Land Avenue in Tampa Florida

My parents purchased a house on Land Avenue in Tampa, Florida in 1965.  I remember many things about this house, mainly that it did not have central a/c.  In the summer time, I recall how either crop planes or trucks dumped heavy anti-misquito spray throughout the neighborhood creating a dense fog-like atmosphere.  Most memories of mine from that period were far from idyllic. 

I can trace back my earliest memories of baseball at this time.  In those days, the Cincinnati Reds held their spring training at Al Lopez Field which was located next a lot that eventually became Tampa Stadium.  I recall how one of my neighbors had gotten the autograph of Pete Rose on their baseball bat.  My father purchased my brother Mike and me our first baseball gloves.  I believed his was autographed by Gil McDougald.

While race riots broke out in Detroit, Watts, and other areas, Tampa, too, had its own experience with riots.  Those hot summers ushered in the calling in of the National Guard in these cities to bring normalcy back to race-torn neighborhoods.

I also remember that many military families lived in our neighborhood given its proximity to McDill Air Force Base which at the time was headquarters for the Tactical Air Command and Strike Command.  The Viet Nam war was escalating at that time.  LBJ was President and was given much leeway on running the war via the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution.

Here is what I recall about hour neighbors and how the war impacted their lives:

1.  facing the street, our neighbors to the right had a father who served 2-3 tours in Da Nang

2.  to our left, lived an Air Force military policeman who worked McDill's busy front gate

3. to their left lived a family whose father was an Army Lieutenant missing in action; they had a German shepard guard dog, named Newton, who we feared would jump the fence and attack us

4. three houses to their left lived the wife of an Air Force pilot who had been shot down and missing in action

5.  right across the street from us lived a Naval pilot had been shot down and missing in action

6. there were several more military households which were not as adversely impacted by the war at that time

7. in 1967, my father received orders to Viet Nam and was assigned to Tan San Knut Air Base in Saigon

Years later, I watched a "Wonder Years' episode in which Winny Cooper's brother had been killed in the Viet Nam war and chronicled the Cooper family's travails afterwards.

In reflecting back on those days, I cannot help but think of the families impacted by the wars in Irag and Afghanistan today.  History seems to be repeating itself as our country is mired in another war, actually two, where there seems to be neither victory nor successful exit..  Yet, our soldiers continue to get killed or wounded and families greatly impacted. 

Tomorrow, from Land Avenue in Tampa to Richmond Court in Kansas.