This date in history, February 1, 1965, Martin Luther King and 700 demonstrators were arrested in Selma, Alabama.
I remember either that day or the day after. It was all over the news as I woke up from my spine operation in the Philadelphia Naval Hospital. “We shall overcome!” president Lyndon B. Johnson said on the news when he announced he was sending in Federal Troops to protect the marchers.
Selma’s police brutality upped the Civil Rights speed. When the nation and the world saw the police pound down on unarmed blacks it reminded them of the fascist style of the Nazi German government not that long ago. It had been going on in the United States for about a hundred years.
Tch tch.
I spent about 40 days in the hospital When the doctor released me, I had less than 90 days left of my active duty. A wave, in the hospital personnel office, pointed out to me that when one has less than 90 days left, and is to be transferred he has the option to get an early out if so desired. I think that regulation was designed to keep down moving costs.
Believe it or not, I desired not. I had several friends in our squadron that I just couldn’t part company with them without any kind of notice.
As a matter of fact, one of them was using my car,a PV544 Volvo, while I was in the hospital. When I arrived back on the base at Lakehurst, NJ, imagine how happy I was to see them until I saw my car. The passenger door was held on by a heavy rope.
tch tch