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Public Schools I Went toHi Mount Elementary School - 1942 - 1949 (K - 6th)I went to grade school at HiMount Elementary which was across the street from our house on 49th Street. Back in those days there was no AC, so of course, we slept with the windows open and I’d hear a quartet of neighborhood boys harmonizing on the street corner. The mid 40s were my elementary school years when teachers were strict and allowed to use corporal punishment to enforce discipline, like the cane, ruler, slipper, or just plain smacking. Children were more respectful then, but they were taught to be prompt and well behaved. Teachers ruled the roost and any child that spoke up out of turn WAS punished. We also got chalk board repetitive 'lines' to do and marched to do anything. There were 'detention' periods for disruptive children where you were kept back in school long after the others had left. Thank goodness that only happened t me several times a month - made my mother crazy waiting for me, but I lived just across the street so it wasn't so bad. P.S. I had a 'Big Mouth.'I flunked kindergarten for pushing an old wrinkled bony teacher into a steel waste paper basket butt first. She was on my back all the time, and when she shook her skinny finger at me and said “Gerald Frederick Luenzmann, stop that” for the hundredth time, I got mad and pushed her. She was old and tiny, couldn't have weighed 80 pounds, and falling backwards she folded herself, butt first into the standard green steel waste basket. She was stuck hip first with only her arms and legs sticking out and the school janitor could only free her by cutting the waste basket open with metal shears. For that little piece of mischief, I was punished by flunking kindergarten and that extra year in school cost me, I was nineteen years old when I graduated from high school when most kids were 17 or 18 year’s old. But where would I be if I hadn't been forced to learn the Shoddish dance with the largest girl in my class when I was easily the skinniest male. Good think it was the Shoddish and not a slow dance.I remember my first grade teacher rapping our knuckles with a wooden ruler. Sometimes she would break the skin. We didn't tell on her because the parents would want to know what we did wrong and we would get it again. And I will never forget my 5th grade teacher, Miss Schultz. She read "The Iliad" and "The Odyssey" to us 5th graders, and we ate it up. She would always have us act out plays in front of the class, and would put the girls on one side of the room and the boys on the other to see which side could have more correct answers in an English language quiz. She was so far ahead of her time….and we practiced penmanship while listening to classical music!We exercised and played outside. At school we had recess twice a day. I was a milk monitor who means that I got to give the other kids milk and Graham crackers. We had fresh food for lunches. We walked home and did not watch TV because there was none. We had party lines on the telephone which was sharing the phone with another family. We walked about carrying gas masks, and running to an air raid shelter when the sirens sounded.The center of our young lives and during summer vacations, Hi Mount Playground, which was across the street from our house, provided sports equipment, chess and checker game, and many organized activities including tours of Milwaukee, Lake Michigan and state parks. Hi Mount had a large playground with big swings and slides and various climbing devises. We would have contests that could swing the highest and get the biggest ‘bumps’ and we swung so high we almost went over the top bar.During the summer, the Milwaukee Parks Commission ran the playground and organized various tours around the city, all of which my brother and I took; there were tours to Lake Michigan’s water front, the Milwaukee Museum, and Tally Rand State Park out in Port Washington. My dad would play catch with us on the playground, and we were involved in daily baseball or softball games.Hi Mount school’s chimney stood 90 feet above the street and was surrounded by a chain link fence to keep interlopers out. I would climb the fence and then the steel rungs fixed to the chimney to the top and sit on top and drop large bags of shit into the chimney, it went down directly into the furnace and I doubt it ever did anything but provide a bad stink but the smell got to the janitor who had an office right next to the furnace. The janitor, an old man named Vancamp, was our next door neighbor and would complain about how his office smelled like warmed over sewer gas. You know, I was never scared climbing 90-feet, that is probably what got me into mountain climbing, or rock climbing to be more exact, later on in my teen-age years.Stueben Jr. High School 1950 - 1952 (7th - 9th) - 52nd Street and North AvenueI graduated Hi Mount from the 6th grade with SATs that put me as a college graduate in reading comprehension. My mother told me that I didn’t talk much until I was five years old. My parents thought something was wrong with me and had me checked out, there wasn’t, and after five my speech became relevant to my upcoming nick name as a “story teller” and now theses days you can’t shut me up. She took my brother and me downtown on Wisconsin Avenue to the city block big Milwaukee Public Library which was also a museum on the upper floors, so on a weekly basis I read two or three books and toured the relics of the Greek and Roman ancients or the knights in medieval armor. I like the historical aspect of learning about people and their things so the museum was a favorite spot for me. It also dictated much what I read, which after reading the entire series of Hardy Boys, Jack London, Mark Twain and James Fennimore Cooper, were historical biographies telling the stories of the ancient world, medieval Europe, settling the American West and a little science fiction.I remember titles like the "The Frontiersmen," "Wilderness Empire,” and “The Conquerors.” I loved the methodology of King Arthur and Robin Hood, and started to read more historical biographies about explorers, outlaws, cowboys and gun slingers of the American West and I got hooked on General Cook exploits fighting Indians on the American frontier. I learned what frontier life was like and all about the French and Indian and Revolutionary wars. I knew all about the Egyptian Dynasties and the Pharaohs, Alexander the Great, the Roman Empire and Charlemagne by the time I got to 5th grade and had become a pretty good history buff. Since I read so widely and could tell adventurous and funny stories, (I take after my father) my Hi Mount Elementary school classes would ask me to stand in front of the room and tell a story. Class favorites were my stories about Don Quixote of La Mancha and his side kicks Sancho Panza. The epic story contrasts between the tall, thin, fancy‑struck, and idealistic aged medieval knight Quixote and the fat, squat, world‑weary Panza with Don Quixote's imaginings being the butt of outrageous and cruel practical jokes. The novel is considered a satire of orthodoxy, veracity, and even nationalism. So I graduated from Hi Mount Elementary 6th grade with a reputation as a ‘Storyteller.’ I was well known all over for my descriptive story telling, including to my brother, who I would tell Peter Rabbit and Mr. Macgregor stories when we waiting to go to sleep. P.S. Another aspect of story telling was embellishment and exaggeration! The result of this extensive reading was that I had a third year college vocabulary and comprehensive knowledge of geography and history when only in elementary school.I proceeded into the 7th grade at Stueben Jr. High School which was located on 52nd and North, with an enrollment of 1000 students and serviced seventh, eighth, and ninth graders from the surrounding neighborhoods. If you stepped into a late 1940s Milwaukee classroom you'd see teachers fostered 'critical thinking' in the classroom on a daily basis. This includes thinker’s guides which focus on the foundations of conceptualizing essential critical thinking concepts and principles. It was all 'College Prep' education. If a student wasn't gaining anything from a college-prep curriculum they were given "life adjustment education." Basically, that was a 'technical education.' Girls making dresses, hats, learning to do laundry in the correct way and beauty culture and boys trained hard in physical education (football as well) which really kept the boys in shape for war. Growing numbers of young people soon filled technical schools. Schools taught lessons in family life, hygiene and health. The focus at Steuben was academics, with college prep classes in Math, Science, English, History, Social Studies, and with elective courses in music, shop, sewing, and health. Being smart was the norm and the only standard accepted among us kids in those days. Flunk a course and you would be made fun of and being surrounded by creative people from all different ethnic types changed my life for the better. Physical Education was mandatory and a fun course where we learned gymnastics, wrestling, and boxing skills and played football and baseball on Stueben’s large playground. In addition, students could participate in after‑school activities that include organized competitive sports, community service and camping. I wasn’t big, but was fast enough with my hands and did well in the boxing classes.We had some big guys who excelled at football, but I learned to pitch softball pretty good. It wasn't until the late 1940s that kids were called "teenagers." It was an era of Zoot suits, bobby-soxers, and soda shops with "soda jerks." There were "sock hops" and the dancing style was "Jitter Bug" similar to the Jive dances of the 1950s. It was also the big band era and the likes of Benny Goodman would get the teenagers up and jitter bugging. Teenagers also learned to ballroom dance! Some girls went nuts over Frank Sinatra -- which I personally could not understand. My music hero was Frankie Lane. The girls all wore saddle shoes -- with the saddles in different colors, even! They wore ankle socks; dresses or skirts-and-blouses at practically all times. Blue jeans were a novelty. In Stueben junior high school, one of our teachers started a Dance Class to teach those dumb boys how to dance! Thank goodness! Now the girls did not have to always dance with each other at the after-school dances.Milwaukee had street gangs and school bullies of young toughs that loved to terrorize young people. I never backed down to these bullies, but would stand and fight, something my father taught me at an early age and I could take care of myself too. One day as I crossed Stueben’s playground, Spike and his gang of five jumped me and tried to beat me up. I fought back, first putting Spike down with a few good punches, and then I defended against his gang and put them down too. Lots of students witnessed the fracas and called the teachers. The police came and three ambulances were needed to get Spike and his friends to the hospital. I was claimed as a hero but some pussies considered me cruel to hurt and hospitalize so many kids. All I could say was they attacked me and I defended myself.Ronald Heller was a much feared school bully but would never mess with me, especially after my fracas with Spike and his gang. He used to say “Luenzmann, one day you will meet someone who can beat you.” Ronald left school at sixteen and joined the US Marines and became a hero in the Korean War. Later he became a Boot Camp drill instructor at Paris Island and was Court Marshaled for getting some of his recruits killed on an ill advised forced night march.Ronnie Mueller’s mother died and his alcoholic father could not raise him properly, so Ronnie became a wild young man, but he was a friend of mine and I stuck up for him all the time. Ronnie was a tough guy and we would fight and put on a show for the other teenagers. My dad said I should stay away from him because he was headed for jail, which is exactly what happened. Ronnie was arrested for armed robbery and sent to reform school, rearrested and sent to state prison.Washington High School(1953 - 1955 10th - 12th Grade)Many public schools had a bible reading in the classroom at the beginning of the school day. There were no sex education classes, and the contraceptive pill had not yet been invented. In some states the sale of condoms was illegal. In the 1950s the baby boom generation born after WWII came into the schools and caused overcrowding. Rock and roll music was invented in the 50s and slowly became popular with radio disc jockeys and American Bandstand on TV. Elvis Presley began his career in the 50s. For some guys having a custom car or a hot rod became important. A common meeting place outside of school was the soda fountain at a drug store; dating usually involved going to a movie or a school dance. In some schools appropriate clothing was important, and you could be sent home if you came to school wearing jeans or a short skirt. Guys worried about the possibility of getting drafted after high school. Of course, different locations and different income levels made some things different.Starting high school is an overwhelming experience for any teenager, especially the academic king in Milwaukee, top ranked Washington High School. Whether you are coming from a middle school (grades six through eight) or a junior high school (grades seven through nine), there are many things about high school that are different from your old school environment, and you will experience many changes.You leave your friends and make new ones; the school has more than 3,000 students from a huge geographic area that had dozens of elementary schools and six Jr High Schools, all