Memories of James and Willie — John R. Cole

Much too soon beautiful memories are much too gone. Each in its passing leaves a sadness... and an opportunity for a new beginning.John Cole was born in the great state of Kentucky. His Kentucky ancestry is old enough to boast having the first home in the state to have in-house running water, albeit by virtue of a great, great (actually quite a few greats) grandfather inadvertently building his home over the top of a running stream. After graduation from high school in the state of Ohio, he enlisted (against his Mother's desires) in the United States Marine Corps in 1968. He attended Marine Corps boot camp at Parris Island, South Carolina, with advanced weapons training at Camp Geiger in North Carolina.Having enlisted because of his strong desire to serve his country in combat, as the men in his family had done for generations past, John was assigned to a rifle company in Viet Nam and served with later-to-be Senator James Webb of Virginia, lawyer extraordinaire George McMahon of Boston, Judge William Downs of Wyoming, Dale Wilson of North Carolina, and Francis Karst of South Dakota, among so many others. Memories of Marines with names like Mac, Cannonball, and Gunner have had a profound influence through the years. Always interested in writing, John has dedicated his work to the plight of the American combat veteran-America's true Heroes.Through personal experiences, and the experiences of those with whom he served, he tries to highlight, if you will, the feelings and hardships suffered by veterans while in combat, and the many more hardships encountered after they return home.He often says that each of the thoughts he puts on paper comes with its own teardrops, descendants to those same teardrops shed by America's earliest patriots, and that it has been such teardrops that have helped to keep patriotism alive and well down through the tumultuous pages of American History.