Page 26 - Senior Times South Central Michigan - November 2017 - 24-11
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Page 26
Senior Times - November 2017
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(269) 964-8292
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Happy Thanksgiving !
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SERVING OTHERS –
By: Gale Fischer
"The measure of a man's greatness is not the number of servants he has but the number of people he serves."
~ John Hagee
For today's generation of teenagers, anticipating what their future has in store for them as an adult, the choices seem endless. There are a myriad of careers to choose from and chances are a first choice will not be a last choice.
Although not as common a career today as it was for past generations, there are some that answer a calling to serve their country in one of the branches of military. For young adult men, graduating from high school back in the 1940s and 1950s, choices were limited and simple. The draft was in place so it seemed a no- brainer more than seventy years ago to now ninety-year-old Battle Creek native, Glenn Alday, to choose what branch of the military to enlist in before the choice was made for him with a draft notice. "After graduating from high school I knew exactly what my future was. The draft was going on. I decided to join the Marines because I liked their uniforms."
For most teenage
boys grow- ing up in Glenn's gen- eration, the writing was on the wall. Chances were that they would be serving our country in the mili- tary. Some dreaded
it. Others
marveled at
it. Signing on was just a fact of life, some- thing that was expected.
Our world was introduced to Glenn in the heartland of our great nation June 17, 1927 in Ellis Kansas in his grandmother's house. He was the younger of two boys.
His father served in WW1. When he came back home he worked for the rail- road with Union Pacific in Ellis Kansas. A new job with Grand Trunk Railroad brought them to Niles, Michigan. Soon after they moved to Battle Creek.
Glenn and his family lived on Arthur Street near Mill Pond. Today’s landmarks would be near the corner of Riverside Drive and Dickman Road. The landscape of the neighborhood has changed over the years with Dickman Road being nonexis- tent during Glenn's youth. Glenn and his childhood buddies spent hours and hours playing and fishing off the waters of Mill Pond.
During summer breaks and after school hours, Glenn and his childhood friends employed an active lifestyle, fill- ing their days with Cub Scouts and later Boy Scouts, as well as outdoor activities including playing soldiers. This would serve him well with the independence he
is blessed with today as a ninety year old. "We spent many hours playing Cowboys and Indians. We used to take long hikes. We would put a peanut butter sandwich in our pockets on a Saturday morning, hike to County Park, spend the day and hike back early evening."
With his father being employed as a railroad worker, Glenn enjoyed a particu- lar benefit that many of his peers did not experience. He and his friend would get free train tickets and go to Chicago for the day. “We liked to talk to the sailors and just wander around town."
Glen spent his entire grade school years as a student of Battle Creek Public Schools. At that time, Pennfield and Harper Creek School Districts did not exist. Lakeview was the only other pub- lic school system in Battle Creek, but its enrollment was small compared to what it is today.
Initially as a high school student, Glenn did not consider himself an athlete so he did not participate. Area athletes, coaches and sports writers would soon find out however, that Glenn was a force
to be reck- oned with
as a run- ner. "In my senior year, I placed fourth in
the half- mile at the state meet with a time of 2:02:9." Glenn also gave cross- country a try in the fall of his senior year. "I set
the school two-mile record with a time of 10:01."
Upon graduating from high school, Glenn was off to Boot Camp at Paris Island, South Carolina.
"Truman gave orders to drop the atom- ic bomb which stopped us from being sent to Japan, saving the lives of many U.S. soldiers. Right after the atomic bomb was dropped I was sent to China. Japan had occupied China so we went there to repa- triate the Japanese soldiers, which meant we accepted their surrender, took their weapons and sent them home. After my time in China I came back to the states to Camp Pendleton for six months."
Glenn would come home and take advantage of the GI Bill and headed to MSU. In the midst of his college career, Glenn would meet his future wife while back home in Battle Creek. "I met my wife, Carol in 1949 at a dance in Battle Creek. They would have these young adult dances at the Battle Creek Youth Building. We married a year later. Carol moved to East Lansing with me while I finished college."
After he and Carol were married Glenn moved on to his next military phase.
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