illumination round in Poof Comes down with a parachute.

Speaker 3 27:39

Wow I.

Speaker 2 27:44

Says okay, well, I had to teach them to don't be so fast on a mortar tube. Hmm, you don't want to be hanging one and one coming out at the same time, right?

Speaker 1 27:56

Now can you overheat that mortar tube too, if you're.

Speaker 2 27:59

I've heard it being done, but I never had a chance to do that. Yeah, Because the only time they overheat it say if you're in a hill or something and you'd be normal running and using the mortars constantly. That could happen, yes, yeah, but I don't think so.

Speaker 1 28:17

Because there's that amount of time for it to leave, and then you have to actually load it again, so well you know.

Speaker 2 28:22

When it goes off, right, drop another one. There's a firing pin right at the bottom of that tube, uh-huh. But I'm betrothed in Korea. I always grabbed the combination, the combination, the grenade launcher and my M16 combination package.

Speaker 1 28:46

Yeah.

Speaker 2 28:46

Yeah.

Speaker 1 28:47

Is it the M79? That's the Mark 79.

Speaker 2 28:49

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 28:50

I got to shoot one of those once.

Speaker 2 28:51

Those are. Oh, that's a lot of fun. Those grenades are so accurate. Yeah, yeah, if you do it right, yeah, you can get done with it. The little sight that pops up like that.

Speaker 1 28:59

Yeah, yeah, we did a few of those at Grayling when I was serving, so yeah, so you did your two weeks at Grayling. Anything else happen up there or just head for home, just the two weeks there and then come home and get back to life.

Speaker 2 29:15

Yeah, so talk about what? Getting back to life? Yeah, so talk about what. Did I spend? 35 years of fords, uh-huh. Uh. We never had kids, but I always got involved. I got involved with one of my nieces. Her dad died when she was young and at 10 I started seeing her every week. So I was well for her till she got where she got a teenager to house. Oh no, I don't want to'm busy. You didn't want to do that anymore. But no, no, no, it was fun. Yeah, and we always had huskies and cats and everything.

Speaker 2 29:49

Photography was always my thing. We started doing these two-week, three-week vacations every year. We started in August, but then we switched it to September Because September was great. He had to make reservations, right, it was easy to travel in this country and we pick a state and spend up to a week traveling back and forth, get to that state it's been two weeks in a particular state and see what we did. A lot of things in every one of those states and that was fun. And photography God, I got so many photo albums.

Retirement and Community Involvement

Speaker 2 30:23

It's unbelievable, all right, what a great way to keep all your memories to yeah anything else you get to this age, who's gonna say them, yeah, well, yeah, I mean, you can enjoy them, right. Yeah, but I'm talking, we're talking already to nephews and nieces and stuff like that. Okay, you want my guns, you want my photographs, stuff like that. What do you want Because we've got a living trust, so we've got to mark everything in there, right?

Speaker 1 30:48

Yeah, so when you were working at Ford, were you still living in Detroit? No, okay.

Speaker 2 30:53

But no, no.

Speaker 1 31:00

Yeah, working in Detroit. Yeah, but we moved. Yeah. How long were you in Detroit then, before you moved? Was it 18 years?

Speaker 2 31:03

13 years, okay, 85, we moved to Canton, uh-huh, bought a small ranch, built a garage and spent 21 years there.

Speaker 3 31:15

Okay.

Speaker 2 31:16

And then from there we bought this place two acres and built this ranch. Uh-huh. Now we've been here for 19 years. Okay, this place.

Speaker 1 31:24

And how many huskies have you had over?

Speaker 3 31:26

that period of time Three, three of them.

Speaker 1 31:27

Okay.

Speaker 3 31:28

Plus puppies.

Speaker 1 31:30

What's that Plus?

Speaker 3 31:31

puppies.

Speaker 1 31:32

Oh, so you.

Speaker 2 31:32

Oh yeah, because the first husky we bred her Okay, and we had a lot of puppies from there, and then we had an Oopsy.

Speaker 1 31:43

Because he didn't think that they could climb front seats.

Speaker 2 31:44

You had some puppies that weren't planned for All we know is a black male.

Speaker 1 31:49

Like a Labrador or something like that. Who?

Speaker 2 31:51

knows what it was, but we got some interesting puppies from that one. Did you have trouble getting?

Speaker 3 31:56

rid of those puppies.

Speaker 1 31:58

Yeah, anybody watching. We've got a husky mug right here that you're drinking out of. That's why, now, is that your most recent dog?

Speaker 2 32:07

Yes, yeah, that's the most recent. She made it 14, passed last year. Okay, what was her name? Kia? Kia, which is a native Alaska, means little wise one. Oh yeah, that's her up there in the wall, the little puppy. Okay.

