Boy Scouting Application - Troop 8 Adventures: Fill & Download for Free

Growing up, I was NOT part of a military family, but I heard stories about my Grandfather's experiences as a Seabee in the South Pacific during WWII. I lived some years on Guam in the 1960's, which practically guaranteed contact with a lot of military people, and their kids (Navy Communications Station Guam sponsored my Boy Scout troop, for example; another was being put up in military barracks after our house was blown away in a typhoon, as another example). When the wind was coming in the non-predominant direction, B-52s on their way to Vietnam for an early morning attack took off basically over our house, low and heavily loaded with REALLY LOUD engines that woke us in the middle of the night.I saw some of what the military did, and read a lot, and I was ready to join when the time came. I was only 17 when I graduated High School, and basically had to go to college because I was told to. The day after I turned 18, however, I joined the Navy. Certainly not for the educational benefits, but because I had had enough of school. 12 years! Who needed more? I joined for the travel, for the adventure, and yes, to some extent, to serve my country. Besides, what else was I going to do? I was all set: Serve 20 years, get that retirement, buy a sailboat, and live aboard that as I had great adventures exploring. Well, maybe.I had it in my mind that I would be joining the Navy much earlier than my 18th birthday, and when the Navy recruiter came to my high school, I had taken the opportunity to talk with him about what career choices I might have, and had taken aptitude tests, which I had scored very well on, despite the fact that I was an indifferent B minus C+ student with a class standing squarely in the middle of my high school class. In the end, I decided to go to Nuclear Power School....Remember when I said, 12 years who needed more? Well the next 8 years of my life was one big learning experience. Boot camp!! Basic Electricity and Electronics Prep school. Electrician's Mate "A" school. Nuclear Power School. Prototype reactor plant training. Generators and Regulators school. Damage Control school. Study to learn the boat to qualify in submarines; study to qualify for a watch station; study to qualify for more watch stations. On and on it went. And on the way, I learned some things.Like discipline. Doing what needed to be done, when it needed to be done, and doing it the best you can, whether or not anyone else will know... because you will.Like learning something with a definite application and need in your day-to-day life is NOT like the droning day to day abstractness of High School; once you can see why you are learning it...it can actually be interesting, and something you want to excel in.Like teamwork. Nothing like being X number of hundreds of feet under the water, thousands of miles out to sea, with all or part of a nuclear power plant under your supervision, propelling 16 missile tubes that may or may not be carrying 3 hydrogen warheads apiece, with the Russians very interested in learning where you are, knowing that about a hundred feet ahead of you, there are some guys you are trusting with your life to keep the sub at the appropriate depth, away from underwater mountains, listening to sonar to avoid other ships; knowing that some mess cook could accidentally give everyone aboard food poisoning if he doesn't do his job right; knowing that there's only one Hospital Corpsman aboard. You depend on them; they depend on you. And we got the job done. Every time.Like love. Along the way, I met my wife. And suddenly going to sea DIDN'T seem to be what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.So I got out of the Navy. And found my whole attitude toward "schooling" had changed. I got a job working in a nuclear power plant outside Detroit, and started going to night school. I ended up with two Associate Degrees, a Bachelor's, a Master's and a Doctorate (JD). I was the valedictorian at my Law School graduation. I credit it to my wife's support, and the lessons that the military taught me.Which is a long way of saying, yes, JOINING THE MILITARY WAS TOTALLY WORTH IT FOR ME, and, I believe, most people, even without college financial aid. I had no intention to go to college when I joined the Navy. But the Navy changed my life for the better even before I started to think of going back to college.

Missing MilwaukeeIntroductionI was raised in Milwaukee on the north side in the Washington Heights section , went to HiMount Elementary, Stueben JR High and Washington HS. Besides working since I was eleven, I was engaged in reading books, writing, story telling, had ten horses, baseball and football, fighting and scouting. I camped and canoed all over Wisconsin and was an Explorer and finally an Eagle Scout. I had my first car at sixteen, became a mechanic so I could ride, got into martial arts, went to many dances every month, loved Do op and Rock’n roll and was a deep woods explorer. In 1954 my Dad got a plant engineer job with Line material in South Milwaukee and the family moved there on Fairfield Avenue. I finished my Senior year at South Milwaukee HS and graduated in January 1955 as the only student since I was a mid year student from Washington HS. I never took study halls and took extra history, science and math courses for four years and had 45 credits when only 32 was required for graduation. I had the highest SAT and tested as a college graduate in history, reading and comprehension. My dad was a golf fanatic and played in Grant Park, even in the winter when he painted his golf balls black. I got a job at the A&P, made lots of friends, after HS graduation got an additional job at the Wisconsin Telephone Co and worked 80 hours a week. The love of adventure got me and I joined the Navy in May of 1955 and went to seek my glory on the high seas riding a WW II Destroyer. I got into weapons and became the Leading Petty Officer of Fox Division, went to work for IBM, spent three years in various man frame schools, became an Engineer and Technology instructor, lived and worked in NYC, went to Harvard Business School, taught Grad School in Greenwich Village, managed Strategic sales and marketing organizations and retired from Manhattan in 1992. Then onto Upstate where I got into politics and route sales for fifteen years. I retired to Georgia to enjoy the warm climate and cheap living.The StoryMilwaukee is unique among American cities. Throughout the ‘40s, ‘50s, ‘60s and ‘70s, Milwaukee was the quintessential American town, the best place in the world to call home. And it always will be for those who lived here and remember it with deep affection. Viewers of Happy Days and Lavern and Shirley can only imagine how much fun we had! Milwaukee, with a top notch Police Department, School system, Health Department, Public Library and many other social services, a city that grew and prospered under socialist mayors Frank Zeidler and later Henry Maier. Milwaukee was once Beer / Bowling / Polka dance capital of the world. An eclectic blend of a multicultural population and decades of booming economic growth made this city stand apart from the crowd. My dad was from Pewaukee, my mother from Milwaukee, and I was born there in 1937.My Washington Heights neighborhood was lovely: large houses, tree-lined streets, shopping centers and a wonderful Washington park right around the corner which was for us kids our primary hangout. I spent many happy hours in that park – both during the summer and riding my sled down the "hospital hill" in the winter. As a kid, I rode my bicycle up and down the street, but was not allowed to go any farther than a neighbor’s driveway; roller skated, played hopscotch, jump rope, played games of "my car, your car", and "yellow, red, green, blue, fire" on the front stairs, and in the winter made snow angels on the front lawn and at Christmas decorated the front living room window using stencils and Glass Wax. My dad would always drive over to the "East Side" to see how all the expensive houses were decorated at Christmas time and had a huge tree in the living room decorated with ornaments and tinsel. When returning from playing in the snow or ice skating, we would come into a warm house and put our mittens and scarves on the radiator to thaw out. My mother was a wonderful cook and baker, and I miss all of that wonderful food like baked custard rice pudding and homemade bread. Did anyone else ever have canned stewed tomatoes with milk and sugar for dessert? I remember during World War II, the air raids, neighbors and family in the war - my dad drove us to Lake Michigan to watch the boat launchings and German prisoners coming ashore and being sent to prison camp.In the 1950s Milwaukee was like leave it to Beaver country, an innocent city filled up with the simple life and good times. Milwaukee was a unique among American cities and throughout the ‘40s, ‘50s, ‘60s and ‘70s, Milwaukee was the quintessential American town, the best place in the world to call home. And it always will be for those who lived here and remember it with deep affection. Viewers of Happy Days and Lavern and Shirley can only imagine how much fun we had!Milwaukee was a typical Mid-Western City, it was neat and clean, full of parks with lagoons and trees, and huge playgrounds filled with swings and organized activities surrounded every elementary or middle school. Since there were very few apartment buildings, everyone lived in a house and everyone kept their property up. We walked to school or took a city bus, rode our bikes everywhere, spent the week in Washington Park, went on week end camping trips, saw ten-cent movies and bought ten cent comic books. It’s easy enough to see why a lifestyle that embraces cheap beer, hot cars and motorcycles would speak to Milwaukeeans, but there’s also a blue‑collar pragmatism inherent in a lifestyle that between drinks allows participants to hold down a job, raise a kid and maybe even pay down a mortgage. Things were just simpler and easier, back then, the movies were simple and had no fancy special effects. You could tell the difference between a Ford, a Chevy and an Edsel from four blocks away. And you could go to sleep with your doors unlocked. After World War II, there were mile long heavy manufacturing plants and tens of thousands of skilled union jobs available.In 1941, the U.S. was just beginning to come out of the Great Depression. Many were looking forward to better times after a decade of hard times. Then World War II started and Polio became the dirge in Milwaukee. All our mothers forbade us to gather in groups for fear of catching polio -- especially in a pool. When the polio epidemics, which always came in summer, were particularly bad we couldn't even play with other children in our neighborhood. One summer, when several children on the next block died, we were forbidden even to leave our yard to play with the kid next door.That summer a social worker came to each house, I remember, and gave me a coloring book and crayons. Our favorite pastime was listening to the big mahogany console radio that still had bite marks from my teething days on its corner trying to get a clear connection with Edward R. Murrow reporting on the war news from London, hearing President Roosevelt saying, "A date which will live in infamy" - yes, I can remember that! The war affected food at home. The government rationed supplies of staples such as sugar, coffee, meat, fish, butter, eggs and cheese. Planting a Victory Garden was seen as patriotic.World War II … When the United States Navy had their backs against the beaches… MacArthur blundered after Pearl Harbor and thousands of soldiers were taken prisoner in the Philippines. The country’s military was poorly equipped and poorly trained. With outdated equipment like the 1903 Springfield and the Brewster Buffalo. And most gravely, the US Navy was outgunned. The Germans and the Japanese were cruel and killers beyond anything seen in Western history. Ordinary citizens felt they had to enlist to save the nation from something truly horrible direct from the devil. Families changed a lot because the men would leave to go to the war. When your dad is not home you get lonely and frightened because your dad is not there to protect you. Your mama is, but your dad is more secure feeling but everyone knew your mama could protect you no matter what. Also it is scary because your dad could die.The war affected where many worked. Soon after Pearl Harbor, new plants to make bombs, tanks or other materiel were built in rural areas across the nation. Rural residents found new jobs off the farm. New military training bases were built far from the coasts where they might be less vulnerable to attack, sabotage or spying. The war, obviously, affected who lived and died, who married whom, and where people lived. Many men and women married quickly in the early years of the war. Other couples waited. Some soldiers got "Dear John" letters when the woman couldn't wait any longer.Many families made the ultimate sacrifice when their sons, brothers, fathers and husbands were killed during World War II. Others found their loved ones had been forever changed by what they had endured. With World War II, rationing occurred and the tights were on for food, gas and money and that curtailed a lot of our running around until the war ended in 1945. There were scrap (metal) drives, war bond drives and stamps for food or shoes and victory gardens on the home front. Young boys with their wagons and teenagers would go from house-to-house collecting aluminum of any sort or any other metals. The average gasoline ration was 3 gallons a week; the yearly butter ration was 12 lbs. per person 26% less than normal the yearly limit for canned