John Ferris:  

Dutchess Park kid....kind of defined you back then. Enlisted in USMC Winter of my senior year at RCK. I wanted the Navy where my uncle was a Lt Cmdr, or the Air Force like my Pop during WWII but the war made those branches of the service much harder to join. I joined Marines because I reckoned they had better combat training than the Army. Went in with a bunch of RCK guys, but I didn't know them very well and we were split up when we reached Parris Island. Went to Nam. Got wounded. Hospitals. Rehab. USMC got me a into a federal agency. Marines guided and watched over me for a long career. They were like parents to me., and saved me from making the usual stupid mistakes in life. Moved to rural North Carolina on retirement. Worked as a musician at coffee houses, bars, farmers markets, festivals and eventually full time at Ghost Town in the Sky where I performed Gospel, Cowboy...Expand for more