Paul Comi:  

LIFE Reflecting back on my early childhood and years in grammar school at Francis W. Parker school, my most vivid memory was being run over by an automobile at age 8 and having to miss over a month of the third grade of Mrs. Gavin's class. It happened in the summertime and I ended up with a cast like a pair of shorts. Looking back, I was extremely fortunate as the front tire of the car ran over me and I was dragged for about 30 feet. Two cousins were with me and we were returning from Wollaston Beach where we had been swimming. The passengers in the car, foolishly picked me up and brought me to a Dr. Fentin's office further up toward Norfolk Downs on Billings Road. Fortunately, this didn't cause further damage, and ultimately I was transported to Quincy Hospital where they put me in a cast like a pair of shorts. I clearly remember the day that they finally cut that prison off of me. I had lost a lot of weight and probably could have slid out of the cast in another month. Other memories from those early years were my cub scout meetings at Parker School and later Scout meetings at Mass Fields grammar school. I remember school carnivals when we would crepe paper our bicycles and they had a Pet show along with pony rides and an exciting event where they made a huge pile of sawdust shavings with money scattered inside and all of us kids would make a mad scramble into the pile. I also remember an incident in the 5th grade that is quite funny to remember, but was deadly serious at the time. Shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor and while we were in class at school, there was a report that Japanese planes were sighted approaching North Quincy and we were all sent home. (Those were days when mothers would be waiting for you at home at noontime, when you were sent home for lunch.) Apparently, it never dawned on anyone that it was impossible for the Japanese planes to fly from carriers far away in the Pacific, cross the entire USA, for the purpose of attacking Parker School in North Quincy. When I reached the seventh grade at NQHS which, at the time contained both the junior high (7th - 9th), as well as the upper division grades (10 - 12) in one two-story building. Today, the junior high is a separate facility, but to an entering 7th grader in those years, it was like entering "the big time." It was then that I encountered kids from various other parts of North Quincy who came in from the several different grammar schools in the area . Some of the people from the Wollaston area came to North while others were sent to Quincy High up in the square where we were destined to become arch-rivals in various sports activities during our years in the 10th, 11th and 12 grades. In those years, there were either 4 or 5 junior high schools other than ours at North and they were all our opponents in various sports. North was a mixed adventure for me. However, I met and made friends with a large number of classmates, some that have remained friends for a lifetime. A certain number remained living in Quincy, but many, after military service and college, and spread across the country. I didn't date much as I felt awkward around girls and resorted to being class clown for recognition. When I finally got my license to drive at 16, I would cruise Southie and downtown Boston with a couple of friends. My first date was with Doreen Chroniak, a really nice girl who has since passed away. I'm always at a loss when thinking about how we lost such a large number of girls in our class to early deaths. I remember having a crush on a girl named Sally Murphy from a grade behind our class, but that ended quickly when, after agreeing to attend a school dance with me, she bowed out, making some excuse and then ended up going with a fellow named Steve Erwin from my class. In those days, that seemed the story of my life. I guess the only true girl friend that I dated for a period of time in high school was Mary Shannon who was also my date for our senior prom. That evening Mary and I were accompanied by Bob Sanders and Dottie Kraft. I remember the dance at the Armory in Quincy and then dinner at Vaughn Monroe's Meadows. I wasn't a very good student in high school and it was only in my senior year, when two teachers, for some unknown reason showed faith in my ability and made such a strong impression on me that it would ultimately manifest itself into my attending college after the service. It was coming to California, and finding myself among total strangers, that I seemed to gain confidence or was able to "reinvent" myself. Certainly my combat experience in Korea, becoming a squad leader after our squad leader was killed, played an important role in my seeming "re-birth", but I think it was a combination of coming out alive despite seeing so many others get killed and having the chance of "starting a new beginning" for myself in California that gave me a new- found self assurance and I began to trust my instincts. MILITARY I enlisted in August, 1949 after graduating from high school in June. I volunteered for Korea (without thinking) and arrived in late August 1950. I served from August of 1950 to January of 1951, at which time, when I received my third Purple Heart I was evacuated to Japan. After my release from the hospital, I was supposed to rotate back to the states, but I went to the Chaplain's office and told him that I still had almost 2 years left on my enlistment and wanted to stay in Japan. I got assigned on limited duty to Kyoto, Japan. There, I spent the most memorable 18 months of my life and found myself working with people in the entertainment industry of Japan. I experienced things that would shape and form the directio...Expand for more