My First Memories.

Me at 3 years 9 months old.

I can remember in 1943 we lived in a white house in Bristol, PA My father was John and my mother was Margaret. I was their oldest child and my name is John. At that time I had one brother named James who was 18 months younger than me. I was born in Sept. 1939.

On my first Christmas there I got an army truck and Jim got a fire engine. I remember that Christmas so well I guess because my mother had Jim and I make a pot of chocolate pudding for Santa Claus and we were supposed to have whatever was left over for breakfast. Well, there was none left in the morning and I remember saying "that's why he is so fat"

My father was a cook in the Keystone Hotel at that time making less than $20.00 a week, but we had a place to live and we even had a car. Food was rationed in those days because of the war, but I don't remember ever going hungry.

One memory I have that no one else seems to have is this. I was standing behind a horse ridden by a young girl and the horse kicked me in both knees. I was taken inside and stood in a basin of water and I remember the water turned red and scared me half to death. I still have the scars on my knees.