goods 33 lbs., 13 lbs. under usual consumption levels; and people could buy only 3 new pairs of shoes a year. At school, we had "duck and cover" Civil Defense drills, when we ducked under our desks.We saved and re-used all grease from the frying pan and butter was replaced with a tasteless margarine that had to have yellow color mixed into it. We saved tin foil and flattened tin cans for the war effort and of course had a victory garden in the back yard. Small as we were, we were given cardboard sheets showing the silhouettes of different kinds of airplanes so we could identify an enemy plane if it flew overhead. (We never saw one, but we always looked.) Our games included frequent shouts of "Bombs over Tokyo!" We had blackout curtains in all the windows and had to practice air raid drills, when we'd pull the curtains and turn out all the lights in an attempt to make Milwaukee invisible to enemy bombers.One of our neighbors, Jack Karowski, decided to enlist in the Marines after Pearl Harbor. We knew Jack well, he played Bridge at our house every Saturday night along with other neighbors. On his last Saturday night with us, Dad was in the front room when Jack rang the bell – right on time as always. Jack had gotten a letter from his brother who was stationed in Pearl Harbor at the time of the Japanese attack on December 7. Of the four combat ready B-17's that survived the attack, his brother and one other Flying Fortress took off from Hickam Field to search for the Japanese invasion force. His brother was the radio operator in the first one off the ground on what was considered a suicide mission. The plane had been strafed on the ground and the wing tanks were leaking and other hits damaged other vital components. Had they found the flattops, they most likely would have been attacked and shot down while attempting to bomb the fleet. Jack's brother's plane, due to leaking fuel had to head back after three hours in the air, while the other plane swung back to the south searching for seven hours before landing. Jack told us he enlisted in the Marines and would be leaving for Boot Camp soon. My neighbors talked about the war.Everyone knew Hitler was after the Jews. We knew, for example, that the Jews were fleeing Germany and Europe and coming to England or the United States. Choosing to be separated while awaiting passage out of Nazi Germany for their entire family, German Jews placed their children on the kinder transport, a train taking Jewish children to Britain to stay with foster families until Germany becomes safe again. For a short time in 1939, for example trainloads of Jewish children under the age of 17 were sent from Germany to Great Britain for safety.My neighbors were factory workers and all of them were thinking about enlisting. What with the war news, they knew that war is not a game or something to just joke and speak casually about. It was literally hell on earth. Bob Hawkins, a British immigrant, told us about his brother. He was a prisoner of war, and was captured by the Germans in Dunkirk. Bob got a letter from his brother about his march to the prisoner of war camp after he had been captured with the Germans. On his way during the grueling journey, a fellow countrymen fell to the ground no longer able to walk. The Germans not caring about the prisoner’s need for survival unholstered their guns with the intentions to shoot that man on the spot. Bob's brother stepped in the middle of them, and convinced them to allow him to carry the man the remainder of the distance, that distance being three miles. Jack came home on leave. He was dressed in his starched summer Marine uniform and he looked like a recruiting poster and he would soon be off to battle. I knew from that moment that I would enlist too when I grew up. I wanted to wear that proud outfit myself someday. I would have gone down and enlisted right away but there was one big problem standing in my way. I was only eight years old. I never felt so left out in my life. I would just have to wait until I was eighteen to enlist, and that would be in 1955.All the men in the neighborhood were away at war for the first part of my life that I can remember. Mom and dad took my brother and I to the movies on weekends and she would watch the war newsreels to see if anyone she knew was in them. I had a babysitter while mom worked and we made margarine by mixing a little red dot into the margarine. I would help iron small things with a toy iron that she heated on the stove while she ironed the big things. We had to sit in the dark when they had black outs. Mom washed clothes in the tub on a wash board. My mother would cook two cups white rice, add a can of tomatoes and then put two strips of fried bacon on top (from the pigs on her brother's farm in Port Washington) -- that was dinner for two adults and two growing boys. She also made homemade bread, butter, ice cream and cottage cheese.We walked everywhere and the dry cleaners came to your door to pick up clothes. We would go to the local store for my mother to get her cigarettes for 25 cents and there was always one or two baby carriages lined up outside the store with sleeping babies in them. We played all day and came in for meals. Kids did not stay inside the house unless it was winter and even then we'd come in with frozen hands and feet.You worked hard in the 1940s. My mother had a hand-operated wringer washer with an agitator motor and using the agitator as a churn, she used the cream from the top of our - home delivered - milk jugs to make ice cream and butter. Washing clothes on this slow machine was an all-day-chore. There was no television in the 40's and the movies were censored, but they only cost five cents for Saturday matinees. Life was simpler and less complicated "back then." There seemed to me to be a lot more respect for others, especially parents, politicians, and teachers. As kids, we had to work for what we got, but girls were definitely second class citizens.The internal combustion engine begot horseless carriages, putting most horse‑drawn buggy outfits out of business decades ago, but the World War II years brought them back. There was a Rag man who drove through the allies with his horse and wagon, one yelling out "rrragggs" next day "straaaw berrrries.” There was a peddler with his wagon selling vegetables, and the old man with his wagon, who sharpened knives for you, and they were all pulled by horses. In the 1940s we had milk delivered by Sealtest with a horse drawn wagon. The milkman always shared a free bottle of chocolate milk with my brother and me. There were ice delivery trucks where we grabbed slivers of ice grabbed off the back on summer days and sucked on, and horse drawn garbage/ash wagons going down the alleys. My mother made ice cream, cottage cheese and butter from the cream in the milk.There was almost no traffic then, and groups of neighbors would walk together right down the middle of the streets to get free or un rationed loaves of bread and cheese downtown. It was a very long walk for us little kids from 49th and North, but we did it with our mom and neighbors and my little red wagon. There were constant neighborhood drives for collecting old anything made out of steel, paper, rubber, and any kind of thing that could be made into something the troops needed. Air Raid Wardens ran about making sure everyone had lights out at night and people knew we were on a war footing and there were rules that had to be followed. My dad got a deferment for being necessary to the war at home because of his critical job and being too old with a family, but he was much into it what with listening to the news and watching the news reels at the theater. But neighbors and others went and hearing about their being killed was always a heart wrenching tragedy on the home front.During the War, households often bought their annual supply of coal in April, May and June. If more was required, another half ton was taken toward the end of the season. After the war, and during the winter, the coalman came once a month to deliver coal to our house. They would back the coal truck into our driveway and my dad would watch so they didn’t hit the eves of the house. One time they did and my dad had to fix the broken wood. I can always remember my mom saying to the coalman "Mind the washing!" Coal was delivered by big burly men who hauled it from the truck to your basement window in canvas "buckets" they carried on their shoulder.They dumped it onto a metal chute they put in our basement window and the coal went into one of our two "Coal Bins ” and from there we shoveled it into the furnace. The hard coal went into one bin and the soft coal went into the other. We would get 500 pounds and up to a ton of coal at one time. I remember the coal delivery men, coming round the back of the truck, bent under their hundred pound coal bags, as they walked to our coal chute on the side of the house. The coal men were on piece work and had to deliver at least 15 tons of coal a day, all for just a few dollars per week. My father would offer them a cold beer if he was home and they always accepted.Week nights we sat around the radio and listened to all kinds of great stuff from Gun Smoke to the Bob Hope Show. My family had a big floor radio and I grew up with listening to the Grand Old Opry (the show that made country music famous), professional boxing (all of Joe Louis Fights) and "MY PROGRAM; Fibber McGee & Mollie, Lil Abner and the Shadow with the family, on Saturday nights it was Our Hit Parade with Giselle McKenzie, Snookie Lanson, Russell Arms and Dorothy Collins, TV did not quite exist in our neighborhood until the late 50s. Most of the music on AM being pop - quiet and slow but that was our entertainment.Our nightly entertainment consisted of listening to the radio, then playing Canasta or Monopoly until 9:00 P.M. when everyone went to bed. Radio and the movies provided all the outside entertainment we needed. Every night, I would pack my pillow against the living room console radio and lay back to listen to my programs, which included The Shadow, Inner Sanctum, The Long Ranger, Super man and one my favorites, Sherlock Holmes with Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce. Who can forget the famous line, “Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men, the Shadow knows” followed by a hideous laugh, or the creaking door of Inner Sanctum. Other program favorites were Amos and Andy, Jack Benny, Abbott and Costello and the Adventures of Sam Spade. The war news was delivered by the pontificating tones of J. Gabriel Heater and clipped Germanic voice of H.V. Kaltenborn.After the war things settled down and got much better. Any man who worked could afford a house and a car and put food on the table. A man's wage was usually quite sufficient to pay the rent or mortgage and support the family. As a rule, the purchase price of a home was between 4 and 5 times a man's annual wage, and lenders would not accept a home loan application if the repayments exceeded one quarter of the man's income. Add to this the requirement to have a substantial deposit before the loan was even considered and you have the situation where people could manage their commitments on one income, and where lenders requirements ensured that borrowers could afford to meet their commitments. As a result, housing prices were pegged at a more affordable level.I remember the late 40's and sitting in the kitchen while my mom cooked dinner squeezing the bag of margarine with the red dot to make it yellow. Drawing with my crayons and putting my PJ's on before dinner, so I could be read to after dinner. Listening for Santa Claus on the roof on Christmas Eve. Parents always read "The Night Before Christmas" to me and my brother. A swing on a big oak tree in our back yard. The first movie I ever saw was "The Wizard of Oz", and getting a red haired doll for my seventh birthday. We had no TV then. Oh, and my brother and I believed in Santa Claus. On Saturdays, we went to a movies, had a box of popcorn, a drink all for 25 cents, Of course the movie was Roy Rogers and Dale Evens or Hopalong Cassidy westerns. I have fond memories of my parents taking us to the movies on Friday nights and sometimes for a Saturday matinee and my being there by myself with no danger, walking around at night was safe, we had real food and milk in bottles. Life was more interesting without electronics and communication and was limited to your neighborhood not the world.Our basement had my dad’s work shop, a laundry with two wash tubs and shelves for my mother’s canned jars of fruit, a wood stove incinerator and two coal bins with an old iron coal furnace used for heat. In my section of the works shop, my dad had hung a heavy bag and a speed bag for my boxing work outs. Our kitchen had an ice box, a pantry and a milk chute. Later mom got a small green Kelvenator refrigerator. In the laundry, the washing machine had a manual ringer and my mom used the agitator to churn ice cream and butter.My dad made less than $20 per week and my allowance was a whopping 25 cents for cleaning my room, the bathroom, and washing dishes every day, but that went far. My brother and I went every Saturday to the Uptown MovieTheater for the matinee, featuring two films and cartoons. It was cheap, five cent to get in, five cents for popcorn and 10 cents for a 24-oz coke, so 25 cents went a long way on a Saturday afternoon.I remember always being asked “how old are you?” Less than 13 years old was a 5-cent admission, above 12 it was 10 cents. Years later the price was raised to 25 cents, but I stayed 12 for a long time. My early adolescence years were filled with crazy behavior and mischief making. It is a wonder how I survived the stunts I used to pull on a regular basis.Those early