feeding into Washington, a college prep high school. New teachers will have higher academic expectations than your middle and junior-high school teachers. They want to help you get into college; in return, they expect you to work hard and improve your skills.Best High School in MilwaukeeWashington High School was the best high school in Milwaukee, it exemplified the academic culture, offered advanced placement courses and was a 10h grade through 12th grade college prep high school, with 9th grade being done in a middle school, which for me, was Stueben Jr. High School. I took the standard mandatory academic college prep courses and never took study halls, I used that time to sign up for additional advanced placement courses in history and science. For electives I signed up for all the shop courses and even took chorus one year. That meant instead of having three years of academic courses, I had earned a total of five years of academic courses in history, math, and science, all of which stood me in a good stead in the Navy and my future career in computers. The Navy told me that Washington High School was the third best high school in the USA, Julliard in Manhattan being first and the Bronx School Science being second. In addition, I was a pretty fair car mechanic, and fixed most of the problems on my 1941 Pontiac.The population was very heavily Jewish (probably one reason it was the best HS in Milwaukee) and whenever there was a Jewish holiday, many students were missing so we just did art work or special projects as there was no point in doing regular school work. But amazingly, we had a Jewish and Christmas program every year ‑ how times change! But we didn't pray in school, like so many Southerners seem to think kids should. But Southern society was legally racially segregated, what a cruel Christian dichotomy!I was a somewhat lazy student, who preferred working full time at the KRAMBO Grocery Store to support my leisure hobbies; cars, Boy Scouts, DeMolay, exploring, canoeing and camping, rather than being the best student. But I did well enough, maintaining a C plus average with a few As and Bs tossed in, usually achieved in subjects with really good teachers. I remember two in particular, Ms. Greene, my English teacher and nemesis, and Mr. Pestalozzi, my Chemistry teacher, who made the complex subject extremely interesting and allowed me to put all my advanced math courses to work solving difficult differential equations. A lot of us had our own cars and drove them to school and during lunch hours would drive them around the block showing off our rides in front of the girls.I loved Washington High School and felt that I was having the best time of my life there. Most of my friends had been with me since kindergarten in Hi Mount Elementary. At Washington, I was involved in Stage Crew, Audio Visual, and some sports, mostly boxing and wrestling, but I wasn’t good enough to play varsity sports. Washington had more than three thousand students and there were plenty of better candidates for varsity teams. I was satisfied with my friends, my car, dating, and hobbies. In those days, I thought I was really tough, it wasn’t so much as physically tough, although I was in great shape, I just wouldn't take any shit from anyone and would stand and fight.There were always dances to go to and Proms set up by anyone of five different Milwaukee high schools. I still remember dancing to “Unchanged Melody” by Al Hibbler and the other hits of the era. Big Band and ball room dancing music was popular, and we all loved Doo Wop music and dancing to the Jitter Bug, Polka, Foxtrot and Waltz.One of the most popular dances from the 1950s was the Twist. This infamous dance was the inspiration for Chubby Checker’s original 1960s hit song, and it could regularly be seen on American Bandstand. Many of the most popular dances from the 1950s, such as the Jitterbug, the Cha‑cha, and the Lindy Hop, were thought of as group dances rather than single couples’ dances. Perhaps of all the popular dances from the 1950s, single, a couple, or group, the Stroll is the easiest to recognize. The Stroll is one of the first variations of line dancing. Groups of dancers stood in opposing lines facing one another, with a wide aisle between them. Though they all danced, the end dancers from each line proceeded from the start of the line to the end right down the middle, showcasing any moves they might have. Thus, as the dance's name indicates, dancers would take turns strolling down the center lane. Revisiting the scene from the classic musical Grease, in which Rydell High School was invited to perform on American Bandstand, will reveal just how the Stroll was done.The musical talents who lent their voice and style to the accompaniment of the popular dances from the 1950s included The Andrews Sisters, Eddie Fisher, and of course Elvis Presley, amongst others. The 1950s was a period of growth and rebellion amongst America’s youth, and many of the popular dances from the 1950s were an expressions of that. By the time Elvis appeared on stage regularly swinging his hips, the seed that would grow into “dirty dancing” had been planted. I visited all the Milwaukee high schools to attend their dances, and learned to Polka, do Irish dancing, and became one hell-of-a jitterbug dancer. All you had to do was watch Philadelphia’s Dick Clark American Band Stand to see what was popular n the USA and copy it.Prom NightMy high school proms were always fun affairs, what with the various music played by the orchestra being Ball Room, Irish, Polka, and Jitter Bug, that last one being the most fun and my best dance too. I usually took a girl friend, not the romantic kind, just the platonic friendship kind, so we would have a great time enjoying all the other attendees and dance the night away. When I got a girl friend, the romantic kind, Sandy Walhgren, it was more about worrying whom she was flirting with and what was going on. I wasn’t insecure but she could make me feel that way. Maybe it was just her good looks attracting so many young men that I worried about. I definitely would recommend the platonic relationship for a prom.There was always just one prom per high school, high‑school juniors attending the prom may call it "junior prom" while high‑school seniors may call it "senior prom." There were five high schools in Milwaukee and I attended all their proms since I knew people in all of them and that meant every year, I went to five proms. What fun! There was a sixth HS, the Jewish one, and even formal dances at the Jewish Center I went too - they had the best food and the girls were dark and sexy! I especially loved dancing ‘The Horah’ - you get in a circle and danced to the music of Hava Nagila. The themes for each prom were different, some high school being more into rock and roll, some into ball room, and of course the south side Polish being into the Polka. But they