My Portfolio

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TDY

Charles William Spratt

I lied I did not spend all eleven months of my tour in Viet Nam in Qui Nhon . I was sent TDY (Temporary Duty Something) for three months to Plieu Ku . It was about 50 miles inland. They needed some one to install a new 4 inch galvanized steel...

1143 Views

1143 Views

1 Comment

A Pretty Girl is Like a Melody

Millard Don Carriker

Entering my senior year of high school my experience with girls was that of a Carthusian monk but without whatever spiritual consolation they enjoy. When I was in ninth grade my previously fair skinned face erupted with volcanoes. One look in the mirror convinced me that only a girl with severe...

1296 Views

1296 Views

2 Comments

"The Famous James"

Millard Don Carriker

"The Famous James" English-built Motorcycle - 1946 As with all humans, the Whizzer, after a few weeks, became less than what I wanted. While the Whizzer was being developed and marketed, the Cushman Motor Company, a small firm that had produced motorized “scooters” for the Army looked at what they...

2388 Views

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2388 Views

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Smitty

Charles William Spratt

After we had been in Viet Nam for awhile we were able to take a week R & R (Rest & Relaxation) a sort of vacation if you care to say . If you had the money . Some went to Bangkok , Thialand some went to Tokyo , Japan some...

1386 Views

1386 Views

2 Comments

Frogs

Charles William Spratt

After the Monsoons quit and the rain quit we had thousands and thousands of frogs to deal with . You see where our compound was , it was at the bottom of a huge hill . All the water during Monsoon season would come running down the side of that...

1411 Views

1411 Views

1 Comment

The Coronel Wants an Officer club NOW

Charles William Spratt

Our first job when we got to Viet Nam was ordered by the Coronels . They wanted an Officers Club built right away . We arrived about the third week in September and about the first of October was when the Monsoon started ( the rainy season ) It rain non...

1212 Views

1212 Views

1 Comment

My Gaurdian Angel

Charles William Spratt

After returning To Ft Meade Maryland to join back up with my unit we all boarded a plane to fly to San Fran Cisco . We went and stood in line on the docks for several hours waiting to board this huge Ocean Liner ( Merchant Marine Ship )...

1287 Views

1287 Views

1 Comment

Strike Up The Band

Millard Don Carriker

Pleasant Hill school had a Rhythm Band made up of a couple of dozen little kids, who, with kazoo's, triangles, tambourines, rhythm sticks, sleigh bells, drums and cymbals created sounds that were said to be music. We wore white shirts or blouses, and pants or skirts and actually made public appearances. ...

1144 Views

1144 Views

2 Comments

The Beginning Of Another Chapter

Charles William Spratt

After moving back to my hometown I started looking for a job . My father was sick and couldn't work . I was a high school drop out . No body wanted to hire a drop out . I didn't know what to do . I turned eighteen in July 1965...

421 Views

421 Views

2 Comments

Gone With The Wind

Millard Don Carriker

Sometime in the late 1930's Dad came up with an improvement that was even more remarkable than his running water. He brought electricity into our house. A light bulb replaced the coal oil lamp. The radio’s battery no longer had to be charged in the car. All this electricity came from...

1802 Views

1802 Views

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Dear Diary... it's official - I AM ENGAGED!!

Annie Payne

Normal 0 false false false EN-AU X-NONE X-NONE Dear Diary , it’s official – I’m engaged! We had the most wonderful, romantic, candlelit dinner at the Arkaba Hotel tonight and drove up to Windy Point to look at the city lights. Outside the Nurses Home, sitting in Greg’s mum’s green Morris...

1565 Views

1565 Views

3 Comments

Foot Stomping

Karen Jenkins

I was an A+ foot stomper. Got sent to my room so many times, so many times each week, actually. You ask why did I continue to stomp my foot when I knew the “punishment”? Well, I’ll tell you. There were two reasons.

1885 Views

1885 Views

2 Comments

John Luther Branch

Suzanna Rawlins

Many people believe the War for Southern Independence (or the War of Northern Agression) started in April of 1861 at Fort Sumpter. My family lore would disagree. We argue that the first shots were fired on January 9, 1861 against the Star of the West. My great great great uncle, John...

1947 Views

1947 Views

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The Door Opener

Millard Don Carriker

Pleasant Hill’s school bus, like those of today, had a lever with a big handle attached to a rod that opened and closed the door. The younger boys considered it fun and an honor to stand alongside the bus driver to open and close the door at each stop. The bus...

1510 Views

1510 Views

3 Comments

Giving the Finger to Oklahoma

Millard Don Carriker

The Thomas Long oil lease was a vast playground but it was filled with dangers for kids that no one seemed to notice or tell us to avoid. The community water well from which several families drew their water sat a couple of hundred yards from our back door. It was...

1090 Views

1090 Views

3 Comments

If I could have changed this experience--

Golden V. Adams Jr.

This has really been a difficult one to come up with in my memory banks! When I was in eighth grade--the grade that I have taught every year of my teaching career--I wonder what the outcome would have been if my ability to read well hadn't been taken from me! This...

632 Views

632 Views

3 Comments

My X-Rated Friend Jimmy

Millard Don Carriker

When we lived on the Thomas Long Lease I had a friend, Jimmy Cargill, whose family, unbelievably, was even poorer than mine. Jimmy and I took turns riding my tireless, pedal-less bike until we both learned to stay on it as long as we wanted to. But Jimmy’s biggest contribution to...

1487 Views

1487 Views

2 Comments

It wasn't a Schwinn. . .

Millard Don Carriker

Our house on the Thomas Long lease sat back about a hundred yards from Oklahoma Highway 33 which was surfaced with walnut-sized rocks. A few times a year a road grader would come along to smooth out the ruts and level the high and low spots. The roads that branched off...

1291 Views

1291 Views

2 Comments

If you could go back and change an event or experience as a teenager what would it be and why?

Suzanna Rawlins

Wow... this one is making me dig into the memorybanks... I have often wondered what would have happened if I had made Junior Nationals at the Zone Swim Meet in August 1983.. How far could I have or would I have gone? Instead I missed qualifying by a fingernail...Literally .01 of...

1566 Views