years, when I was between the ages of about 8 and 14, was a testimonial to the immortality a youth feels. Just witness the total disregard to life and limb, rules and regulations, parents, and the laws of nature. Those were my immortal days when I was completely reckless, full of adventure, dared to do anything, was very physical, and thought the devil takes the hindmost. I can remember all those days well, so my adventures will make good story telling. Besides, it is too late for the police to be concerned now, so I can be completely honest.In the 40s, things were done on a friendly and neighborly basis. It was like a village, everyone one knew everyone else and their kids and they watched out for one another. You even made friends with the tradesmen, Mom was friends with the milkman who would deliver milk to our milk shoot, the mail man, the rag and knife sharpening man and the coal men. She would take off the milk cap and pour the cream that collected at the top and I would drink it and she'd put it in her coffee. We would walk to the dime store at 35th and North with my red wagon, buy things and put them in the wagon, then stop at the A&P on North Avenue, leave the wagon outside and buy food, and no one touched the wagon!The street lights would go on when there was a storm warning. My phone number began with “Hilltop” and all we had was a party line but no one listened in . . . well, hardly. P.S. There was nothing juicy to say or hear anyway back in the 1940s . . .In the 1950s Detroit was the number one manufacturing city in the USA and Milwaukee was number two. Both cities were wonderful places to race a family and have a good job. Then there was a great migration of Blacks coming from the South fleeing Jim Crow racism and looking for jobs, they came to northern cities like Detroit and 20 years later to Milwaukee. This migration was both good and bad; many blacks did well and some did not. They came uneducated and unskilled and didn't fit well into a European culture; they were discriminated against and many suffered untold evils from whites. Neighborhoods were segregated, sections of town became the Jazz centers of the Midwest, high vulture flourished in both Black and White communities. The northern cities came apart with crime and schools going downhill, then the manufacturing jobs disappeared with technology and the global economy and the Midwest Great American City world changed. Last week, NBC listed Milwaukee as one of "20 cities you don't want to live in." It has high crime and high poverty. My old neighborhood is now the 'Hood' and you can't go to Washington Park safely anymore. Street crime and gangs are rampart.The 1950s were the "Great Americana Era." If one word could describe American society during the 1950s Eisenhower era, it would be "restless." World War II had ended but the world felt far from safe, between the new war in Korea, frightening talk of the Communist menace, and the threat of nuclear war, Americans were tense. We tend to imagine the Fifties as a tranquil decade, but in fact Americans spent the years fighting communism, invigorated by the Civil Rights struggle and searching for those quintessential answers to life. They moved from rural areas to cities and from cities to suburbs. Millions of blacks moved north from the south - it was called the Great Migration. By 1960, a third of the country's population lived in the 'burbs. Family farms were being replaced by corporate farms, many people were content, but many others felt ill at ease because of the speed at which the world was changing.It was an era of soul searching, looking for new ways of coping, Americans embraced religion and visited psychiatrists in unprecedented numbers. Religion made a big resurgence in America. There were really two separate religious revivals. The first was the type of public religion typified by Eisenhower's easy and relaxed 'spiritually' stance. This was a reaction to the "godless" Communism of America's enemies. A different kind of religious impulse, a strict one, motivated the southern evangelical Christians, typified by the Reverend Billy Graham who promoted a traditional type of religion that saw the materialism, hedonism, and secularism of the modern world as evils to be avoided even though his southern world was institutionally racially segregated and suffering violence from the Ku Klux Klan and political establishment fighting racial integration. It seemed the evangelical world spoke with a 'forked tongue.'In the 1950s Detroit was the number one manufacturing city in the USA and Milwaukee was number two. Both cities were wonderful places to race a family and have a good job. Then there was a great migration of Blacks coming from the South fleeing Jim Crow racism and looking for jobs, they came to northern cities like Detroit and 20 years later to Milwaukee. This migration was both good and bad; many blacks did well and some did not. They came uneducated and unskilled and didn't fit well into a European culture; they were discriminated against and many suffered untold evils from whites. Neighborhoods were segregated, sections of town became the Jazz centers of the Midwest, high vulture flourished in both Black and White communities. The northern cities came apart with crime and schools going downhill, then the manufacturing jobs disappeared with robot computerized technology and the global economy and the Midwest Great American City world changed."What I remember most about the 50s were rules. Rules, rules, rules... for everything. Rules about clothes, which clothes you could wear when. Rules about church. Rules about streets. Rules about play. "The dance rules were different. Dance with girls and only hold this hand. We did Ball Room, Lindy, Jitter Bug and the Cha Cha. Dance and music looked like freedom, it was the only freedom we knew. You couldn't stop anything this real - it hit you where you lived. It belonged to the kids and only the kids. It set them apart. It gave them something to believe in. Rock'n' roll was their joy. It was their freedom. It is still so today.I remember taking my bike or the bus wherever I wanted to go. Across the 35th St viaduct to the library or to Mitchell Park. Skating on the lagoon at Mitchell Park in winter, sliding down suicide hill on sleds we dragged the mile up National Avenue, then up the hill – what energy we had then. Went there often in summer to rent a boat and paddle the lagoon. Climbed up the hill over the Menominee valley and I remember a plaque and the remains of a cabin owned by Jacques Veau, early settler of Milwaukee.Milwaukee CowboyAs a teenager, I did deep woods camping and canoeing plus lots of horse back riding with the Explorer Scouts. I had been riding for years, going to stables in and around Milwaukee and renting a horse ride for an hour or two, and had gotten fairly good at sitting a saddle. Occasionally, we would go out for an all-day event, starting early and ending late, which involved a lot of horseback riding and beautiful lake and Pine forest scenery. I had a favorite horse, Cletus, a four year old buckskin gelding! I like Western and could not stand the McClellan Calvary saddles the stable sometimes tried to put on us. Some of my best times growing up are doing things with my friends and my horses. We would spend hours hanging around the barn getting the smell and ambiance of the barn and animals.Starting in 1952, at fifteen years old, I was a Milwaukee Cowboy for one of my best and most interesting teenage exploits, I was Camp Minikani’s Horse Back Riding Instructor, second in command to Ike, a young man of eighteen years old, who was the son of the owner of the ten horses. I also built a horse coral and tack shed made from telephone poles we gathered and split into workable lumber from a near bye highway project. We had ten horses, most were Quarter‑Horses, there was a Paint, an Arabian, a Thoroughbred, and a Draft Belgium we used for the Chuck Wagon. The Arabian was interesting, but was somewhat temperamental and a hard ride, yet it was the fastest horse and everyone wanted to ride him.The Thoroughbred was an old race horse that had seen its prime, but was a good ride and could single foot, that easy gate that didn’t bounce you around like the Trot did. The slow, heavy draft horse class was big, but possessed a quite calm temperament. All our male horses were geldings. We used Cavalry saddles but I had a Western which I preferred to the hard Cavalry with the split down the middle that would aggravate you bottom and was hard on your balls.Riding became something like I knew the backside of my hand. I was developing into an advanced rider and learning more every day. We would saddle up ten horses every morning for a front‑row view of unbridled wilderness on a horseback ride. It’s the ideal way to capture the authentic Western spirit that is still alive and thriving in Wisconsin. Horseback riding here at Camp Minikani can go so far beyond the basic trail ride, although there are plenty of those, too. From one-hour out-and-back trips to overnight pack excursions. We had plenty of special packages, such as canoeing in the morning and riding in the afternoon and watch the sunset in the evening. Or, travel on four hoofs to a remote fishing hole where rainbow trout bite all day long. I took out multiple rides a day and taught a hundred campers a week how to ride with a two-hour or half day ride through lake filled Pine forests and expansive farm land. I had become an experienced guide and was a good cowboy story teller, which help makes a great horseback riding experience. I also took out night rides too for the older campers. One night the Arabian went crazy, took the bit and ran down the highway with a rider who was scared to death, jumped off, and the horse got hit by a car. With his leg broken, he lay there in the road blocking traffic. The State Troopers came and shot him and got a farmer to drag him off the road.Every weekend I took out a large group of riders on a Chuck Wagon outing. I learned quickly that you should learn to walk before running when camping with horse. A horse is like camping with a three-year old child. A horse does not help, does not work, demands constant attention, makes messes and will run away given half a chance and gets into trouble anyway possible. Remember each horse needs at least 5 gallons of drinking water per day, more if hot or ridden hard. Also need water to wash horse, tack. And food: Grain; hay, 1/2 bale per horse per day. Straw if horse is standing on hard surface otherwise horse will urinate on hay. Horse should be in good shape to accomplish the planned riding and be well shod so the Blacksmith over if shoes are needed. Then there is the Tack with extra bridle, girth, cinch, halter, lead rope (hobbles might be great too), day glow strips on halter if horse gets loose. Emergency number for vet and Blacksmith, a pitch fork or shovel for horse apple removal and muck bucket. Use a new muck bucket to water horse and pig feeder for graining a horse.During the 50s teenagers eagerly embraced the mobile culture. They owned cars, I had my first one at sixteen, doubled dated to lakes and parks, cruised the highways, and frequented fast food outlets and drive-in movies. Popular radio disc jockeys like Alan Freed, Murray the K, and Wolfman Jack became, in a way, unlikely authority figures for Fifties youths. There have always been inter-family conflicts between parents and their adolescent children, but this cultural division was larger. A significant proportion of the adult generation disapproved of the values and lifestyle of the teens, and were doing something about it, including setting new rules, restrictions and prohibitions. It was Rock'n Roll music that scared the hell out of adults; it was taboo-shattering music about–gasp–sex and racial commingling. That's why records were burned, censorship laws were passed, and some lives were ruined. The girls had on Poodle Skirts with tight - virginity protecting - girdles underneath. They wanted to show off their curves and be glamorous, so 1950s underwear supported and a young man couldn't get through it to the good stuff.By 1954, my main love affair was with my cars - I started with a 1941 Pontiac Silver Streak, then got a 1948 Studebaker Land Cruiser, and then a 1953 Buick Special - I owned all at the same. In those days you had to become a good mechanic to drive, the junk cars of the time needed constant fixing. I got good with Holly carburetors, mechanical breaks and basic engine repair. One thing you can say about the 1930s and 1940s cars we drove, they were cool. Later, cars began to take on fascination with tail fins and side chrome are reflections of an airplane. My ultimate dream car is a 1955 Chevy convertible in two-tone, preferably green and white (but who am I kidding, any color would do) with white wall tires.Times were so much more tranquil then, people were friendly, things were so much more innocent, there was very little crime and neighborhoods raised children. We didn't have all the technology then, no TV and only radio with Edward R Murrow and Gabriel Heater and JC Kaltenborn interspersed between the Long Ranger and Shadow programs; it made life simpler it seems, which has changed our life today for the better and also made it worse.Milwaukee gave me my first feeling of being part of a community. It made me care about my neighbors, my neighborhood, my community, my city. I trekked by foot, by bike, and mostly by bus, trolley and made the east side, the south side, and downtown all my home town. Milwaukee and I have so much fun together! Brewers and Braves games, Green Bay Packer games, beer gardens, custard and burger joints, endless parks, bike paths, lakes all around, delicious restaurants, bowling, breweries, ethnic