Speaker 1 32:22

So, just like kids, we got pictures of the puppies.

Speaker 2 32:27

And she was character from the first two Huskies Uh-huh. She really had a different personality.

Speaker 1 32:34

Yeah.

Speaker 2 32:35

Yeah.

Speaker 1 32:36

So did you. I want to go back a little bit. So did you travel the whole time? You were working as well, or is that just something that you started doing later on in life?

Speaker 2 32:45

We did three weeks travel and where we lived in Canton, our good neighbors, good friends now next door, they would watch our animals or they'd watch their animals. Okay, it worked out great for us. Yeah, so you didn't have to take the dogs with you.

Speaker 1 33:02

We all traveled, no, okay.

Speaker 2 33:04

No, we just do our travel yeah.

Speaker 1 33:07

Yeah Well, and how did you get interested in photography?

Speaker 2 33:12

It meant a bit picked it up from my dad, okay okay. But when I was in Korea I was in the PX and I see this beautiful Malota SRR 101 camera they made great cameras, yes, I bought it, found out it just has a light meter in it, so I had to learn everything about it.

Speaker 2 33:33

Of course, at then you took slides. That was the most. When you're in the army, that's the best way to handle pictures slides. So I did a lot of slide pictures and then I kept it up when I got out and I got another Malota. I got another Malota and then when the digital world opened up, malota didn't come out with their own digital SLR camera. They sold part of their technology to Sony. So Sony came out with their Sony A cameras. Sony lenses and Malota autofocus lenses were fed on those things. Oh, so I bought a Sony A so I can keep some of my lenses.

Speaker 1 34:16

That's a great idea. Yeah, and now are you self-taught in photography.

Speaker 3 34:20

Yes.

Speaker 1 34:20

Okay.

Speaker 2 34:22

Well, I got books on it and everything, but I just learned by taking pictures.

Speaker 3 34:27

Yeah, you know what you like Using filters and everything and man that was fun stuff to play with.

Speaker 1 34:32

Yeah, I'll bet, I'll bet. So you retired, when did you?

Speaker 2 34:38

retire then from Ford. I retired in Ford's in 03.

Speaker 1 34:41

Okay, but you didn't stop. What did you do after?

Speaker 2 34:44

that. No, I didn't stop, because I was always working on the side, doing things for people, yeah.

Speaker 1 34:49

You seem like a guy that's got a lot of energy.

Speaker 2 34:50

Yeah, but I have a friend who's a contractor and I started working for him under the table Cash Cash, yeah, and all he was doing at that time. I helped him before that when I was working at Ford's. He built some houses in Westland so I helped him with that and then I started working for him Very first job he got. It was with another friend who is a contractor, more in commercial Marriott Hotel over at 6 Mile and 275. Redo the whole thing, Interior Wow, that was a seven-month job. We were there for eight months, something like that Started at the third floor, second first man, everything and then what he got into. After that he was doing insurance work but then he finally branched off just kitchens and baths and trimmings and doors. That's all I did for 19 years with him.

Speaker 1 36:00

And you did it all Like you did all of the. You weren't like specialized.

Speaker 2 36:02

No, he liked me because I could figure things out and small stuff like putting door handles on or figuring out how to do this or move electrical around boxes around. I know how to do all that stuff too. And did all that.

Speaker 1 36:20

So let me ask you this A friend of mine helped me with this one time. So anytime you build a house, right, nothing's ever 100% square. But he figured out how to put the trim up so that things that weren't square would look square.

Speaker 2 36:36

Especially when you hang doors. Yeah, you got to learn exactly how to hang doors.

Speaker 1 36:41

Yeah, it's like art and science got married. On that one, I think.

Speaker 2 36:46

Well, go back when we started it was my friend contractor told me about Lance Cheap out in Livingston County because he lived in Livingston County, uh-huh. So we started looking at houses, found one house that we liked, but it was something about it we didn't like and then we decided to build. It turns out that house we didn't like was a modular home. So we found out who the company is down in Indiana. We went and visited that company. They had the same model, but with this room addition on it, bought the plans from them, took it to a home planner. He tweaked everything inside when we want it and then submitted the plans to Bill. Wow, and that's this house. Yes, and my friend educated me on this when you're looking for a framer, go interview three and go visit their present sites.

Speaker 2 37:46

With a level and a square. Found this guy. He was building a house in Grass Lake. Went down there he was framing it, checked it out and he was right on. Went down there, he was framing it, checked it out and he was right on. I hired him. And then he says the same thing with drywallers. You check them out first too. Oh, yes, and then when you want, then boom, you go. It starts with the framer.

Speaker 1 38:15

Right, because if you start out with a good foundation, everything else comes together.

