Boundless (1964-1987)

And now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do (Genesis 11:6)

Chapter 1: 1964-1967, Hope and death

In the fall of 1964, Wayne was drafted into the United States Army. Basic training was to take place at Fort Knox, Kentucky and would last for eight weeks. And, although the weeks ahead would be physically demanding, Wayne was young, strong and healthy.

2 Nevertheless, as he prepared to leave for Kentucky, Wayne’s mind was full of turmoil and worry. He would have to leave Lonnie and Steven in the care of his mother, and she had just been diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. And, if that wasn’t enough, Linda had remarried and established an independent household of her own. The timing couldn’t have been worse.

3 Linda’s new husband was a scion of the Scofield family of Connecticut (the same family which had figured in the story of Wayne’s Mead family). David Sito’s grandfather had been born in Poland, and his parents ran Sito’s Polish Village (an Elyria neighborhood sport’s bar). He had been a star football player at Elyria Catholic High School, and Linda had fallen for his cocky self-assured style almost immediately after meeting him.

4 For Wayne, his presence in Linda’s life muddied the water. He provided Linda with a stable marriage to present to the court in her pursuit of legal custody of Lonnie and Steven.

5 His instructions from the army, however, were clear. He wouldn’t need to pack very many clothes or personal items. He wouldn’t need them in the Army. Even so, he did take a small picture of his sons with him.

6 The sprawling military installation at the southern edge of Kentucky had started out in World War I as a field artillery camp. Appropriately, it had been named after Washington’s chief artillery officer during the Revolutionary War, General Henry Knox. During the Great Depression, the Fort became the headquarters of the Army’s mechanized cavalry.

7 Later, when war again broke out in Europe, Fort Knox was designated as the headquarters for the Army’s armored forces. Hence, by the time that Wayne arrived there, Fort Knox had been one of the Army’s most important posts for more than forty-five years.

8 After being “processed” into the camp, Wayne and his fellow draftees were assembled in formation before one of the old barracks to be addressed by the commanding officer of their unit. “You men have been assigned one of the toughest drill instructors we have on post,” the captain began. “If you’re smart, you will pay close attention to everything that he tells you,” he advised. Then he concluded his remarks by introducing Drill Sergeant Williams.

9 “From this day forward, you ladies are mine. You will eat when I tell you to eat, sleep when I tell you to sleep and shit when I tell you to shit,” he told them. “And, by God, when I tell you to do something, the only appropriate response is ‘YES, DRILL SERGEANT!’ – Do you ladies understand me?” “YES, DRILL SERGEANT!” came the deafening response from the men.

10 The weeks that followed were filled with lots of intense training and little sleep. To make matters worse, Wayne got pneumonia about a week after arriving there and couldn’t seem to shake the bug throughout his training. In short, he was homesick and miserable.

11 They were constantly exercising. One of the drill instructor’s favorites was the hand over hand bars. “If you fall, you will do pushups,” Sgt. Williams warned them. “If you can’t do the pushups, you will not eat!” he screamed.

12 The drill sergeants loved to assign them various details. They were constantly cleaning their barracks and shining their boots and shoes. There were frequent assignments of kitchen patrol (KP) and guard duty. Sometimes the shifts would last for as long as twelve hours and only have short breaks between them. “We don’t do much sleeping around here,” Wayne wrote home.

13 On Veteran’s Day, Sgt. Williams announced that they would be permitted to remain in their barracks because of the holiday. “But while you’re in there, you might as well wash the windows and sweep, scrub, mop and wax the floors!” he told them.

14 “Also, we have candy and pop machines located near the PX and Commissary,” he announced. “You will NOT go anywhere near them!” he shouted. “If you know what’s good for you, you will stay the FUCK away from them!”

15 A few days later, Wayne was on his way to KP duty yet again when he passed by an old master sergeant. Wayne had just received a depressing letter from home. His mother was not doing well, and the sergeant noticed the sad and dejected look on Wayne’s face.

16 “What’s wrong with you, dickhead?” he asked. Wayne explained his situation to the old man. “You may be able to get out of the Army on what’s called a hardship discharge.” “Thanks, Master Sergeant, I’ll check into that.” “You should,” the old man smiled. “Now, get the fuck out of here.”