festivals, Summerfest, farmers' markets, state fair, etc., etc.It seemed all my friends lived very similar lives. We all went to church, participated in sports, belonged to the Boy Scouts, and bought a car when we were 16. During the summer, we all hung our at the State Fair Grounds in West Allis that had a farmers livestock market and lots of amusement rides. I still remember the big Ferris Wheel and electric cars that we would spend all day riding. The Fair Grounds were not far from the big city Hoyt Park swimming pool that we spent hot summer days to cool off. Not far from the Hoyt Park pool was a city dump that we scavenged for useable throwaways that we converted to our goodies. It was interesting the stuff that peoples would throw out that we found useful. I still have the 18-inch saw tooth nose bill from a Saw Fish someone threw away. Milwaukee had big city parks every few blocks with type recreational activity including a world famous Zoo (Washington Park was 1 and 1/2 blocks from my house). At night, we could hear the lions roar and elephants trumpet. Washington Park was a place you could spend weeks fishing in the lagoons, hiking the wooded trails, listening to music at the Band Shell, or walking around the huge zoo. In the winter, the lagoons were good for ice skating and the hill for sledding, tobogganing and skiing. When I had my Soap Box Derby Racer, my brother and I would ride the hills of Washington Park all day.Cold and winters snows in Milwaukee were a constant thing, and great piles of the white stuff would stay for the entire winter, but lots of snow was great for tobogganing sledding and skiing at Washington Park while farmers brought in their horse drawn sleighs to provide neighborhood transportation for the city folk. Every snow fall left tons of drifts, often more than thirty feet high, especially when the City street snow blowers blew snow onto existing mounds of compacted snow laying about on playgrounds and front yards. We built huge snow forts and connecting tunnels with passageways that led to rooms we used as hiding places. But we never thought about getting a big snow collapse in one of our tunnels that could threaten our lives. Of course, with all the cold weather and snow, winter sports were king in Milwaukee. Skiing, sledding, tobogganing, and ice skating were all our winter play time favorites. And we never minded the cold, they say you get used to it.I remember how hot summers were and there was no air conditioning, just fans if you were lucky. I remember going to the cellar with my mother and her using the ringer type washing machine and I wanted to put the clothes through the ringer. After she had to go upstairs and put the clothes on the clothes line. They smelled good when you took them down.I remember when I was still in high school, Washington, during the summer break either after my junior or senior year, Milwaukee had WRIT and WOKY as the rock AM radio stations. I believe one Friday night while WRIT disc jockey named "King Richard" was on he decided to play Bill Justice's instrumental "Raunchy" He put it on a continuous play, played it for 90 minutes, got in his car, and lead a 300 car parade up and down Wisconsin Ave. There were many arrests made due to cars speeding around side streets to get closer to the lead car.In addition to beer, food, and sports, Milwaukee has culture, architecture and nature. We have the Art Museum on the lake front, other Museums, Symphony, Ballet, we have houses designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and his students, Galleries, Theater, Opera, other great music venues, a Zoo, a beautiful lakefront and a riverbanks full of nature. Milwaukee also has many colleges and universities. We have festivals celebrating almost every culture and season here. Give Milwaukeeans a reason to party and you'll find a keg. Overall, Milwaukee is a place with much grounded people who are willing to tough out the terrible winters for the reward of incredible summers with live music by the lake. People eat a lot of German food, drink beer, and generally stay put because they know they are among other nice, humble people who take care of each other.I made some business trips to Milwaukee in the 80s aand made sure to visit the lake front Summerfest Festival again. .I have been taking trips to Summerfest as long as I can remember. The venue is spacious with multiple music stages spread out amongst the Lake Michigan water front. Summerfest is a massive party, and people come from other states (and countries) to experience it! What with more than 250 bands and hundreds of thousands of people attending, It's the biggest music festival in the USA. There are 8 major "side stages" plus the Amphitheatre where the big headliners perform, and several small platforms scattered along the lagoon and other areas for smaller musical acts. You can get beer, wine, and cocktails. You can get pizza, tacos, BBQ, and lots of other popular food items, like Saz's combo of cheese curds, mozz sticks and sour cream and chive fries.My last night in Milwaukee, I wanted to have a drink. Unlike many other poor minority neighborhoods across the country, Milwaukee is filled with locally owned corner bars on every block. Some white friends told me to be careful running around Milwaukee, there are some black neighborhoods where you can get shot. There indeed the neighborhoods were people get shot, and sometimes it is by the police but it is the black residents themselves who do the shootings murdering each other. A few blocks before the corner bar I was headed for, I ran into an older black man walking into the same bar I was going to. We talked for an hour about his life, the neighborhood and racism. When I ask him about all the ongoing frustrations in his neighborhood, he looks grim and said "Black neighborhoods are filled with residents who have long been demeaned, humiliated, and denied equal civil rights and opportunities. They are people who are just trying to get by, and who desire what anyone else wants: to work a decent job, and a chance for dignity. And as my daddy always said, "‘What is going to happen if you only give nine bones to 10 dogs?'”By the 1990s NBC listed Milwaukee as one of "20 cities you don't want to live in." It has high crime and high poverty. My old neighborhood is now the 'Hood' and you can't go to Washington Park safely anymore. Street crime and gangs are rampart.But there are still many good neighborhoods. especially the downtown area by the Milwaukee River and Lake front which has turned into a Fortune 500 headquarters scene. And on the flip side of the bad news, in 2010, Milwaukee was rated America's second-most "relaxed" city by Forbes Magazine. Forbes which stated that Milwaukee was a city that allowed residents to easily obtain a healthy balance between work and life. "Our quality of life here is amazing. We have incredibly talented, nationally-recognized, performing arts groups and diverse, world-class attractions that appeal to any age or interest.”Milwaukee is a lovely city with great German influence. Seriously. At least 1/3 of Milwaukeeans have one German ancestor. The winters are cold and brutal, and the summers can be boiling. Sometimes, you will see all four seasons in one week. The people are almost always kind and willing to help.Universities are everywhere! Marquette University is private and blocks from downtown. UW-Milwaukee is on the lower east side while MSOE is our well kept secret and a gem if you can handle trimesters. Alverno College and MATC round out the many students in both undergraduate and graduate studies. Summerfest is still the world’s largest music festival going on its 51st year. MKE summers are filled non-stop with parties and music downtown and in all the neighborhoods with ethnic food everywhere.Milwaukee EpilogueMilwaukee has so many memories for me: I remember riding downtown with my mother on the bus. My favorite place to go was Gimbel's, they were always busy! They had the huge (it seemed to me) deli and bakery departments. I loved the large lunch counter on the first floor - we always had to wait in line. They had the best hot dogs on an unusual split hamburger bun. But Gimbels was the best right before Christmas. The huge windows outside were all filled with the greatest displays of elves, Santas, reindeers, etc. They were even better than the window of the movie "A Christmas Story"! The toy department had a room off to the side with Santa and a toy village. Does anyone remember the Christmas train that rode on a track on the ceiling? I only got to ride it once or twice, but it was really different! The large restaurant on the 8th floor was always special, too, and always very busy. We ate in a room that overlooked the river. I loved the old fashioned elevators with the operator that had to stop it at just the right level. When I was a Girl Scout, we went to Gimbels and saw where they made their chocolates. I remember watching a lady making each piece of chocolate by hand. We would also go to Boston Store and that was fun, too. The block west of Boston Store had a really neat Chinese store that always smelled so good and had the most interesting gifts. My mom would let me get a box of the rice candy where you could eat the paper around the candy!What young Milwaukeean did not get his first taste of brown mustard on a County Stadium hotdog sold by a vendor? Was there any better peach ice cream than that sold by Sealtest run by the Luick Dairy on Capitol Drive? Was there any better bottled root beer than Grandpa Graf's Creamy Top? Was there any better cookie than the Twilight Dessert made by Robert A. Johnston? Were there any better candy bars than Ziegler's Giant Bar or Sperry Candy's Denver Sandwich or Chicken Dinner? Was there any better hamburger than the one you could get at the Butter Bun on Wisconsin Avenue? And how about that almost sweet aroma emanating from the Red Star Yeast plant? Or the nose-holding stench coming from the Pfister Vogel tannery or the Milwaukee Road Shops in the Valley? Or the unforgettable odor of the Monkey House at the Washington Park Zoo? Or the sound of a bat hitting a hardball at the Eddie Matthews Bat-a-Way on South 27th?But Milwaukee has changed for the worse - It’s Armageddon in North Milwaukee. It is mostly all black and is the heavy crime area in Milwaukee. There are plenty of checks cashing stores, steak'n potatoes restaurants, wigs'n rims stores and cell phone stores, No traffic regulation, choose your own speed limit, stop lights optional, plenty of fireworks from cops and gangs. And where else can you see tumble weaves in the wild?Mugging, street crime and drugs prevail here. If you are white, stay out of the area. Forced entry into the building and break-ins to the cars in the underground parking with the thieves assaulting an elderly resident who walked in on them, setting fires in the garbage chute, and smearing feces in the laundry room—and this was in an OWNER-occupied condo building! In the five years since I’ve left town, the crime rate has overwhelmingly risen. I refuse to drive through any part of Milwaukee. People are driving while high, random shootings from cars, car-jacking, purse snatching, physical assault.Milwaukee, once a top-rated city in the U.S., with a top notch Police Department, School system, Health Department, Public Library and many other social services-a city that grew and prospered under socialist majors Frank Zeidler and later Henry Maier. Located on the shores of Lake Michigan, my home town Milwaukee is perhaps best known for its famous breweries, Harley Davidson motorcycles, and the Major League Brewers, but there's more to the city than beer and baseball.True love lasts forever, but I will not live in Milwaukee after entering the Navy. I might travel the world but I won't stop singing Milwaukee's praises and I will always stand up for Milwaukee. The lakefront, the people, the entertainment, the beer, the cheese, the restaurants. Yup I think Milwaukee rocks and I'll love it forever, no matter where I live. Most of all, I hope you remember me. I hope your streets breathe me in me at night. I hope you remember my footsteps on your sidewalks and in your hallways. I hope you remember my laughter and my tears, and remember my growing pains as I sauntered through your memories of me.To be real with you, the city now has real racial issues. The public schools for the most part are terrible unless you live in a wealthy suburb. Today, Milwaukee is 67% black and one of the most violent cities in America. Everyday the news is filled with the violence that takes place in this crime infested city. Little kids get shot and killed on a daily basis. Car jacking and accidents from car jackers occurs everyday. Assaults, robberies, house break ins, people getting murdered in their homes. On the flip side, in 2010, Milwaukee's white suburbs were rated America's second-most "relaxed" cities by Forbes Magazine. Forbes stated that Milwaukee was a city that allowed residents to easily obtain a healthy balance between work and life. The city offers financially accessible cultural and artistic opportunities that are also high quality. More than many other places in the Americas, I feel it's pretty easy and safe to get around Milwaukee by foot, bike and public transportation. The cost of living is pretty low.There is a growing division between educated professionals and blue collar wage. If you don't have forklift experience or at least a class C CDL, you're not likely to make a living wage here as blue collar. I'm seeing more and more jobs that require mandatory overtime and the ability to life 50 or more pounds on a regular basis and only pay $7.25/hour, maybe $9 if you're lucky.Where to Live - If you’re white, places like White Fish bay, downtown (towards east side), East