HIS NAME WAS GORDIE--.
 

low2go
*Senior Chief Moderator*
Posts: 324
(5/24/01 1:49:43 pm)
Reply HIS NAME WAS GORDIE--.
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HIS NAME WAS GORDIE.
John Wilborn
209.181.106.90
Sat Jan 13 02:53:45


A week ago Friday, I told you about a disabled
Navy
veteran, and that when I was introduced to him,
had told
me he thought his name was GORDIE. A good
number of you
got back to me--some of you made open posts
about GORDIE.
Yesterday I was up at the same store where I
had met
him--the day he had stopped in for his 'free'
cherry
slush--the day the store owner had told me that
GORDIE's
mother stops by at random times and settles the
amount
owed for his 'free' treats. GORDIE's mom was
introduced
to me yesterday by the store owner. When I
told her that
I was a retired Navyman, it was like the
floodgates had
been opened about her wounded son. Yes, his
name is
GORDIE--he lives at home with his mother
because he
cannot care for himself as far as making a
living--he
roams around the area constantly--comes home
always when
darkness falls. He is perfectly harmless and
can care
for himself such as bathing and eating. GORDIE
was a
crew member on the warship frigate, the USS
STARK. In
May 1987, the Persian Gulf was a war zone
between Iraq
and Iran. Iraq fired missiles at the USS STARK
killing
37 American sailors and wounding dozens of
others.
GORDIE was one of the survivors and after
months of
hospital treatment was discharged from the
naval service
to come and live with his mother. GORDIE's Mom
did not
seem bitter as one might expect a Mom to be--in
fact she
seemed very proud as she told me the story.
Looking at
the kind old woman, cheeful and proud, I
noticed her
handsome brown eyes--sparkling and intelligent
looking--I
noted this especially in GORDIE's mother, for I
recalled
how his eyes had looked--they had reminded me
of the
brown buttons that you would see sewn onto the
face of a
teddy bear for eyes--dull and
lifeless--non-seeing--like
there was noone in there. Now, when I see
GORDIE roaming
around the mall area, there is a story I can
hook up with
the name--with the man--just perhaps in that
horrible
shipboard event, GORDIE had looked in at Hell
and he just
wasn't wanting to look again, so he turned his
eyes
off--made buttons out of them.
Wilborn sends.