Christine Chiomento:
CLASS OF 1967
Ygnacio Valley High SchoolClass of 1967
Concord, CA
Christine's Story
I was born in Vallejo in September of 1949 and lived there until age 4, at which time my family moved, so I grew up in Concord--attended Holbrook Heights elementary from 1st to 5th grades, then attended Ygnacio Valley elementary for the 6th grade, where Mrs. Everndon was my teacher--attended Oakgrove Intermediate for 7th & 8th, and sang in the choir both years, and loved it, and thought Mrs. Steene[sp?] was such an excellent choir director, who whipped us into good enough shape that we were invited to sing at the prestigious Bach Festival at Berkeley[!]--then it was on to Ygnacio Valley High for all 4 years. I was the completely shy 'wall flower' who knew everyone on sight, but who was way too shy to actually mingle with many classmates--two of my best friends in 12th grade were Tomoko Tsutsumi, from Hiroshima, Japan, and Diane Little whose Church I attended for a time--Tomoko and I lost touch shortly after she returned to Japan after graduation:(
I left home to join the WACs[Women's Army Corps] in May of 1968, and was a member of the Signal Corps. I spent over 2 years as a telephone switchboard operator on Ft.Riley, Kansas [always thought I'd hate doing a job like that one, but ended up loving every minute of it.:)] Met my husband in early 1970 while he was the post's temporary Life Guard at the swimming pool. [He had been a Marine while serving in Vietnam, the switched to the Army. He was a Helicopter mechanic by trade, life guard for summer fun. We were married in August of the same year, I was able to receive an early out of the WAC's [out of the Army] with an Honorable discharge, due to "Marriage",. Then my husband received an early out [of the Army] and we moved to Dodge City, Kansas where he had a scholarship to play football for St. Mary of the Plains Catholic college [it's since had a name change] beginning in January of 1971--while he played football, I enrolled at Dodge City community college, and unbelievably made the "Dean's Honor Roll"--but, by November of '71, we had to leave school when our son was on the way, so moved here to NJ, where my husband is from--
--after our second son was born in March of 1974,, my husband re-enlisted in the Army, and became an MP[Military Policeman]--so, from 1974 until 1991, we were a military family, and we traveled from Oakland Army Base, to Holland, to Germany, to Ft. Ritchie, Maryland, back to Germany, then to Ft. Gordon, Georgia for 5 wonderful years--then, to Ft. Dix, NJ until he retired--it was a great, and interesting life being a military family--
--our first son, Bobby, wanted to follow in his dad's footsteps, as well as his grandfather's[he'd fought on Iwo Jima as a Marine], so, in spite of a handicap, which the Army finally waivered so he could join, he served as an enlisted man, first as a helicopter mechanic stationed in Alaska, ...Expand for more
then as a Paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne--after 9/11, he was sent to Ft. Polk, La. and worked to help our National Guard units in the Midwest get themselves up to military standards--he finally couldn't stand not being sent to fight in the war along side of his friends, so he was finally granted permission to go to Afghanistan with the 10th Mountain Division in March of 2006--
--that July, on the 17th, while involved in a 'fire fight' in the Chora Valley, during Operation Enduring Freedom, our son was killed while on patrol--due to his actions, though, once he spotted the ambush, he ended up being their only fatality--he was given credit for saving the lives of his men due to what he did--he is now resting at Arlington National Cemetery along side so very many other exceedingly brave American men and women--
--the video, taken by a Dutch tv crew is on YouTube, of the first day of fighting there in the Chora Valley, and, on it, the first voice you hear is our son Bobby's--once I was able to do so, I listened to it just to hear his voice once more--it was hard, but at least we could still hear him that way--so many other mothers and fathers don't have that opportunity. May Almighty God give rest to all of the souls of those who've given their lives in defense of this counry, as well as to their grieving loved ones, amen.
We now live fairly quietly here in southern New Jersey, tending our pets[two dogs and two cats], while I try to help feed around a dozen feral cats who took up residence in our backyard, lol--no one wants the poor little things, and no one else will offer them any help at all, so I can't just let them starve--besides, we live near a big river, and they keep the river rats away from our house!:)--I putter around in our big yard which I've managed to turn into a regular forest, complete with pathways, and places to sit and rest weary bones along the trails--it keeps me busy just tidying up my 'forest'--gotta keep those walking paths cleared off, and the logs used for outdoor seating all nice and cleaned off, lol--it's fun, and so pretty out there, it's worth the extra effort on my part.:)
My husband still works--he's a trucker, driving a big rig, now that he's all 'retired' from the military, lol--he loves to drive, but he drives now so that we can eat and have a roof over our heads--some retirement!--but, at least he's still doing a job he loves, so that helps a great deal.:)
I come out here to California to visit my sister, who now lives in Martinez with her family, as often as possible--in fact, I'm out here right now, but will return to NJ next week some time--reluctantly, since I wish my husband wanted to move out here, but his heart is stuck in New Jersey, where he grew up--so, I'm stuck there with him, lol--after 43 years of marriage, though, where else would I be?!:)
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