side, Wauwatosa, Menomonee Falls, Third Ward and a couple of other places to name a few, are all areas that are pretty safe. This are mostly White areas, you may want to avoid West Allis, as it can be pretty rough even for a White neighborhood.If you’re black, Brown Deer and upper North side are pretty safe neighborhoods. You want to avoid places between say about 10th - 60th streets in some neighborhoods as they can be quite intimidating. This is the area where most black crimes happen so you’ll need to be extra cautious. Not to say that it isn’t safe to go about your business after dark in this neighborhoods. Actually you’ll pretty much be fine if you’re not white and look rich.If you’re Hispanic, the south side is where a lot of the Hispanic live. I’m not too sure of exactly where isn’t safe in these parts but am sure there are pockets of places you would want to avoid. So if you don’t look out of place you should be fine. If you’re Arab, south of Layton Ave I believe is where a few of the Arab communities are, this is a relatively safe area as the Arabs are under a lot of scrutiny. Not a lot of violence happens hear, or at least it isn’t rampant. Again don’t look out of place and you should be fine.Because of the dynamic of the city, it is best to stay in neighborhoods that have people like you, it will provide good cover for you to go about your business. Milwaukee has had long history of segregation, most of the agitations you hear in the news are a result of this. There is inequality of resources and as such, certain parts a more developed than others, certain neighborhoods have below par education and social-economic standards. I would say Downtown Milwaukee is getting a face lift which can maybe create neighborhoods that are less segregated, and help improve resource sharing as long as all communities can benefit from the development. Let me know if you have any further questions and I’ll be happy to respond.Money Magazine says the best places to live in America are in the Milwaukee suburbs, citing the good quality of life, low crime, a wonderful setting, quiet, right along the Lake Michigan shores. They have excellent school districts and are very comfortable communities.

Missing MilwaukeeIntroductionI was raised in Milwaukee on the north side in the Washington Heights section , went to HiMount Elementary, Stueben JR High and Washington HS. Besides working since I was eleven, I was engaged in reading books, writing, story telling, had ten horses, baseball and football, fighting and scouting. I camped and canoed all over Wisconsin and was an Explorer and finally an Eagle Scout. I had my first car at sixteen, became a mechanic so I could ride, got into martial arts, went to many dances every month, loved Do op and Rock’n roll and was a deep woods explorer. In 1954 my Dad got a plant engineer job with Line material in South Milwaukee and the family moved there on Fairfield Avenue. I finished my Senior year at South Milwaukee HS and graduated in January 1955 as the only student since I was a mid year student from Washington HS. I never took study halls and took extra history, science and math courses for four years and had 45 credits when only 32 was required for graduation. I had the highest SAT and tested as a college graduate in history, reading and comprehension. My dad was a golf fanatic and played in Grant Park, even in the winter when he painted his golf balls black. I got a job at the A&P, made lots of friends, after HS graduation got an additional job at the Wisconsin Telephone Co and worked 80 hours a week. The love of adventure got me and I joined the Navy in May of 1955 and went to seek my glory on the high seas riding a WW II Destroyer. I got into weapons and became the Leading Petty Officer of Fox Division, went to work for IBM, spent three years in various man frame schools, became an Engineer and Technology instructor, lived and worked in NYC, went to Harvard Business School, taught Grad School in Greenwich Village, managed Strategic sales and marketing organizations and retired from Manhattan in 1992. Then onto Upstate where I got into politics and route sales for fifteen years. I retired to Georgia to enjoy the warm climate and cheap living.The StoryMilwaukee is unique among American cities. Throughout the ‘40s, ‘50s, ‘60s and ‘70s, Milwaukee was the quintessential American town, the best place in the world to call home. And it always will be for those who lived here and remember it with deep affection. Viewers of Happy Days and Lavern and Shirley can only imagine how much fun we had! Milwaukee, with a top notch Police Department, School system, Health Department, Public Library and many other social services, a city that grew and prospered under socialist mayors Frank Zeidler and later Henry Maier. Milwaukee was once Beer / Bowling / Polka dance capital of the world. An eclectic blend of a multicultural population and decades of booming economic growth made this city stand apart from the crowd. My dad was from Pewaukee, my mother from Milwaukee, and I was born there in 1937.My Washington Heights neighborhood was lovely: large houses, tree-lined streets, shopping centers and a wonderful Washington park right around the corner which was for us kids our primary hangout. I spent many happy hours in that park – both during the summer and riding my sled down the "hospital hill" in the winter. As a kid, I rode my bicycle up and down the street, but was not allowed to go any farther than a neighbor’s driveway; roller skated, played hopscotch, jump rope, played games of "my car, your car", and "yellow, red, green, blue, fire" on the front stairs, and in the winter made snow angels on the front lawn and at Christmas decorated the front living room window using stencils and Glass Wax. My dad would always drive over to the "East Side" to see how all the expensive houses were decorated at Christmas time and had a huge tree in the living room decorated with ornaments and tinsel. When returning from playing in the snow or ice skating, we would come into a warm house and put our mittens and scarves on the radiator to thaw out. My mother was a wonderful cook and baker, and I miss all of that wonderful food like baked custard rice pudding and homemade bread. Did anyone else ever have canned stewed tomatoes with milk and sugar for dessert? I remember during World War II, the air raids, neighbors and family in the war - my dad drove us to Lake Michigan to watch the boat launchings and German prisoners coming ashore and being sent to prison camp.In the 1950s Milwaukee was like leave it to Beaver country, an innocent city filled up with the simple life and good times. Milwaukee was a unique among American cities and throughout the ‘40s, ‘50s, ‘60s and ‘70s, Milwaukee was the quintessential American town, the best place in the world to call home. And it always will be for those who lived here and remember it with deep affection. Viewers of Happy Days and Lavern and Shirley can only imagine how much fun we had!Milwaukee was a typical Mid-Western City, it was neat and clean, full of parks with lagoons and trees, and huge playgrounds filled with swings and organized activities surrounded every elementary or middle school. Since there were very few apartment buildings, everyone lived in a house and everyone kept their property up. We walked to school or took a city bus, rode our bikes everywhere, spent the week in Washington Park, went on week end camping trips, saw ten-cent movies and bought ten cent comic books. It’s easy enough to see why a lifestyle that embraces cheap beer, hot cars and motorcycles would speak to Milwaukeeans, but there’s also a blue‑collar pragmatism inherent in a lifestyle that between drinks allows participants to hold down a job, raise a kid and maybe even pay down a mortgage. Things were just simpler and easier, back then, the movies were simple and had no fancy special effects. You could tell the difference between a Ford, a Chevy and an Edsel from four blocks away. And you could go to sleep with your doors unlocked. After World War II, there were mile long heavy manufacturing plants and tens of thousands of skilled union jobs available.In 1941, the U.S. was just beginning to come out of the Great Depression. Many were looking forward to better times after a decade of hard times. Then World War II started and Polio became the dirge in Milwaukee. All our mothers forbade us to gather in groups for fear of catching polio -- especially in a pool. When the polio epidemics, which always came in summer, were particularly bad we couldn't even play with other children in our neighborhood. One summer, when several children on the next block died, we were forbidden even to leave our yard to play with the kid next door.That summer a social worker came to each house, I remember, and gave me a coloring book and crayons. Our favorite pastime was listening to the big mahogany console radio that still had bite marks from my teething days on its corner trying to get a clear connection with Edward R. Murrow reporting on the war news from London, hearing President Roosevelt saying, "A date which will live in infamy" - yes, I can remember that! The war affected food at home. The government rationed supplies of staples such as sugar, coffee, meat, fish, butter, eggs and cheese. Planting a Victory Garden was seen as patriotic.World War II … When the United States Navy had their backs against the beaches… MacArthur blundered after Pearl Harbor and thousands of soldiers were taken prisoner in the Philippines. The country’s military was poorly equipped and poorly trained. With outdated equipment like the 1903 Springfield and the Brewster Buffalo. And most gravely, the US Navy was outgunned. The Germans and the Japanese were cruel and killers beyond anything seen in Western history. Ordinary citizens felt they had to enlist to save the nation from something truly horrible direct from the devil. Families changed a lot because the men would leave to go to the war. When your dad is not home you get lonely and frightened because your dad is not there to protect you. Your mama is, but your dad is more secure feeling but everyone knew your mama could protect you no matter what. Also it is scary because your dad could die.The war affected where many worked. Soon after Pearl Harbor, new plants to make bombs, tanks or other materiel were built in rural areas across the nation. Rural residents found new jobs off the farm. New military training bases were built far from the coasts where they might be less vulnerable to attack, sabotage or spying. The war, obviously, affected who lived and died, who married whom, and where people lived. Many men and women married quickly in the early years of the war. Other couples waited. Some soldiers got "Dear John" letters when the woman couldn't wait any longer.Many families made the ultimate sacrifice when their sons, brothers, fathers and husbands were killed during World War II. Others found their loved ones had been forever changed by what they had endured. With World War II, rationing occurred and the tights were on for food, gas and money and that curtailed a lot of our running around until the war ended in 1945. There were scrap (metal) drives, war bond drives and stamps for food or shoes and victory gardens on the home front. Young boys with their wagons and teenagers would go from house-to-house collecting aluminum of any sort or any other metals. The average gasoline ration was 3 gallons a week; the yearly butter ration was 12 lbs. per person 26% less than normal the yearly limit for canned goods 33 lbs., 13 lbs. under usual consumption levels; and people could buy only 3 new pairs of shoes a year. At school, we had "duck and cover" Civil Defense drills, when we ducked under our desks.We saved and re-used all grease from the frying pan and butter was replaced with a tasteless margarine that had to have yellow color mixed into it. We saved tin foil and flattened tin cans for the war effort and of course had a victory garden in the back yard. Small as we were, we were given cardboard sheets showing the silhouettes of different kinds of airplanes so we could identify an enemy plane if it flew overhead. (We never saw one, but we always looked.) Our games included frequent shouts of "Bombs over Tokyo!" We had blackout curtains in all the windows and had to practice air raid drills, when we'd pull the curtains and turn out all the lights in an attempt to make Milwaukee invisible to enemy bombers.One of our neighbors, Jack Karowski, decided to enlist in the Marines after Pearl Harbor. We knew Jack well, he played Bridge at our house every Saturday night along with other neighbors. On his last Saturday night with us, Dad was in the front room when Jack rang the bell – right on time as always. Jack had gotten a letter from his brother who was stationed in Pearl Harbor at the time of the Japanese attack on December 7. Of the four combat ready B-17's that survived the attack, his brother and one other Flying Fortress took off from Hickam Field to search for the Japanese invasion force. His brother was the radio operator in the first one off the ground on what was considered a suicide mission. The plane had been strafed on the ground and the wing tanks were leaking and other hits damaged other vital components. Had they found the flattops, they most likely would have been attacked and shot down while attempting to bomb the fleet. Jack's brother's plane, due to leaking fuel had to head back after three hours in the air, while the other plane swung back to the south searching for seven hours before landing. Jack told us he enlisted in the Marines and would be leaving for Boot Camp soon. My neighbors talked about the war.Everyone knew Hitler was after the Jews. We knew, for example, that