When you see today's date on a calendar or printed or online

[wnylib]

106. He was my oldest brother who made a

career of the Navy. I was just 13 at the time of the missile crisis, but, as you can imagine, all of my family followed it closely.

I remember taking my transistor radio to school with me so I could keep up to date with developments. We were not allowed to have them in class, so I hid it under my clothing and ran the cord of the ear bud up through my clothes and under my shoulder length hair. To keep the cord from being visible, I had to tilt my head a little to one side.

I did not hear my American history teacher call on me because I was tuned in to a UN meeting where the US ambassador was about to speak. The teacher got suspicious about my inattention and tilted head so he asked outright if I was listening to a radio. I admitted it and told him what I was listening to. He asked me to remove the ear bud and turn up the volume so we could all listen.

My grandparents on one side had been immigrants who had relatives behind the Iron Curtain. Some of our neighbors had been partisans in WWII who immigrated to the US after the war. I grew up around people who discussed politics and current events, so I followed and understood some events more than some kids my age.