On August 2, 1970, I boarded a Pan American passenger jet with over 100 other combat troops. We were waiting for takeoff from Danang airbase, Vietnam.

One day when I was 18, I walked into Alley’s Store and John Alley motioned me over to the counter and asked me, in a low voice, if I would shoot him a deer.

In the mid 1960s, my sister Marie started a vegetable garden on the property under our father’s tutelage and the name Beetlebung Farm was established.

I shut my P.O. box and take my mail to the table to weed out the junk mail. Among the many catalogues is a letter from the U.S. government with URGENT stamped next to my address.