the Jews were fleeing Germany and Europe and coming to England or the United States. Choosing to be separated while awaiting passage out of Nazi Germany for their entire family, German Jews placed their children on the kinder transport, a train taking Jewish children to Britain to stay with foster families until Germany becomes safe again. For a short time in 1939, for example trainloads of Jewish children under the age of 17 were sent from Germany to Great Britain for safety.My neighbors were factory workers and all of them were thinking about enlisting. What with the war news, they knew that war is not a game or something to just joke and speak casually about. It was literally hell on earth. Bob Hawkins, a British immigrant, told us about his brother. He was a prisoner of war, and was captured by the Germans in Dunkirk. Bob got a letter from his brother about his march to the prisoner of war camp after he had been captured with the Germans. On his way during the grueling journey, a fellow countrymen fell to the ground no longer able to walk. The Germans not caring about the prisoner’s need for survival unholstered their guns with the intentions to shoot that man on the spot. Bob's brother stepped in the middle of them, and convinced them to allow him to carry the man the remainder of the distance, that distance being three miles. Jack came home on leave. He was dressed in his starched summer Marine uniform and he looked like a recruiting poster and he would soon be off to battle. I knew from that moment that I would enlist too when I grew up. I wanted to wear that proud outfit myself someday. I would have gone down and enlisted right away but there was one big problem standing in my way. I was only eight years old. I never felt so left out in my life. I would just have to wait until I was eighteen to enlist, and that would be in 1955.All the men in the neighborhood were away at war for the first part of my life that I can remember. Mom and dad took my brother and I to the movies on weekends and she would watch the war newsreels to see if anyone she knew was in them. I had a babysitter while mom worked and we made margarine by mixing a little red dot into the margarine. I would help iron small things with a toy iron that she heated on the stove while she ironed the big things. We had to sit in the dark when they had black outs. Mom washed clothes in the tub on a wash board. My mother would cook two cups white rice, add a can of tomatoes and then put two strips of fried bacon on top (from the pigs on her brother's farm in Port Washington) -- that was dinner for two adults and two growing boys. She also made homemade bread, butter, ice cream and cottage cheese.We walked everywhere and the dry cleaners came to your door to pick up clothes. We would go to the local store for my mother to get her cigarettes for 25 cents and there was always one or two baby carriages lined up outside the store with sleeping babies in them. We played all day and came in for meals. Kids did not stay inside the house unless it was winter and even then we'd come in with frozen hands and feet.You worked hard in the 1940s. My mother had a hand-operated wringer washer with an agitator motor and using the agitator as a churn, she used the cream from the top of our - home delivered - milk jugs to make ice cream and butter. Washing clothes on this slow machine was an all-day-chore. There was no television in the 40's and the movies were censored, but they only cost five cents for Saturday matinees. Life was simpler and less complicated "back then." There seemed to me to be a lot more respect for others, especially parents, politicians, and teachers. As kids, we had to work for what we got, but girls were definitely second class citizens.The internal combustion engine begot horseless carriages, putting most horse‑drawn buggy outfits out of business decades ago, but the World War II years brought them back. There was a Rag man who drove through the allies with his horse and wagon, one yelling out "rrragggs" next day "straaaw berrrries.” There was a peddler with his wagon selling vegetables, and the old man with his wagon, who sharpened knives for you, and they were all pulled by horses. In the 1940s we had milk delivered by Sealtest with a horse drawn wagon. The milkman always shared a free bottle of chocolate milk with my brother and me. There were ice delivery trucks where we grabbed slivers of ice grabbed off the back on summer days and sucked on, and horse drawn garbage/ash wagons going down the alleys. My mother made ice cream, cottage cheese and butter from the cream in the milk.There was almost no traffic then, and groups of neighbors would walk together right down the middle of the streets to get free or un rationed loaves of bread and cheese downtown. It was a very long walk for us little kids from 49th and North, but we did it with our mom and neighbors and my little red wagon. There were constant neighborhood drives for collecting old anything made out of steel, paper, rubber, and any kind of thing that could be made into something the troops needed. Air Raid Wardens ran about making sure everyone had lights out at night and people knew we were on a war footing and there were rules that had to be followed. My dad got a deferment for being necessary to the war at home because of his critical job and being too old with a family, but he was much into it what with listening to the news and watching the news reels at the theater. But neighbors and others went and hearing about their being killed was always a heart wrenching tragedy on the home front.During the War, households often bought their annual supply of coal in April, May and June. If more was required, another half ton was taken toward the end of the season. After the war, and during the winter, the coalman came once a month to deliver coal to our house. They would back the coal truck into our driveway and my dad would watch so they didn’t hit the eves of the house. One time they did and my dad had to fix the broken wood. I can always remember my mom saying to the coalman "Mind the washing!" Coal was delivered by big burly men who hauled it from the truck to your basement window in canvas "buckets" they carried on their shoulder.They dumped it onto a metal chute they put in our basement window and the coal went into one of our two "Coal Bins ” and from there we shoveled it into the furnace. The hard coal went into one bin and the soft coal went into the other. We would get 500 pounds and up to a ton of coal at one time. I remember the coal delivery men, coming round the back of the truck, bent under their hundred pound coal bags, as they walked to our coal chute on the side of the house. The coal men were on piece work and had to deliver at least 15 tons of coal a day, all for just a few dollars per week. My father would offer them a cold beer if he was home and they always accepted.Week nights we sat around the radio and listened to all kinds of great stuff from Gun Smoke to the Bob Hope Show. My family had a big floor radio and I grew up with listening to the Grand Old Opry (the show that made country music famous), professional boxing (all of Joe Louis Fights) and "MY PROGRAM; Fibber McGee & Mollie, Lil Abner and the Shadow with the family, on Saturday nights it was Our Hit Parade with Giselle McKenzie, Snookie Lanson, Russell Arms and Dorothy Collins, TV did not quite exist in our neighborhood until the late 50s. Most of the music on AM being pop - quiet and slow but that was our entertainment.Our nightly entertainment consisted of listening to the radio, then playing Canasta or Monopoly until 9:00 P.M. when everyone went to bed. Radio and the movies provided all the outside entertainment we needed. Every night, I would pack my pillow against the living room console radio and lay back to listen to my programs, which included The Shadow, Inner Sanctum, The Long Ranger, Super man and one my favorites, Sherlock Holmes with Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce. Who can forget the famous line, “Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men, the Shadow knows” followed by a hideous laugh, or the creaking door of Inner Sanctum. Other program favorites were Amos and Andy, Jack Benny, Abbott and Costello and the Adventures of Sam Spade. The war news was delivered by the pontificating tones of J. Gabriel Heater and clipped Germanic voice of H.V. Kaltenborn.After the war things settled down and got much better. Any man who worked could afford a house and a car and put food on the table. A man's wage was usually quite sufficient to pay the rent or mortgage and support the family. As a rule, the purchase price of a home was between 4 and 5 times a man's annual wage, and lenders would not accept a home loan application if the repayments exceeded one quarter of the man's income. Add to this the requirement to have a substantial deposit before the loan was even considered and you have the situation where people could manage their commitments on one income, and where lenders requirements ensured that borrowers could afford to meet their commitments. As a result, housing prices were pegged at a more affordable level.I remember the late 40's and sitting in the kitchen while my mom cooked dinner squeezing the bag of margarine with the red dot to make it yellow. Drawing with my crayons and putting my PJ's on before dinner, so I could be read to after dinner. Listening for Santa Claus on the roof on Christmas Eve. Parents always read "The Night Before Christmas" to me and my brother. A swing on a big oak tree in our back yard. The first movie I ever saw was "The Wizard of Oz", and getting a red haired doll for my seventh birthday. We had no TV then. Oh, and my brother and I believed in Santa Claus. On Saturdays, we went to a movies, had a box of popcorn, a drink all for 25 cents, Of course the movie was Roy Rogers and Dale Evens or Hopalong Cassidy westerns. I have fond memories of my parents taking us to the movies on Friday nights and sometimes for a Saturday matinee and my being there by myself with no danger, walking around at night was safe, we had real food and milk in bottles. Life was more interesting without electronics and communication and was limited to your neighborhood not the world.Our basement had my dad’s work shop, a laundry with two wash tubs and shelves for my mother’s canned jars of fruit, a wood stove incinerator and two coal bins with an old iron coal furnace used for heat. In my section of the works shop, my dad had hung a heavy bag and a speed bag for my boxing work outs. Our kitchen had an ice box, a pantry and a milk chute. Later mom got a small green Kelvenator refrigerator. In the laundry, the washing machine had a manual ringer and my mom used the agitator to churn ice cream and butter.My dad made less than $20 per week and my allowance was a whopping 25 cents for cleaning my room, the bathroom, and washing dishes every day, but that went far. My brother and I went every Saturday to the Uptown MovieTheater for the matinee, featuring two films and cartoons. It was cheap, five cent to get in, five cents for popcorn and 10 cents for a 24-oz coke, so 25 cents went a long way on a Saturday afternoon.I remember always being asked “how old are you?” Less than 13 years old was a 5-cent admission, above 12 it was 10 cents. Years later the price was raised to 25 cents, but I stayed 12 for a long time. My early adolescence years were filled with crazy behavior and mischief making. It is a wonder how I survived the stunts I used to pull on a regular basis.Those early years, when I was between the ages of about 8 and 14, was a testimonial to the immortality a youth feels. Just witness the total disregard to life and limb, rules and regulations, parents, and the laws of nature. Those were my immortal days when I was completely reckless, full of adventure, dared to do anything, was very physical, and thought the devil takes the hindmost. I can remember all those days well, so my adventures will make good story telling. Besides, it is too late for the police to be concerned now, so I can be completely honest.In the 40s, things were done on a friendly and neighborly basis. It was like a village, everyone one knew everyone else and their kids and they watched out for one another. You even made friends with the tradesmen, Mom was friends with the milkman who would deliver milk to our milk shoot, the mail man, the rag and knife sharpening man and the coal men. She would take off the milk cap and pour the cream that collected at the top and I would drink it and she'd put it in her coffee. We would walk to the dime store at 35th and North with my red wagon, buy things and put them in the wagon, then stop at the A&P on North Avenue, leave the wagon outside and buy food, and no one touched the wagon! The street lights would go on when there was a storm warning. My phone number began with “Hilltop” and all we had was a party line but no one listened in . . . well, hardly. P.S. There was nothing juicy to say or hear anyway back in the 1940s . . .In the 1950s Detroit was the number one manufacturing city in the USA and Milwaukee was number two. Both cities were wonderful places to race a family and have a good job. Then there was a great migration of Blacks coming from the South fleeing Jim Crow racism and looking for jobs, they came to northern cities like Detroit and 20 years later to Milwaukee. This migration was both good and bad; many blacks did well and some did not. They came uneducated and unskilled and didn't fit well into a European culture; they were discriminated against and many suffered untold evils from whites. Neighborhoods were segregated, sections of town became the Jazz centers of the Midwest, high vulture flourished in both Black and White