Speaker 2 38:20

And that's the way this house came together. Yeah, because I was the general on it and then, once the drywall was done, I did everything else on the interior.

Speaker 1 38:30

Now, do you like doing drywall? Do you know how to do drywall?

Speaker 2 38:33

I used to, but I don't like doing it anymore because of dust, yeah, and it's getting harder to hang stuff for my age, but I do repair work on drywall.

Speaker 1 38:45

Okay, I was just curious because a lot of people they'll do everything but drywall because they don't like it.

Speaker 2 38:49

Well, I used to do a lot of plumbing, but I got weight from it years ago because I can't get down under the sinks anymore.

Speaker 3 38:57

Stuff like that, yeah, so you got to back away.

Speaker 2 38:59

We used to do kitchens with backsplashes. You know doing tile work. I love doing tile work too, but bending over doing that got your lower back too much.

Speaker 1 39:12

It's a young person's game, I think is what you would call that. Yeah, I find that as I get older, I'm more apt to pay somebody to do certain things right, Because it just makes sense.

Speaker 2 39:25

We had one house, a kitchen. That was amazing. It was a big house, big kitchen. Combining these two rooms probably was most of the kitchen. Combining these two rooms probably was most of the kitchen, mm-hmm, one interior wall was off a half inch from top to bottom, so we got to make this wall hang the cabinets right, yeah, so we had to build a false wall to correct that problem. You always have problems, especially when you do demolition. You come across so much.

Speaker 1 40:02

Oh, but so you finally stopped working just a few years ago.

Speaker 2 40:07

Yeah, 2019. Yeah 2019.

Speaker 1 40:13

I stopped. All right, what have you been doing since then?

Speaker 2 40:17

Too much. Yeah really involved with VFW here. Then I got in, we got involved with the theater group here, the Fourth of July committee. Here they raised the money for the fireworks.

Speaker 3 40:35

Historical.

Speaker 2 40:37

Historical Society at the fairgrounds for the historical buildings, and I used to repair some of that stuff too Okay, and then found out that too many bosses and everything, so I left it. Then I got into the theater group here and I started building sets and props for them, do you?

Speaker 1 40:53

do any acting?

Speaker 2 40:57

They're trying to push me in that. No, I like to be behind the scene.

Speaker 1 41:04

Get my hands on. Yeah, you don't want to be on that stage.

Speaker 2 41:05

Huh, yeah, well, I did one time, yeah, but they didn't see me? Oh, because it was a. Uh, what was that thing I built? It was some kind of a room or something, but it was movable, okay. So I had to be inside, move it out no speaking lines, though.

Speaker 1 41:26

No, no, okay, all right, so it sounds like you're still keeping busy, even in, uh, even in retirement yeah I had to back away a few things yeah one.

Speaker 2 41:35

I belong to the how gun club. When we started years ago a youth program for archery, we got that up and running and that's great because we supply the equipment and we train them Train adults too. One good story the first year there was a mom that came with three daughters and the three daughters want to learn, but mom didn't buy the second or third week. The mom wanted to learn mm-hmm. By the fifth week, mom's competing against the oldest daughter. Oh really it was fun to watch that stuff develop.

Speaker 1 42:12

Yeah, yeah yeah, it's interesting how parents will like take their kids to get them involved in all. Then, all of a sudden, the parents decide this is something I enjoy.

Speaker 2 42:22

We taught grandmas. They do women on target there at the gun club in June Ninety-six women come in involved in six stations they go. I was always part of the archery group. Teach women archery. Some of them come back to our classes and learn more. Wow, Wow.

Speaker 3 42:40

Yeah.

Speaker 2 42:42

But it was too much time away from home, so I had to back away from that, right, chris?

Speaker 1 42:50

And you so do. You do a lot of stuff with the VFW. Then yeah, okay.

Speaker 2 42:55

I'm a point man for a lot of things. Yeah, right now I'm working on. What am I working on? I'm a point man for a lot of things. Yeah, right now I'm working on. What am I working on? I'm working on a lot of things. Oh, getting estimates for roof, parking lot and HVAC, and then we're going to. Well, I found out. I started to go to find out about grants. I went to a real appellate in Fallerville. Asked the manager there how do you do grants? Oh, we used to hire somebody, but we don't anymore. What?

Speaker 1 43:31

do you mean you?

Staying Active and Final Reflections

Speaker 2 43:31

don't. How do you do it? She showed me Chat, cpt, artificial intelligence. She brought her computer and showed me how to do it. You ask it Nonprofit organization is looking for a grant. She'd walk you right through it. I says okay, but how do you know where to send it to? Oh, you ask it Nonprofit organization wants to send a grant someplace in Michigan. All these organizations pop up. So I'm gonna try, I'm gonna dab into it, see how far I can get. I don't know if I could do it or not yeah somebody else to do it.