all did some Ball Room - you know where you hold the girl close, and Jitter Bug - where you toss her around. I must say, to dance the Irish Jig or Polka will wear you out, so better be shape.I remember the way my mother dressed in the 1950s. She was so glamorous in her dresses, hats, gloves, and high heels. It wasn't just my mother either, most ladies in the 1950s dressed in similar fashion. Of course, during the week, when the women of the neighborhood were tending to the children, the home, and maybe the garden, they wore pretty, comfortable cotton house dresses, often covered by an apron. Weekends might be for going out to dinner on Saturday night, and then church on Sunday morning. On these days, one would see the ladies dressed up in beautiful dressy dresses, with a string of pearls and a spritz of perfume. For adults, the 1950s appearance was all about conservative dress. But teenagers dressed differently, with more pizzazz and clothes that defined the period. Like Poodle skirts, penny‑loafer shoes or saddle shoes, and pony tails for the girls and, drape pants, greasy pompadours, and leather bomber jackets for the boys. For the teenagers, the 1950s appearance was all about cute and sassy - something you would notice, albeit proper too. There was even room for the Beatnik with goatees and long hair. For the prom, girls wore evening dresses and the boys wore suits. I usually brought my Brownie Hawkeye and took photos and we got professional portraits from the school photographer.After the Prom it was time to eat and we usually went to the Boulevard Inn by Washington Park on Lisbon Avenue. The Statue of Stueben, a Prussian‑born military officer who served as Major General of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War stood out in front. He is credited with being one of the fathers of the Continental Army in teaching them the essentials of military drills, tactics, and disciplines. I took my date home after a spaghetti dinner and then it was crazy time with my buddies. A few of my friends and I went into Washington Park and went swimming naked in the Lagoon. We swam out to a maintenance raft and lay on the deck under the midnight sky and had a couple of the beers, and fell asleep. The next thing we are being woken at about 8:00 a.m. by the birds chirping, the sun in our eyes and greeted by the stares and cheers of some of our high school girl friends walking over the lagoon bridge on their way to school. We had nowhere to hide, no clothes, no towel, nothing to cover with, nothing but our good looks and you know what teenage boys wake up with in the morning! Our clothes were on the shore and the girls were nice enough to throw them down to us. You can imagine the stories going around the school that day!My CarsMost of my friends had cars, usually of a 1930s vintage, all requiring massive repair to keep them running. We all became good mechanics and if you couldn’t pay for the parts and work on the car yourself, owning a car was not in your profile. My friends and I became very familiar with car mechanics and salvage yards. In those days, pre war cars didn’t last long, engines were good for only 20,000 miles and then needed an overhaul, mechanical brakes and other running gear needed constant repair, and consequentially I became a fair mechanic and a lover of cars. But those rumble seats were cool and made cars most interesting. At sixteen years old, I bought my first car, a rusted out and beat up 1941 Pontiac flat head eight cylinder Silver Streak for $85.00. My father showed me how to restore it up and it keeps it running. I removed all the rust, did all the Bondo body work, painted it and even learned how to perform tune ups, over haul carburetors and rebuild mechanical brakes. My next car was a stylish yellow 1948 Studebaker Commander Land Cruiser sedan, and then a 1953 Buick Special. At one time I owned all these cars at the same time but eventually sold them. I sold the Buick to my brother when I went in the Navy and then I was car less.I bought my first car when I was sixteen. I paid $85 for it and it was a 1941 Pontiac Silver Streak 4 door six cylinder. It was in running condition, but needed a lot of cosmetic and mechanical work. I drove it immediately and spent the next year fixing it up as I earned the money from my job at Krambo Grocery. There was a lot to love about that old car. It was only a 6-cylinder model rather than a V8 so it was not especially powerful or fast, but after my father and I rebuilt the engine, it ran like a dream. My mother repainted the car with a brush. Ugh! But it looked good and I was so proud of her. Most of my friends had cars from the 1930s and early '40s before production was stopped because WW II converted factories to make tanks. I had a friend who had a Rumble Seat Ford two door - really sexy and I loved it. Between mechanical brakes, Holly Carburetors and trashy engines, you had learned to be a mechanic to keep these old cars running.A lot of us had “hot rods" and "jalopies" and the kids met at the drive-in restaurants where guys would scream around and around showing off their new re-built car. They popped clutches and did "wheelies" or "donuts" or picked out some other guy with a hot car to drag race to gain attention. There was cruising strips to see if they could pick up girls and there were usually 4 guys to a car and you could bet there was a case of beer! Few wanted new cars and most young guys loved to "cut and chop" old cars and would paint them cool colors (metallic) usually with lightening bolds or other designs on the side of their car. Cars that were in this condition were called simply, "cherry!" Kids did get into a bit of trouble drag-racing the streets so they would build drag strips outside of the city limits and the races began. Kids also got into drinking beer (making complete fools of them) but not as often as the kids do today. They were few drugs around during this time and it was either cigarettes or alcohol.One of the activities that were very popular during my high school years was to go out at night and cruise around in my car with Norman, my best buddy. We would run up and down the Boulevards of Milwaukee trying to pick up girls. In those days this was considered an innocent past time and quite proper. We would hang out on Blue Mound Blvd. at Bob's Big Boy drive-in restaurant. The waitresses were normally girls from our high school, Washington High. They wore roller skates and would skate out to waiting cars to take an order, which for me always was some version of a hamburger. It was common for us car jockeys to lay a strip of rubber as we pealed out of the drive in restaurant. One day, after a narrow escape from getting caught me, I decided to lay a trap for the cop cars. I had regularly stuck potatoes up the tail pipe of the cop cars so when they left and got on the street their car would choke to a stop. Now I was looking