communities. The northern cities came apart with crime and schools going downhill, then the manufacturing jobs disappeared with technology and the global economy and the Midwest Great American City world changed. Last week, NBC listed Milwaukee as one of "20 cities you don't want to live in." It has high crime and high poverty. My old neighborhood is now the 'Hood' and you can't go to Washington Park safely anymore. Street crime and gangs are rampart.The 1950s were the "Great Americana Era." If one word could describe American society during the 1950s Eisenhower era, it would be "restless." World War II had ended but the world felt far from safe, between the new war in Korea, frightening talk of the Communist menace, and the threat of nuclear war, Americans were tense. We tend to imagine the Fifties as a tranquil decade, but in fact Americans spent the years fighting communism, invigorated by the Civil Rights struggle and searching for those quintessential answers to life. They moved from rural areas to cities and from cities to suburbs. Millions of blacks moved north from the south - it was called the Great Migration. By 1960, a third of the country's population lived in the 'burbs. Family farms were being replaced by corporate farms, many people were content, but many others felt ill at ease because of the speed at which the world was changing.It was an era of soul searching, looking for new ways of coping, Americans embraced religion and visited psychiatrists in unprecedented numbers. Religion made a big resurgence in America. There were really two separate religious revivals. The first was the type of public religion typified by Eisenhower's easy and relaxed 'spiritually' stance. This was a reaction to the "godless" Communism of America's enemies. A different kind of religious impulse, a strict one, motivated the southern evangelical Christians, typified by the Reverend Billy Graham who promoted a traditional type of religion that saw the materialism, hedonism, and secularism of the modern world as evils to be avoided even though his southern world was institutionally racially segregated and suffering violence from the Ku Klux Klan and political establishment fighting racial integration. It seemed the evangelical world spoke with a 'forked tongue.'In the 1950s Detroit was the number one manufacturing city in the USA and Milwaukee was number two. Both cities were wonderful places to race a family and have a good job. Then there was a great migration of Blacks coming from the South fleeing Jim Crow racism and looking for jobs, they came to northern cities like Detroit and 20 years later to Milwaukee. This migration was both good and bad; many blacks did well and some did not. They came uneducated and unskilled and didn't fit well into a European culture; they were discriminated against and many suffered untold evils from whites. Neighborhoods were segregated, sections of town became the Jazz centers of the Midwest, high vulture flourished in both Black and White communities. The northern cities came apart with crime and schools going downhill, then the manufacturing jobs disappeared with robot computerized technology and the global economy and the Midwest Great American City world changed."What I remember most about the 50s were rules. Rules, rules, rules... for everything. Rules about clothes, which clothes you could wear when. Rules about church. Rules about streets. Rules about play. "The dance rules were different. Dance with girls and only hold this hand. We did Ball Room, Lindy, Jitter Bug and the Cha Cha. Dance and music looked like freedom, it was the only freedom we knew. You couldn't stop anything this real - it hit you where you lived. It belonged to the kids and only the kids. It set them apart. It gave them something to believe in. Rock'n' roll was their joy. It was their freedom. It is still so today.Milwaukee CowboyAs a teenager, I did deep woods camping and canoeing plus lots of horse back riding with the Explorer Scouts. I had been riding for years, going to stables in and around Milwaukee and renting a horse ride for an hour or two, and had gotten fairly good at sitting a saddle. Occasionally, we would go out for an all-day event, starting early and ending late, which involved a lot of horseback riding and beautiful lake and Pine forest scenery. I had a favorite horse, Cletus, a four year old buckskin gelding! I like Western and could not stand the McClellan Calvary saddles the stable sometimes tried to put on us. Some of my best times growing up are doing things with my friends and my horses. We would spend hours hanging around the barn getting the smell and ambiance of the barn and animals.Starting in 1952, at fifteen years old, I was a Milwaukee Cowboy for one of my best and most interesting teenage exploits, I was Camp Minikani’s Horse Back Riding Instructor, second in command to Ike, a young man of eighteen years old, who was the son of the owner of the ten horses. I also built a horse coral and tack shed made from telephone poles we gathered and split into workable lumber from a near bye highway project. We had ten horses, most were Quarter‑Horses, there was a Paint, an Arabian, a Thoroughbred, and a Draft Belgium we used for the Chuck Wagon. The Arabian was interesting, but was somewhat temperamental and a hard ride, yet it was the fastest horse and everyone wanted to ride him. The Thoroughbred was an old race horse that had seen its prime, but was a good ride and could single foot, that easy gate that didn’t bounce you around like the Trot did. The slow, heavy draft horse class was big, but possessed a quite calm temperament. All our male horses were geldings. We used Cavalry saddles but I had a Western which I preferred to the hard Cavalry with the split down the middle that would aggravate you bottom and was hard on your balls.Riding became something like I knew the backside of my hand. I was developing into an advanced rider and learning more every day. We would saddle up ten horses every morning for a front‑row view of unbridled wilderness on a horseback ride. It’s the ideal way to capture the authentic Western spirit that is still alive and thriving in Wisconsin. Horseback riding here at Camp Minikani can go so far beyond the basic trail ride, although there are plenty of those, too. From one-hour out-and-back trips to overnight pack excursions. We had plenty of special packages, such as canoeing in the morning and riding in the afternoon and watch the sunset in the evening. Or, travel on four hoofs to a remote fishing hole where rainbow trout bite all day long. I took out multiple rides a day and taught a hundred campers a week how to ride with a two-hour or half day ride through lake filled Pine forests and expansive farm land. I had become an experienced guide and was a good cowboy story teller, which help makes a great horseback riding experience. I also took out night rides too for the older campers. One night the Arabian went crazy, took the bit and ran down the highway with a rider who was scared to death, jumped off, and the horse got hit by a car. With his leg broken, he lay there in the road blocking traffic. The State Troopers came and shot him and got a farmer to drag him off the road.Every weekend I took out a large group of riders on a Chuck Wagon outing. I learned quickly that you should learn to walk before running when camping with horse. A horse is like camping with a three-year old child. A horse does not help, does not work, demands constant attention, makes messes and will run away given half a chance and gets into trouble anyway possible. Remember each horse needs at least 5 gallons of drinking water per day, more if hot or ridden hard. Also need water to wash horse, tack. And food: Grain; hay, 1/2 bale per horse per day. Straw if horse is standing on hard surface otherwise horse will urinate on hay. Horse should be in good shape to accomplish the planned riding and be well shod so the Blacksmith over if shoes are needed. Then there is the Tack with extra bridle, girth, cinch, halter, lead rope (hobbles might be great too), day glow strips on halter if horse gets loose. Emergency number for vet and Blacksmith, a pitch fork or shovel for horse apple removal and muck bucket. Use a new muck bucket to water horse and pig feeder for graining a horse.During the 50s teenagers eagerly embraced the mobile culture. They owned cars, I had my first one at sixteen, doubled dated to lakes and parks, cruised the highways, and frequented fast food outlets and drive-in movies. Popular radio disc jockeys like Alan Freed, Murray the K, and Wolfman Jack became, in a way, unlikely authority figures for Fifties youths. There have always been inter-family conflicts between parents and their adolescent children, but this cultural division was larger. A significant proportion of the adult generation disapproved of the values and lifestyle of the teens, and were doing something about it, including setting new rules, restrictions and prohibitions. It was Rock'n Roll music that scared the hell out of adults; it was taboo-shattering music about–gasp–sex and racial commingling. That's why records were burned, censorship laws were passed, and some lives were ruined. The girls had on Poodle Skirts with tight - virginity protecting - girdles underneath. They wanted to show off their curves and be glamorous, so 1950s underwear supported and a young man couldn't get through it to the good stuff.By 1954, my main love affair was with my cars - I started with a 1941 Pontiac Silver Streak, then got a 1948 Studebaker Land Cruiser, and then a 1953 Buick Special - I owned all at the same. In those days you had to become a good mechanic to drive, the junk cars of the time needed constant fixing. I got good with Holly carburetors, mechanical breaks and basic engine repair. One thing you can say about the 1930s and 1940s cars we drove, they were cool. Later, cars began to take on fascination with tail fins and side chrome are reflections of an airplane. My ultimate dream car is a 1955 Chevy convertible in two-tone, preferably green and white (but who am I kidding, any color would do) with white wall tires.Times were so much more tranquil then, people were friendly, things were so much more innocent, there was very little crime and neighborhoods raised children. We didn't have all the technology then, no TV and only radio with Edward R Murrow and Gabriel Heater and JC Kaltenborn interspersed between the Long Ranger and Shadow programs; it made life simpler it seems, which has changed our life today for the better and also made it worse.Milwaukee gave me my first feeling of being part of a community. It made me care about my neighbors, my neighborhood, my community, my city. I trekked by foot, by bike, and mostly by bus, trolley and made the east side, the south side, and downtown all my home town. Milwaukee and I have so much fun together! Brewers and Braves games, Green Bay Packer games, beer gardens, custard and burger joints, endless parks, bike paths, lakes all around, delicious restaurants, bowling, breweries, ethnic festivals, Summerfest, farmers' markets, state fair, etc., etc.It seemed all my friends lived very similar lives. We all went to church, participated in sports, belonged to the Boy Scouts, and bought a car when we were 16. During the summer, we all hung our at the State Fair Grounds in West Allis that had a farmers livestock market and lots of amusement rides. I still remember the big Ferris Wheel and electric cars that we would spend all day riding. The Fair Grounds were not far from the big city Hoyt Park swimming pool that we spent hot summer days to cool off. Not far from the Hoyt Park pool was a city dump that we scavenged for useable throwaways that we converted to our goodies. It was interesting the stuff that peoples would throw out that we found useful. I still have the 18-inch saw tooth nose bill from a Saw Fish someone threw away. Milwaukee had big city parks every few blocks with type recreational activity including a world famous Zoo (Washington Park was 1 and 1/2 blocks from my house). At night, we could hear the lions roar and elephants trumpet. Washington Park was a place you could spend weeks fishing in the lagoons, hiking the wooded trails, listening to music at the Band Shell, or walking around the huge zoo. In the winter, the lagoons were good for ice skating and the hill for sledding, tobogganing and skiing. When I had my Soap Box Derby Racer, my brother and I would ride the hills of Washington Park all day.Cold and winters snows in Milwaukee were a constant thing, and great piles of the white stuff would stay for the entire winter, but lots of snow was great for tobogganing sledding and skiing at Washington Park while farmers brought in their horse drawn sleighs to provide neighborhood transportation for the city folk. Every snow fall left tons of drifts, often more than thirty feet high, especially when the City street snow blowers blew snow onto existing mounds of compacted snow laying about on playgrounds and front yards. We built huge snow forts and connecting tunnels with passageways that led to rooms we used as hiding places. But we never thought about getting a big snow collapse in one of our tunnels that could threaten our lives. Of course, with all the cold weather and snow, winter sports were king in Milwaukee. Skiing, sledding, tobogganing, and ice skating were all our winter play time favorites. And we never minded the cold, they say you get used to it.I remember how hot summers were and there was no air conditioning, just fans if you were lucky. I remember going to the cellar with my mother and her using the ringer type washing machine and I wanted to put the clothes through the ringer. After she had to go upstairs and put the clothes on the clothes line. They