The morning I was officially discharged I received 300.00 mustering out pay. Interesting enough, that was the same amount my dad received when he was discharged from the Army in 1945. This was 1954. Don’t seem right, somehow.
The first thing I did was to go out and buy some civilian clothes. I really do remember a yellow shirt and a gray zip up jacket, for some reason. 300.00 was a lot of money in 1954. Not a fortune but a lot to me. I was going to take a train back to Rock Island but got a hotel room for the night instead. I decided I would get the ticket in the morning. The next thing was to eat and I even went to a movie. I don’t remember in what order.
Boston was the home port for the U.S.S.Worcester so I had been in Boston a lot and my favorite place was Eddies Western Bar. I spent a lot of time there and got to know a lot of people. This also was the hangout for a lot of the crew of the Worcester. I knew Eddie pretty well. He was a typical short, stocky, balding and cigar smoking bartender who owned the place. He was always happy. There were the regular girls or ladies and the few gays but all in all it was almost like the ‘neighborhood bar’ found in most small towns. Everybody knew most everybody.
I remember one night in particular. Our ship was in and most of us were in Eddies that night. At one point, a bunch of bikers walked in which was kind of rare. Their were probably about 8 or 10. I was sitting at a booth with a couple buddies and most of the bikers sat at the bar. Evidently, they were set on starting something evidenced by their demeanor. Sure enough, one of them said something to a girl that was sitting with a sailor and a punch was thrown.
It was like every one was on a string and the puppeteer had jerked the strings. It was like everyone knew this was going to happen. It was the second bar fight I was ever in but this was a classic. Women were throwing beer bottles, guys were throwing punches and bikers were being thrown out the door. No one was exempt, even me and my buddies. It seems it was over in a few minutes but everyone was leaving because we knew the police would be here any minute. Mitch and I, a good buddy, stayed and helped Eddie straighten the place out. It was quite a night.
Getting back to the day I was discharged, I eventually wound up, of course, at Eddies to celebrate and to say goodbye to friends. Everybody was buying me beer and I wound up really wiped out. I only remember bits and pieces of the night but I remember one thing real well. I got up on the bar and danced, at Eddies’ suggestion. I was truly happy. The next that I remember was waking up in the hotel room. My hangover was about an 11 on a scale of 10. That bad! After getting myself sorted out, I found that all my money was gone. There was nothing. I was devastated and with a huge hangover on top of that, I was beside myself. I got dressed and cleaned up and with my little bag I went to Eddies bar. It was already about noon. I walked in and sat down. Eddie came over and he started telling me about last night. Evidently, I had a good time. I finally told Eddie that I didn’t have any money. I thought I had probably been ‘rolled’. Eddie began to tell me how sorry he was. He gave me a beer on the house and kept trying to console me. I told him I didn’t even have money to go home. This went on for about ten minutes and pretty soon Eddie went to the register and came back with an envelope and a big grin. I opened it and there was almost 300.00 dollars. He began to laugh and then told me that he asked me last night to keep my money behind the bar for safekeeping and I had agreed. I just didn’t remember it. That was a memory that one will never forget. He could have kept it and I would never have known. We had a little party again and then I left for Rock Island, my home.
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