Speaker 1 44:11

I can't right could become a grant writer no artificial. Yes, tell anyone, do that, right, right, have your computer become a grandstander then yeah.

Speaker 2 44:20

And then my quartermaster put it on me at the beginning of the year the department VFW is coming down with a new policy next year. Everything in that post has to be inventory. So I'm in charge. Inventory, so I'm in charge. And then the wife taught me how to create a spreadsheet from words, office words. So I make sure when everything I write down I create a spreadsheet for what I'm doing.

Speaker 1 44:53

Yeah, there's a lot of stuff in these VFWs too, by the way. I've been to quite a few of them and they have some stuff.

Speaker 2 45:01

Well, my quartermaster wanted me to inventory everything on a wall. I says no. He says I'm going to do it. I'm taking pictures with my camera and then I'll make prints out and punch them and put them in a binder and put everything together in a binder. So everything together in a binder. So you got everything there. Yeah, he says okay, and I've done a couple of drawers in the kitchen. Pull the drawer. Oh, there's too much stuff in there. Just took a picture of it. Yeah, should be good enough, I got it. I got the main building done, the kitchen, the main hall, the office. I still got two other places to work on Three other places, but I got the rest of the year to do it. So no rush.

Speaker 1 45:45

Yeah, gotta make the commander happy.

Speaker 2 45:48

Well, to make the corn master happy.

Speaker 1 45:49

Yes.

Speaker 2 45:50

Yes, he runs the place there, you go Well.

Speaker 1 45:54

you have certainly led an interesting life. You've done a lot of stuff and you're still doing stuff. It sounds like you've had a couple of different careers and all kinds of things. I've always wanted to stay active.

Speaker 2 46:05

When I was at Ford's, I saw too much go on when I was in the warehouse. Retirees have nothing going on on the outside.

Speaker 3 46:13

Yeah.

Speaker 2 46:14

And I try to tell them find something to do, join an organization Volunteer work. And I try to tell them find something to do. Join an organization Volunteer work, part-time job. Why do I need a part-time job? I got a job right now. Okay, because I've seen too many pass within two years after they leave because they got nothing to do. Right, they get bored?

Speaker 1 46:35

Yeah, they get bored. Well, that actually leads me to. I have two questions really. One is is there anything?

Speaker 2 46:48

that we haven't talked about that. You want to talk?

Speaker 3 46:51

about? I don't think so, okay, oh my brother, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 46:54

Let's talk about your brother. He was 11 months younger than me. Every year with kids we had fun, because for one month we were the same age. We had fun with it. How about? Yeah, but we didn't see eye to eye a lot of things.

Speaker 2 47:17

But anyway, he enlisted. He did two tours in Signal Corps the first time. Second time he went back he changed his MOS. He was a helicopter mechanic, so he got in with pilots and they taught him how to fly too. He put 17 years in the Army, but he couldn't re-up the last three years because when he was stationed in Germany he was in a bad car accident, screwed his hip up, and he had a good friend who was a general which was a godfather to his first child. He wasn't around when he was enlisted for the last 20 years, so he had to get out. Oh, okay, yeah. So he got out, tried to go to the IRS, get hired, but he screwed himself out of that job and then he was up in the thumb area living and in 98, he died in a bad car accident. He was a passenger. Oh, head on too, that in a bad car accident.

Speaker 1 48:22

He was a passenger Head on too. That's too bad yeah.

Speaker 2 48:25

That was a shocker.

Speaker 1 48:27

Yeah, it's hard when you lose a sibling like that. Definitely Sounds like you have good memories of him, though. Oh yeah, well good and bad yeah.

Speaker 2 48:36

Well, I remember taking a bat to him too. Oh wow, as a kid.

Speaker 1 48:42

Oh, that's.

Speaker 2 48:44

That's boys.

Speaker 1 48:45

Yeah, well, you know, my sister and I were a year and a half apart and we have some great stories about hitting each other with toys and yeah, yeah. So it's just.

Speaker 2 48:56

It's just being raised. Yeah, sibling rivalry, childhood, it's just the way it is.

Speaker 1 49:02

Exactly Well, so my only other question really is as people will watch and listen to this many, many years from now, when we're probably all gone right, yes. What message would you like to leave people with?

Speaker 2 49:18

Oh message yeah, Enjoy life. Do everything you can when you're young, Because when you get older it gets harder to do things. Enjoy it and stay busy with your life and enjoy it All right.

Speaker 1 49:33

Well, thank you for that message. Thank you for taking time out today to sit and talk with me. I appreciate it, thank you.