Sunday, October 8, 2023
I still owed him $12 from a bet I lost back in 1966 when the Yankees beat the Pirates in the World Series. Ran into Mike when I was stationed in Ft Gordon Georgia but didn’t pay him for the bet.
A year later I communicated with him in Thailand via our MARS Network- he was stationed in Northern Thailand (Korat -Tak-Le) and I was stationed in Southern Thailand (Satahip) - we were going to find a way to get together but unfortunately right before we were going to do so, his mother got sick so he was given an emergency leave to go home. Seven years later, I looked him up and my first wife and I met him at his home in Canarsie, Brooklyn - they just had a baby and when we met, he didn’t want the $12.
Many years past and in my second marriage, while in a shopping mall, I received a message from Mike via Facebook. We connected and spoke via phone and planned once again to get together in Virginia. He told me about a tumor that he had and was going for treatment to address it. Several weeks passed on and I did not hear from him. I suspected the worst and so it was.
I will give Mike the $12 when I meet him in the afterlife. God bless you, Mike!