17 After completing their basic training, Wayne and his buddies were waiting for the buses that would take them to Fort Hood, Texas. Sgt. Williams approached Wayne and motioned for him to follow him. “We’re going to see what we can do about your situation before you leave,” he told him.

18 He drove Wayne to the personnel section at headquarters and introduced him to a staff sergeant working there. “What’s your story, soldier?” the man asked. “I was divorced a year before I was drafted and was granted custody of my two young sons,” Wayne began. “My mother is bedfast with rheumatoid arthritis and can’t take care of them, and my ex has remarried and petitioned the court to revoke my custody,” he finished. “Let’s see what we can do about this,” the man told him.

19 “My name is Sgt. Parker, and this is my contact information,” he said as he shoved some papers toward the soldier before him. Wayne quickly copied down the information and shoved it in his pocket. Then Sgt. Williams drove him back to the waiting area where the buses had arrived a few minutes before. “Good luck, soldier,” the sergeant told him as he exited the vehicle.

20 Wayne was assigned to a maintenance battalion at Fort Hood. “This is where my dad was stationed for his training,” he told one of his buddies. Wayne worked at the motorpool, but he had also qualified for Officer Candidate School. “You can have a fine career in the military, son; and we really need helicopter pilots right now,” the major told him.

21 Every day, he would take out that little picture of Lonnie and Steven and just stare at them for a few minutes. “I’ll be home as soon as I can,” he whispered to himself.

22 There was still no word, however, about the status of his hardship discharge. Wayne pulled the wrinkled paper out of his locker one day and wrote to the staff sergeant he had talked to before leaving Fort Knox. “My fate is in your hands,” he finished.

23 Then, a few weeks later, just as the talk about a place called Vietnam began to pick up, Wayne was informed that his discharge had been approved. He was going home. As it turned out, Uncle Sam had decided that he didn’t need him as bad as his mother and children did. Wayne returned home to Ohio and was able to retain custody of Lonnie and Steven.

24 Unfortunately, Wayne’s custody triumph wasn’t the only bit of bad news that Linda received that year. Her mother had been experiencing abdominal discomfort, bleeding and alarming changes in her bowel habits for months. “Eunice, I’m sorry to tell you that you have a very advanced cancer,” the doctor told them.

25 She died at the beginning of June in 1966. Linda was devastated. The funeral was held in Grafton, so that Eunice could be buried near her parents.

26 Lonnie and Steven had never seen their mother cry like that before. She sobbed, and no one was able to comfort her. Her husband stood motionless as he held their one-year old half-brother in his arms.

27 “I’m so sorry,” Wayne said as he embraced her. “Why doesn’t Nanny wake up?” Lonnie wondered. He had been told that she had died, but it was impossible for a five-year-old to fully comprehend what that meant.

28 1967 would be a better year. Clayton’s eldest son, Terrell, was engaged to marry a beautiful and very nice young lady in Greenville, South Carolina. Sure, they would have to put up with being in the company of Clayton’s first wife, but they were both looking forward to attending the event. After all, they loved Terrell and heartily approved of his choice for a wife.

29 The phone rang three times before Edna was able to answer it. She didn’t know it, but the call was not going to be a good one. “Doodle, Bennie Jo is dead,” Annie sobbed.

30 “My God! What happened?” Edna cried. “She had finally left James and was on her way back to Birmingham with the kids,” Annie began. “The car went off the highway near Pell City, and she was thrown out of the car,” she continued.

31 “Did they take her to the hospital?” Doodle asked. “The police said that she died instantly,” her former sister-in-law replied. “Annie, I’m so sorry – I don’t know what to say.”

32 “What about the kids?” Doodle asked. “They’re pretty shaken up,” she replied. “The doctors say they’ll be ok, but I don’t know what’s going to become of them now that their mama’s gone,” Annie fretted. “They certainly can’t count on their sorry ass daddy to take care of them.” “That’s for sure,” Edna agreed.

33 “Have you told Dick yet?” “Yeah, I called him,” Annie said flatly. “I don’t look for much help from that direction either,” she added.

34 When Edna hung up the phone, she sat down on the couch and wept for a moment. They had been planning for weeks to attend Terrell’s marriage in South Carolina, but it was now apparent that they would have to add an Alabama funeral to their itinerary.