for something more exciting, so, I got a tow rope, crawled underneath both police cars and tied it to their axles.My buddies and I then covered up our license plates, got in front of the police cars, and sped out of Bob's Big Boy parking lot. The two police cars started to chase us. As they laid rubber, the rope took hold; the two cars jerked violently, swung around, and smacked themselves together end to end. They started to spin around uncontrollably as they bounced off the side of a large semi truck parked in the lot. We didn't get a chance to see the destruction of the police cars. Later we were told that one police car, its axle torn off, careened and jammed itself under a semi truck. Its axle was being dragged down the road by the other police car that was squatting down on its haunches as it entered the Wisconsin Avenue intersection. The axle, mounted on its rear wheels crashed into the police car and sprung open his trunk. By that time, my buddies and I were long gone down the road and we had no idea what damage we had caused. It was a very long time before we went back to Bob's Big Boy.I bought my first car at 16, paid $85.00 for it, it was a 1941 Pontiac Silver Streak sedan. If you knew anything about those old cars, if you wanted to drive you had to become a mechanic . . . they broke down constantly, the mechanical breaks went bad, the engines needed constant work to keep going, especially the Holly Carburetors. The engines were good for about 20,000 miles and then needed major rebuilds. I learned to all of that!One of the activities that were very popular during my high school years was to go out at night and cruise around in my car with Norman, my best buddy. We would run up and down the Boulevards of Milwaukee trying to pick up girls. In those days this was considered an innocent past time and quite proper. We would hang out on Blue Mound Blvd. at Bob's Big Boy drive-in restaurant. The waitresses were normally girls from our high school, Washington High. They wore roller skates and would skate out to waiting cars to take an order, which for me always was some version of a hamburger. It was common for us car jockeys to lay a strip of rubber as we pealed out of the drive in restaurant.Our favorite past times were going to the beach or Drive-In Movies on double dates, or cruising Milwaukee's boulevards at night trying to pick up girls, hitting the Big Boy hamburger joints, and generally just having a good time driving around. The there was Drag Racing.Drag Racing on Bluemound DriveIllegal Milwaukee street drags were a necessary evil in the world of drag racing. There were no organized drag strips operating except for an old airport strip in Waukesha which operated only on Sunday's, leaving a whole week of idle time for anxious owners of street rods and just ordinary "kids cars." My 1941 Pontiac was no race car but I couldn’t help but test it on the drag strip. The worst that could happen was burning out my tires and having to replenish them. This void in the "need for speed" was easily filled by us eager teenage throttle jockeys by finding relatively remote and little used stretches of straight, smooth pavement. These were not hard to find back in the 1950's. One of the most popular was Bluemound Drive up in the 90s, a two mile long piece of four lane asphalt east of highway 100. This straight piece of blacktop sliced through the few remaining dairy farms and some new subdivision of homes under construction. Bluemound Drive was a favorite drag strip, albeit illegal, and often produced some of the more memorable drags between some very hot cars (For those days). This location was handy because most of the "choosing‑off" took place at one or more of the local drive‑in restaurants in the area like Bob’s Big Boy Hamburger drive in joint. The place was a notorious hang out for Hot‑Rodders and others with ordinary cars and an itch to compete.Drag racing - the straight dash over 1/4 of a mile from a standing start for the shortest elapsed time. This form of racing grew directly from illegal match racing on rural roads by high-schoolers in the postwar 1940s-early 1950s. Teenagers, “souping up” their rebuilt cars, wanted to show off their mechanical skills. The most objective way was the standing-start race of two cars over an identical short distance. The arbitrary distance of 1/4-mile came, according to one version of the story from the fact that it was easily measured on a straight stretch of rural road and because a longer distance would be unnecessarily dangerous. Many worked-over old cars could hit nearly 100 mph in “the quarter.” Of course, many cars blew their engines in the attempt too! A typical drag racing night - At least a dozen cars, probably more, had gathered on Bluemound Drive Clark Ave, my guess is that more than fifty people were there, mostly out of their cars, standing or sitting along the roadside. Very little, if any, discussion takes place between the drivers. There were no "rules" and about the only thing to decide was whether it would be a standing or rolling start. It was decided that my friends and I would make our getaway in my best friend’s (Norman Lindberg) ‘49 Chevy should the local Sheriff or COPs decide to bust the race.The race was great, as usual. The screeching tires and the smell of the burnt rubber is something that you don't forget; the crowd kinda surges into the road to watch the cars, trying to judge which one is ahead as they grow rapidly smaller in the distance. Hearing the "chirp" of the tires and seeing the tail lights dip as the driver’s slam‑shift through the gears. Then the brake lights come on in the distance and the crowd gives a collective cheer, then argue about which car was the winner, not being sure due to the darkens and distance. On this particular night, both cars made U-turns, their headlights arcing across the cow pens and dairy buildings along the roadside. Then they squared away, pointed northward, for another run back. There's a sort of unanimous silence, anticipating the start of the return run. Then the headlights suddenly bounce upward, signaling the start. They bounce again as the shift is slammed to 2nd gear and we begin to hear the whine of the engines.Bob's Big Boy StuntOne clear night in the spring of 1955, Bobs Big Boy was filled beyond capacity with cars. Many were circling the lot, in and out, hoping to find a coveted parking slot where the girl’s roller skated up to your car and took hamburger orders. Mean cars and meaner drivers looked for trouble and a match‑up was made between Junior Thompson, in his built‑up 1950 Ford running a 59A block fathead and another car. A Kennedy tool box and the mounted spare tire were removed from the trunk of Junior's car and left in our care. As soon as the choosing‑off had been done, word spread through the crowd like a bolt of lightning.The whole place seemed to come alive with engines starting, doors