I met Joe one week before my 14th birthday. I was in a movie theatre with my girlfriend watching an Elvis Presley movie. Joe was sitting behind me and to get my attention, he kept pulling my hair. I went with him for four years and during this time He became a part of our family. My mother was always asking me "When is he going to go home?"
When Joe was 17, he decided he wanted to join the USMC and go to Vietnam. He had lost a couple of his close friends there and he felt he had to be involved. Since he wasn't old enough to join, his father gave his signature to make this possible. I wasn't aware of this until it was too late.
After he completed boot camp , he came home with orders in hand to ship out to Vietnam. But before he left he wanted us to be married. So we did that .....in February we were married and four days later, he left for Vietnam. Joe was killed in May. On the following page is a poem that he wrote and it was sent to me 2 weeks before his death.
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