Dear Boo and Bubble,
This is the continuation of the autobiographical account of
my friend Joe Horgan that we started in the last blog post. I think that you will once again be amazed
at his story …… and remember I’m writing as if he were telling it in his
lilting Irish brogue.
The Story of Joe
The American Dream - Part 2
Joe and Mary on the Banner Elk Park bridge - July 2016
“Coming to America”
And so…..at the ripe old age of 23, I left my fish business
and everything I had ever known to make my way to Liverpool where I would catch
a boat to Halifax, Nova Scotia. That was
probably one of the worst experiences of my life – and had me thinking maybe I
had made a great mistake – because I became very seasick on the boat to
Liverpool which caused me to almost miss the boat to Halifax. And maybe it would have been better if I had
because the seasickness returned on that ten-day crossing. I thought at the time that maybe they should
just throw me overboard and put me out of my misery.
But I made it and ultimately ended up in Toronto, Canada,
where I found myself living in a Polish community for the next two years. I took odd jobs to survive and relied on the
generosity of the people around me to keep my head above water. Then, one day, a stroke of luck happened that
would change my life forever. I was sitting
in a Greek diner in Toronto when a man passed by the window. Perhaps my Irish eyes deceived me, but I
swore it was Pat MacCarthy, a friend from back home. He entered the diner and took a seat on one
of the stools at the counter. When I
tapped him on the shoulder, he swiveled around and – yes – it was Pat! After we chatted a bit, he told me that he and
a buddy named Pat McTaggart were going to New York City to celebrate St.
Patrick’s Day. He invited me to go along
with them and I readily accepted.
We made a reservation at the Chesterfield Hotel. After we arrived, one of the first orders of
business was to seek out Pat McTaggart’s aunt, a Mrs. Tiffany, who had previously
come to the U.S from Ireland. She was
the wife of a police officer and had three sons – one in the cosmetics business
and two on the police force. We found the apartment house where she lived and
learned that she had gone to mass, so we waited for her to return. When
she saw her nephew, her face brightened and she immediately embraced him and
then did the same to me as if I were her own.
Now….. here is the significant part of the story….the part about
changing my life. She introduced me to
her son, Francis, who was one of the policemen.
And….after getting to know me, he agreed to “claim” me, which meant that I could remain in the United States,
but he had to vouch for me and make sure that I did not become a burden on the
government. If I became sick, he had to
take care of my medical expenses. If I
needed assistance in any way, he had to provide it. It was an act of kindness that set my future
course and I will eternally be grateful and never forget it. Mrs. Tiffany also found sponsors for both Pat McCarthy
and Pat McTaggart.
The law required me to fill out immigration forms and on
them, one of the questions was “In an
emergency would you object to going into the military?” I answered “No.” At this time, the Korean War conflict was escalating and the
various branches of the military desperately needed recruits. I decided that
maybe this might be a way to gain my U.S. citizenship and so I signed up for
the draft. Eleven months later, Uncle
Sam called and I found myself in the Army doing basic training at Ft. Dix in
New Jersey.
U. S. Army - 1951 - 1954
It was here that another very formative event happened for
me. My initial unit had a mixture of
either Italian Americans or Irish Americans, but we were 100% Catholic. After basic training, we received a week’s
leave. I went back into New York City
where I thoroughly enjoyed myself – so much so that I decided to take an extra
couple of days. When I came back from
being AWOL, I discovered that my unit was no longer there. They had been shipped out to Europe. I found an empty bed in the barracks and went
to sleep. Some time later, I was
awakened by a guy who told me I needed to report to the main office
immediately. You can imagine that I
thought I might be headed for the brig, but instead I was assigned to a new
unit to be shipped out the next day.
This outfit was totally different – all from states in the
Midwest and a variety of religious denominations, even a few Jews. Up until then, I had always sought out my own
people. But now, I was pulled out from
that magnet and exposed to an array of nationalities and religious
backgrounds. The situation forced me to
see people for who they really were, not some preconceived notion I might have
had about them. I made some extremely
close friends in that unit and I wouldn’t take anything for it.
The Army dispatched me to Verdun, France, where I became a warehouse
specialist. Now…. I had never seen the
inside of a warehouse before, but here I was…. a specialist. We had everything in that warehouse from a
needle to an anchor. I had several
Frenchmen working with me and, since I spoke no French and they couldn’t
understand English, we resorted to sign language in order to communicate.
Verdun, France
Thankfully, my time in the service came to an end without my
having to go to Korea or see any combat.
I did come out of it, though, changed forever because of the people I met
and the things I experienced. Let me digress for a minute to say that over the
years, I have attended many Verdun Signal Depot reunions of the men with whom I
served in the Army. I always looked
forward to these occasions with the camaraderie and conversation. There are very few of us left now and so our
get-togethers have slowly come to an end - the last one ironically, on my 91st birthday.
The last reunion of Verdun Signal Depot - 2014
But, let me get back to my tale.......where was I? Oh, yes..... the dilemma for me now became what was I to do with
myself once out of the Army. I returned to New York City to figure out where to go next……and that
is a story unto itself and perhaps too long to start now. So, I’ll continue when we are together again.
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