smelled good when you took them down.I remember when I was still in high school, Washington, during the summer break either after my junior or senior year, Milwaukee had WRIT and WOKY as the rock AM radio stations. I believe one Friday night while WRIT disc jockey named "King Richard" was on he decided to play Bill Justice's instrumental "Raunchy" He put it on a continuous play, played it for 90 minutes, got in his car, and lead a 300 car parade up and down Wisconsin Ave. There were many arrests made due to cars speeding around side streets to get closer to the lead car.In addition to beer, food, and sports, Milwaukee has culture, architecture and nature. We have the Art Museum on the lake front, other Museums, Symphony, Ballet, we have houses designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and his students, Galleries, Theater, Opera, other great music venues, a Zoo, a beautiful lakefront and a riverbanks full of nature. Milwaukee also has many colleges and universities. We have festivals celebrating almost every culture and season here. Give Milwaukeeans a reason to party and you'll find a keg. Overall, Milwaukee is a place with much grounded people who are willing to tough out the terrible winters for the reward of incredible summers with live music by the lake. People eat a lot of German food, drink beer, and generally stay put because they know they are among other nice, humble people who take care of each other.I made some business trips to Milwaukee in the 80s aand made sure to visit the lake front Summerfest Festival again. .I have been taking trips to Summerfest as long as I can remember. The venue is spacious with multiple music stages spread out amongst the Lake Michigan water front. Summerfest is a massive party, and people come from other states (and countries) to experience it! What with more than 250 bands and hundreds of thousands of people attending, It's the biggest music festival in the USA. There are 8 major "side stages" plus the Amphitheatre where the big headliners perform, and several small platforms scattered along the lagoon and other areas for smaller musical acts. You can get beer, wine, and cocktails. You can get pizza, tacos, BBQ, and lots of other popular food items, like Saz's combo of cheese curds, mozz sticks and sour cream and chive fries.My last night in Milwaukee, I wanted to have a drink. Unlike many other poor minority neighborhoods across the country, Milwaukee is filled with locally owned corner bars on every block. Some white friends told me to be careful running around Milwaukee, there are some black neighborhoods where you can get shot. There indeed the neighborhoods were people get shot, and sometimes it is by the police but it is the black residents themselves who do the shootings murdering each other. A few blocks before the corner bar I was headed for, I ran into an older black man walking into the same bar I was going to. We talked for an hour about his life, the neighborhood and racism. When I ask him about all the ongoing frustrations in his neighborhood, he looks grim and said "Black neighborhoods are filled with residents who have long been demeaned, humiliated, and denied equal civil rights and opportunities. They are people who are just trying to get by, and who desire what anyone else wants: to work a decent job, and a chance for dignity. And as my daddy always said, "‘What is going to happen if you only give nine bones to 10 dogs?'”By the 1990s NBC listed Milwaukee as one of "20 cities you don't want to live in." It has high crime and high poverty. My old neighborhood is now the 'Hood' and you can't go to Washington Park safely anymore. Street crime and gangs are rampart.But there are still many good neighborhoods. especially the downtown area by the Milwaukee River and Lake front which has turned into a Fortune 500 headquarters scene. And on the flip side of the bad news, in 2010, Milwaukee was rated America's second-most "relaxed" city by Forbes Magazine. Forbes which stated that Milwaukee was a city that allowed residents to easily obtain a healthy balance between work and life. "Our quality of life here is amazing. We have incredibly talented, nationally-recognized, performing arts groups and diverse, world-class attractions that appeal to any age or interest.”Milwaukee is a lovely city with great German influence. Seriously. At least 1/3 of Milwaukeeans have one German ancestor. The winters are cold and brutal, and the summers can be boiling. Sometimes, you will see all four seasons in one week. The people are almost always kind and willing to help.Universities are everywhere! Marquette University is private and blocks from downtown. UW-Milwaukee is on the lower east side while MSOE is our well kept secret and a gem if you can handle trimesters. Alverno College and MATC round out the many students in both undergraduate and graduate studies. Summerfest is still the world’s largest music festival going on its 51st year. MKE summers are filled non-stop with parties and music downtown and in all the neighborhoods with ethnic food everywhere.Milwaukee EpilogueMilwaukee has so many memories for me: I remember riding downtown with my mother on the bus. My favorite place to go was Gimbel's, they were always busy! They had the huge (it seemed to me) deli and bakery departments. I loved the large lunch counter on the first floor - we always had to wait in line. They had the best hot dogs on an unusual split hamburger bun. But Gimbels was the best right before Christmas. The huge windows outside were all filled with the greatest displays of elves, Santas, reindeers, etc. They were even better than the window of the movie "A Christmas Story"! The toy department had a room off to the side with Santa and a toy village. Does anyone remember the Christmas train that rode on a track on the ceiling? I only got to ride it once or twice, but it was really different! The large restaurant on the 8th floor was always special, too, and always very busy. We ate in a room that overlooked the river. I loved the old fashioned elevators with the operator that had to stop it at just the right level. When I was a Girl Scout, we went to Gimbels and saw where they made their chocolates. I remember watching a lady making each piece of chocolate by hand. We would also go to Boston Store and that was fun, too. The block west of Boston Store had a really neat Chinese store that always smelled so good and had the most interesting gifts. My mom would let me get a box of the rice candy where you could eat the paper around the candy!What young Milwaukeean did not get his first taste of brown mustard on a County Stadium hotdog sold by a vendor? Was there any better peach ice cream than that sold by Sealtest run by the Luick Dairy on Capitol Drive? Was there any better bottled root beer than Grandpa Graf's Creamy Top? Was there any better cookie than the Twilight Dessert made by Robert A. Johnston? Were there any better candy bars than Ziegler's Giant Bar or Sperry Candy's Denver Sandwich or Chicken Dinner? Was there any better hamburger than the one you could get at the Butter Bun on Wisconsin Avenue? And how about that almost sweet aroma emanating from the Red Star Yeast plant? Or the nose-holding stench coming from the Pfister Vogel tannery or the Milwaukee Road Shops in the Valley? Or the unforgettable odor of the Monkey House at the Washington Park Zoo? Or the sound of a bat hitting a hardball at the Eddie Matthews Bat-a-Way on South 27th?I remember taking my bike or the bus wherever I wanted to go. Across the 35th St viaduct to the library or to Mitchell Park. Skating on the lagoon at Mitchell Park in winter, sliding down suicide hill on sleds we dragged the mile up National Avenue, then up the hill – what energy we had then. Went there often in summer to rent a boat and paddle the lagoon. Climbed up the hill over the Menomonee valley and I remember a plaque and the remains of a cabin owned by Jacques Veau, early settler of Milwaukee.But Milwaukee has changed for the worse - It’s Armageddon in North Milwaukee. It is mostly all black and is the heavy crime area in Milwaukee. There are plenty of checks cashing stores, steak'n potatoes restaurants, wigs'n rims stores and cell phone stores, No traffic regulation, choose your own speed limit, stop lights optional, plenty of fireworks from cops and gangs. And where else can you see tumble weaves in the wild?Mugging, street crime and drugs prevail here. If you are white, stay out of the area. Forced entry into the building and break-ins to the cars in the underground parking with the thieves assaulting an elderly resident who walked in on them, setting fires in the garbage chute, and smearing feces in the laundry room—and this was in an OWNER-occupied condo building! In the five years since I’ve left town, the crime rate has overwhelmingly risen. I refuse to drive through any part of Milwaukee. People are driving while high, random shootings from cars, car-jacking, purse snatching, physical assault.Milwaukee, once a top-rated city in the U.S., with a top notch Police Department, School system, Health Department, Public Library and many other social services-a city that grew and prospered under socialist majors Frank Zeidler and later Henry Maier. Located on the shores of Lake Michigan, my home town Milwaukee is perhaps best known for its famous breweries, Harley Davidson motorcycles, and the Major League Brewers, but there's more to the city than beer and baseball.True love lasts forever, but I will not live in Milwaukee after entering the Navy. I might travel the world but I won't stop singing Milwaukee's praises and I will always stand up for Milwaukee. The lakefront, the people, the entertainment, the beer, the cheese, the restaurants. Yup I think Milwaukee rocks and I'll love it forever, no matter where I live. Most of all, I hope you remember me. I hope your streets breathe me in me at night. I hope you remember my footsteps on your sidewalks and in your hallways. I hope you remember my laughter and my tears, and remember my growing pains as I sauntered through your memories of me.To be real with you, the city now has real racial issues. The public schools for the most part are terrible unless you live in a wealthy suburb. Today, Milwaukee is 67% black and one of the most violent cities in America. Everyday the news is filled with the violence that takes place in this crime infested city. Little kids get shot and killed on a daily basis. Car jacking and accidents from car jackers occurs everyday. Assaults, robberies, house break ins, people getting murdered in their homes. On the flip side, in 2010, Milwaukee's white suburbs were rated America's second-most "relaxed" cities by Forbes Magazine. Forbes stated that Milwaukee was a city that allowed residents to easily obtain a healthy balance between work and life. The city offers financially accessible cultural and artistic opportunities that are also high quality. More than many other places in the Americas, I feel it's pretty easy and safe to get around Milwaukee by foot, bike and public transportation. The cost of living is pretty low.There is a growing division between educated professionals and blue collar wage. If you don't have forklift experience or at least a class C CDL, you're not likely to make a living wage here as blue collar. I'm seeing more and more jobs that require mandatory overtime and the ability to life 50 or more pounds on a regular basis and only pay $7.25/hour, maybe $9 if you're lucky.Where to Live - If you’re white, places like White Fish bay, downtown (towards east side), East side, Wauwatosa, Menomonee Falls, Third Ward and a couple of other places to name a few, are all areas that are pretty safe. This are mostly White areas, you may want to avoid West Allis, as it can be pretty rough even for a White neighborhood.If you’re black, Brown Deer and upper North side are pretty safe neighborhoods. You want to avoid places between say about 10th - 60th streets in some neighborhoods as they can be quite intimidating. This is the area where most black crimes happen so you’ll need to be extra cautious. Not to say that it isn’t safe to go about your business after dark in this neighborhoods. Actually you’ll pretty much be fine if you’re not white and look rich.If you’re Hispanic, the south side is where a lot of the Hispanic live. I’m not too sure of exactly where isn’t safe in these parts but am sure there are pockets of places you would want to avoid. So if you don’t look out of place you should be fine. If you’re Arab, south of Layton Ave I believe is where a few of the Arab communities are, this is a relatively safe area as the Arabs are under a lot of scrutiny. Not a lot of violence happens hear, or at least it isn’t rampant. Again don’t look out of place and you should be fine.Because of the dynamic of the city, it is best to stay in neighborhoods that have people like you, it will provide good cover for you to go about your business. Milwaukee has had long history of segregation, most of the agitations you hear in the news are a result of this. There is inequality of resources and as such, certain parts a more developed than others, certain neighborhoods have below par education and social-economic standards. I would say Downtown Milwaukee is getting a face lift which can maybe create neighborhoods that are less segregated, and help improve resource sharing as long as all communities can benefit from the development. Let me know if you have any further questions and I’ll be happy to respond.Money Magazine says the best places to live in America are in the Milwaukee suburbs, citing the good quality of life, low crime, a wonderful setting, quiet, right along the Lake Michigan shores. They have excellent school districts and are very comfortable communities.