Homesickness overtook me one weekend in 1967 while I was stationed at Fort Benning Ga. I had earned a three day pass and I wanted to go home. A three day pass was only good for travel within a fifty mile radius, home was four hundred. The price of a plane ticket was out of my reach and the bus was full. A train ticket was the only hope and I had the six bucks, count me in!
I was standing in the Columbus Georgia train station waiting to board my train. I was dressed in my dress green uniform, leaning against the wall, just minding my own business while waiting on my train. A young girl who looked to be in her twenties walked up to me and spat on the medals that hung from my uniform chest. She then called me a baby killer.
I did make it to Nashville’s Grand Central Station on the train. I got there just in time to catch the next outbound Greyhound heading for Columbus Ga.
Later military experiences with the war protesters of the time taught me that the young girl’s name must have been America!
SP-5 James M. Cripps
Fort Benning Ga.
US Army 1967-1970
VA THE REDNECK WAY, YOU DON'T HAVE TO GO IT ALONE! 