slamming, carhop trying to rescue the trays from moving cars, and a noisy hubbub of excitement. There was a general mass exodus from the drive in booths and everyone headed for Bluemound Drive. One day, after a narrow escape from getting caught me, I decided to lay a trap for the cop cars. I had regularly stuck potatoes up the tail pipe of the cop cars so when they left and got on the street their car would choke to a stop. Now I was looking for something more exciting, so, I got a tow rope, crawled underneath both police cars and tied it to their axles. My buddies and I then covered up our license plates, got in front of the police cars, and sped out of Bob's Big Boy parking lot. The two police cars started to chase us. As they laid rubber, the rope took hold; the two cars jerked violently, swung around, and smacked themselves together end to end. They started to spin around uncontrollably as they bounced off the side of a large semi truck parked in the lot. We didn't get a chance to see the destruction of the police cars. Later we were told that one police car, its axle torn off, careened and jammed itself under a semi truck. Its axle was being dragged down the road by the other police car that was squatting down on its haunches as it entered the Wisconsin Avenue intersection. The axle, mounted on its rear wheels crashed into the police car and sprung open his trunk. By that time, my buddies and I were long gone down the road and we had no idea what damage we had caused. It was a very long time before we went back to Bob's Big Boy.Drive In MoviesA drive‑in theater is a form of cinema structure consisting of a large screen, a projection booth, a concession stand and a large parking area for automobiles. In the 1950's, there were over 4000 Drive‑in movie theaters across the USA and a whole bunch of them in Milwaukee. The one we went to a lot was out Bluemound Drive called the “41 Drive In.” Among its advantages was the fact that a family with a baby could take care of their child while watching a movie, while teenagers with access to autos found drive ins’ ideal for dates, the greater privacy gave drive ins’ a reputation as immoral, and they were labeled "passion pits" in the media. To ensure the automobiles had an unobstructed view of the screen, you drove the cars up onto a ramp to raise the front of the car off of the ground at taller and taller heights as you got further away from the screen. You heard the movies visas vie small speakers hanging on a pole next to you car that could be hooked onto the side window of the car. Typically, about 400 car loads of patrons packed the lot. As with indoor cinemas, the concession stand, also called a snack bar, is where a drive‑in earns most of its profits. As a result, much of a drive‑in's promotion is oriented toward the concession stand. The typical snack bar offers any food that can be served quickly, such as hot dogs, pizza, cheeseburgers, popcorn, soft drinks, coffee, hot chocolate, ice cream, candy and French fries. To send patrons to the concession stands, trailer advertisements called snipes were projected before the feature and during any intermissions.Movies in the 1950s were mostly simplistic and very proper affairs, but science fiction was a big drawing card. Hollywood released an output of films that reflected Cold War paranoia and apocalyptic fears. But these films used the science fiction genre to dig deeper into these fears without frightening audiences off from their political messages. One of the most famous science‑fiction film that had the most astute Cold War message was 1951's ‘The Day the Earth Stood Still.’ The movie was about an alien and his robot who came to Earth with a message: if Earthlings didn't restrain their destructive habits, they were going to be liquidated. Following the horror and destruction of the Nazi regime nearly a decade before and the ongoing conflict in Korea, The Day the Earth Stood Still resonated with audiences weary of war. One of the first films to address these concerns was the 1953 classic War of the Worlds.Double dating to the Drive In movie was popular and Norman Lindberg and I went often with our girl friends. Kissing and snuggling was all we did back in those days and any sex was to come many years later, usually with the one you married. Any flick could be tolerated, as long as it was viewed at a Drive In Theater. Some Horror, Westerns and Sci Fi were always my favorites. They also made it a lot easier to get your date to scoot up close. Of course by today's standards those old movies were pretty tame and pretty lame but back then they could scare the fool out of you. I still enjoy watching them once in a while. They don't frighten me anymore. Really they don't!The 1950s was a decade of prosperity, optimism, conservatism and conformity; a counter-culture reared its head along the lines of "Leave It to Beaver" meets "Twin Peaks." Rebellion and non-conformity were the reactions to the “white-bread” texture of American society. And so it was with the Jewish Community Center in downtown Milwaukee. I fondly remember my visits to attend dances there. They were outside the traditional and setting new norms. That's where I learned to do the Cha Cha and the Hava Nagila. The Jewish Center was interesting, besides meeting great looking girls, you took a musical journey connecting Afro-Americans and Jews to their storied past. There were musicians performing on harmonica, guitar, ukulele, dobro and mandolin. We often went after Christmas and started the evening at the Sheraton-Schroeder hotel for dinner. I was surprised that old guys lived there and sat around in the lobby.School - I Was a History MajorThe old world was changing fast, the economy after the war was booming, blacks were immigrating to Milwaukee by droves and vast social changes were taking place, ethnic festivals were the rage, Elvis came to town, high culture was embodied, and personal freedoms were blooming in Milwaukee. In school, we doubted the status quo and formulated a thinking process. What was important was truth based on science and recorded history and not social - religious - political centric ideological myths and legends. In other words we knew the King Arthur story was a legend based on happenings in the time period, a legend built to tell a story. They’re elements of truth in the Arthur legend that traced back to the Roman Empire and Camelot was in France, not England.The earth was just six thousand years old and God flooded the entire earth and only Noah and his animals survived, come on, let’s get real. We knew based on science the earth was billions of years old and man like species had been around for millions of years, with Homo sapiens like us being around for at least two hundred thousand plus years. Today our knowledge on history has increased ten thousand times with the advent of computers and hundreds of thousands of new