Dennis Johnson:  

High School: I wasn't popular and that was OK. My girlfriend went to another school. I was involved in a lot of other things. Most people wouldn't remember me much, if at all. I graduated in 1967. May of '68 I avoided the draft by enlisting in the Army. That sure surprised a lot of people. In December I shipped out to... nope, not Vietnam. My new duty station was at Kagnew Station, an army post located at Asmara, Ethiopia. Another huge surprise. Before the end of '69 there came yet another whopper. I was paralyzed. All I could move were my eyes and my tongue. Lots of surprises for the next few months until I managed to top it all by going back to active duty. By this time nothing could surprise me very much. I served honorable with distinction. Surprise, surprise. I didn't do any of the sterotypical things every veteran of that era got branded with. I remember being met by a guy from the State Dept who said he was glad I wasn't in uniform because it would make it easier to get clear of the airport. Welcome Home. I got out of the Army after my 3 years were up. I didn't run home and get married to my highschool sweetheart. She gotten married why I was still abed in Germany. So then what? I did the regular stuff most of us do. Well, I got married more than once and got divorced nearly as many times. I look back on it now an realize I was making sure there wouldn't be any more of that losing my girl becuase I didn't marry her fast enough. During that same time frame I got to spend time in a couple VA hospitals. Seems I had some medical issues to deal with. Curiously there were no records available for the time I'd spent lazing around as a tetraplegic...Expand for more