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About this episode

I’ll never forget where I was and what I was doing in July of 1965. But first let me tell you how my service in the National Guard began in 1954. I feel that it is important for people to know the history of how it started in Escondido. I joined the local unit as it was being organized after the Korean War. Employed as a full-time Administrative Supply Technician, I was a civilian, but had to wear a military uniform. Looking back, I most enjoyed the camaraderie and friendship of the other men. The armory was originally in a dilapidated, old building near 2nd and Kalmia where AT&T now stands. After back-and-forth negotiations, I became instrumental in obtaining the land for the new armory. I recruited help from my friends in the American Legion and they convinced the Escondido City Council to give us 5 acres of land on which to put up the new building. Imagine what it was like to spend 2 weeks in Death Valley in the summer. We trained in the desert at Fort Irwin in the excruciating heat and burning sand. I remember 3 days straight of 141 temperature heat. We couldn’t pick things up without wearing gloves. I still have the air-conditioned office I built for the back of a 2 1/2 ton truck. I recall one of the mishaps we had: a tank caught on fire and we couldn’t put it out with the fire extinguishers. Back then, a tank only cost $100,000 compared to several million dollars today. My most intense experience played out in the summer of 1965. On the way to summer training, we stopped in Ventura. At midnight, we were ordered to turn around and go back to L.A. because the riots had broken out in Watts. I had already been up all night and had to patrol the streets for another 24 hours. I remember fires burning everywhere and everybody looting the stores, creating complete mayhem. What my daughter saw on TV scared her to death. At one point, my commander told me to sit on top of the radio box to look for snipers. I was thinking, “Are you kidding?” Instead, I walked behind the jeep, with 800 men behind me. I was more scared of them because half of these young kids had never fired their weapons before! We stopped the riots by shooting 13 men and women rioters, some of whom ran the blockades with trunkfuls of Molotov cocktails. As 1st sergeant of the Escondido company, it was my job to check the intersections and make sure all the guards were OK. When it was all over, I felt relieved that none of us were injured. Thankfully, the rest of my service years were less eventful. I stayed in the Guard until 1974, then transferred to the Army Reserves. After 32 years in the military, I retired in 1984. I am very thankful for all my experiences and for the military benefits I am getting in my retirement years.

• Category

  Talk & Interview

• Release Date

  Dec 18, 2008

• Runtime

  04:18