scientific and archaeological / cosmology / geophysical discoveries and with critical thinking we are capable to absorb all this new information and not get stuck in the past. But there are those who want to disregard modernity, science and our ever increasing understanding of history, they are afraid of change because it disturbs their comfort zone and/or are stuck with religious / political dogma.High School FootballI worked out vigorously with a speed and heavy bag, did several hundred sit ups and push ups every day and was in great physical and mental shape. I had a great six pack and was strong as an ox. Additionally, I was in a number of street fights, never lost one and didn't take any crap from anyone. I thought I was a tough guy and was a natural for physical sports like football. But I went to Washington HS, a school with more than 3,500 students, and that was just 10th through 12th grade and competed with similar big city schools. I was small, weighed only 150 lbs . . . that was real light in my school where football players were around 200 lbs plus. Back in the 1950s when obesity was not a problem like it is today, that usually meant 200 lbs of muscle. I went for the tryouts to see how far I would get, activities like kicking, throwing, catching, blocking and sprinting, which are typically conducted with potential players dressed in shorts or sweats and T-shirts. Like the game itself, tryouts are a difficult process intended to determine who has what it takes to succeed on the football field.Players are sorted into groups based on positions before separating to different parts of the field to perform position-related drills. Well, I discovered I wasn't good enough for varsity but maybe I could be on the B Team. We usually played our B Team Modified games in Washington Park. But I couldn't believe, it, in a stand up fight I could easily lick anyone on the varsity team but I wasn't big or good enough to play a rough house team sport like football. Even more, when I was in the Navy and got lots of squad weapons and hand to hand martial arts training needed for Military Police and Recon with the Marines. While in the military, I became really one tough mother fucker . . . but I couldn't play high school varsity football.As it was, I did play softball and baseball, did some wrestling too . . . I really loved softball that was my game, usually I pitched or played first base. I got into Golden Gloves and went through the third round of competition before a skinny Italian beat the shit out of me. I will tell you that a good boxer is a hungry mean ass street kid looking to kill someone.South Milwaukee High School 1955Then in my senior year, my dad moved the family to South Milwaukee, a small town that competed with other small schools. Guess what!? They wanted me to play varsity full back right away! I had the opportunity to play football on every level there, and for me there is nothing like high school football. What makes high school football so special goes well beyond the Xs and Os? It reflects in the genuine love and passion that players, coaches and fans exhibit for the sport and for each other. On Friday nights across America, entire cities shut down and everyone convenes at the local high school football game. Players and coaches pour it all out on the field in an effort to prevail. Fans pack the stands to support and cheer on student-athletes they know and have relationships with. There is a genuine love and desire to see the team and players do well. It teaches you to love the man next to you not for self-gain, but for the team. It teaches you sacrifice that you never imagined possible.I was scheduled for a graduation in January 1956 from Washington High School, but transferred to South Milwaukee High School in the fall of 1955. During my time in Stueben Jr. High and Washington High School, I never took study halls but rather additional academic classes, and with South Milwaukee High School reduced graduation requirements, I immediately had enough credits to graduate in 11th grade, but I lacked a required social study’s class, so stayed there for 12th grade and doubled up on even more academic subjects. Consequentially, I had five years of five academic subjects and graduated with 45 credits when only 32 were required. South Milwaukee high school was very different from Washington, it was really a small school and the courses were much easier and not college prep. In January 1956 I walked into the administration office in South Milwaukee High School and the principal came out to give me my diploma and shook my hand. No robes, bands, parades, pomp or circumstance ceremony, just a hand shake and a goodbye and my heart ached! But, I still feel attached to Washington High School and celebrate with them . . . It was the greatest! . For me, public school was a grand and exhilarating experience, it was filled with friends, social activities, great learning experiences and moral lessons on life.Joining the NavyWhen I was a kid, I was asked a hundred times "What do you want to do when you grow up?" Mostly I remember the questions, as I had no good answers. I thought about the standard stuff kids think about, being a Policeman or Fireman. When I got to be a teenager I wanted to be a Forest Ranger. I spent so much time camping and out in the woods and loved it, so why not doing it full time I thought? My folks were both educated people who believed that an education was the best way to get ahead. After the first grade, my mother was always the teacher in my house and my father was always the principal. It was hard to hide from their scrutiny, I had to do my home work and it had to be right.Then I graduated high school and my dad was concerned about paying for college, and asked if I was interested in a college scholarship for training through the Navy Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC). He said there would be testing and physical examinations, and a lot of competition. I said I was interested before I knew what I was getting into. It would be a good deal if I could qualify.Within a month I completed what seemed like 100 pages of application and information forms. The Navy was looking for two thousand men of good character in excellent health who were willing to sign a contract for college training in exchange for service in the Navy. The scholarship portion paid tuition, fees, books, transportation costs, and $50.00 every month for four years of college. Each summer required taking a cruise or other training program as assigned. That amounted to free college plus some spending money, plus one all‑expense paid vacation each summer till graduation. My part of the bargain was to take Naval Science classes every year till graduation, then accept a commission as an ensign in the regular Navy. From that point forward, I was to serve at the pleasure of the Navy for a period of three years. It was a dream deal, but difficult to imagine actually getting into such a program.One of the forms was designed to assist with a background check. It asked for the organizations in which I currently hold or previously held membership. There were many, like the Boy Scouts, YMCA, DeMolay, Church that I listed. Then it asked if you have had any contact with members on a list of organizations two pages long and a box to check for each. It had strange organizations that I never heard of, I think they were communist or something like that. The form also asked about traffic violations, truancy, vandalism, arrests, criminal records, and civil lawsuits. At that point I worried about the streetlights I shot with my BB gun in Derby when I was eight years old. Fortunately my record was squeaky clean. Unofficially if I selected the proper references, I might be able to avoid difficulty with my background check. The forms were all completed, signed, and submitted to the Bureau of Personnel, U.S. Navy Department, Washington, D.C. Then the waiting began.Two months later I was advised it was for psychological testing. The instructions were to get plenty of rest, and prepare for a very long day beginning at 8:00 in the morning. I reported to the Naval Reserve Training Center on Lake Michigan and was shown to the library where the testing would be held. I was one of 100 students in the room. I tried to calculate the chances of being selected. Subsequently I learned that 40,000 students were considered to fill 2,000 slots. At that rate, other things being equal, five students could be selected from the this group. The testing was grueling, taking 50 minutes of every hour with a ten‑minute break. I don't remember ever leaving so many test questions blank in my life. At 5:00 in the evening I was miserable and exhausted, and slept in the car all the way home.A month later I was told to report to the military headquarters in the Main Post Office Building in Milwaukee. It was for a physical examination and career interview. Reporting as requested, I filled out more forms, had an interview with two people, and participated with fifty persons in a group medical examination. A military group medical examination is a phenomenon impressed indelibly into memory for a lifetime. One of the forms was a medical history in which you reported everything you knew you had, or knew a family member had. I reported, among other things, a couple of illness like Chicken Pox and Measles and supplied the details as requested.The group medical was initially a record reading session of the medical histories, with individual follow‑up of questionable items. After this the doctors in charge held a group physical examination. The instructions were simple. Remove all your clothes, including your shoes, and stand at attention in a straight line, shoulder to shoulder, facing east. All fifty stood at attention, naked as jay birds, while the doctors looked us up the front, sides, and rear for any visible sign of difficulty. One might call this a gross visual examination, but it could not hold a candle to what followed.The next instruction was to bend over and spread‑em. I was not sure what em was, so I watched the other guys and did what they did. Up to this time, the notion of mooning ones posterior parts had not been coined. Had I been alone in the bathroom, the experience might have been tolerable. Only my mother had seen this particular exposure before, and that was two decades earlier.There I stood in a room full of 50 naked men, bent over and spreading em. The sight was gruesome. Moon we did. Then we were told to put on our clothes, go home, and forget everything we had seen there that day. Such a sight is difficult to forget.After a month I received word that my application was complete. I had passed the entire test except the physical, I wore glasses and that disqualified me. I was given alternate status, the highest form of rejection. They thanked me for my participation, and wished me good luck. It was now winter 1955 and time to make final plans for college. My application to the University of Wisconsin Engineering Program was accepted. The NROTC became a distant memory.Great Lakes Boot CampI was raised in a middle class home. My father was an engineer, my mother a teacher. My brother and I were taught ‘manners,’ civility and respect for our elders and contemporaries. Nobody, in our home raised their voices, made threats, or used foul language. - well, except for my father who swore profusely in German and sometimes a little French. Exchanges between us were calm and reasoned even if there were some underlying conflict. These practices were reciprocal, you gave respect and received respect in return. We were ‘civilized’ and this was a standard that humans valued. Yes, of course, I’d heard anger and foul language from others occasionally. I generally perceived it as a lapse of decorum that would probably require an embarrassed apology later on.As I grew up through the Second World War and after I watched all the many War Movies that came out during this time, obviously I became a great John Wayne Fan. These movies taught me a lot at that time. So when I turned 18, I enlisted and never had any unusual expectations or problems. I had seen it all in those movies and was ready.When I finally made up my 18-year old mind that I wanted to go Navy vs. the Marine Corps (I loved their pride and discipline), I stopped running every morning and relaxed the rest of the summer because a couple of former Marines told me that Navy Basic Training would be a ‘piece of cake’ compared to Marine Basic. I was 5'11 and about 155 pounds, and figured I was fit enough to saunter through Navy Boot Camp c with minimum effort.I arrived at Great Lakes on July 9th 1955. When the train arrived in Great Lakes, we were met by a tall and muscled First Class Petty Officer covered with tattoos and one of the foulest mouth people I ever saw. "Come on you Fucking Bastards and get your asses on this Fucking Bus because you Asses are mining now." Of course we followed his directions and listened to his foul cursing as long as it took to get to the Great Lakes naval mustering area. You had ten seconds to get off the bus and nine were gone. You piled off the bus under a barrage of yelling at You! About 45 of us got off the bus finding a set of yellow foot prints to stand on while the DIs are coming down on you and everyone else. Name calling, put downs, and they were allowed to beat your ass. You even look at them cross-eyed, smirked you had three or four on you like white on rice. People that tell you they laughed at the DIs or challenged them are lying and full of shit. Yeah some tried and found a DI or DIs beating their ass. These DIs were senior NCOs that had fought in WW II. If the DIs didn’t get you, there was a blanket party waiting for you, given to you by your platoon.This starts another story . . .