We were sitting in the snack bar in the basement of Greely Hall, the admin headquarters at Ft. Huachuca. I was processing in and ran into Mike and Jimmy, a couple of guys I had known in Vietnam. Mike had left about a month before me and Jimmy had been back for a couple of months. We were goofing off...I was supposed to be upstairs in one of the marathon trail of offices I had to go through to be processed and they were just hiding from work. They were filling me in on what Huachuca was like when a couple walked in...he was at least 6'5" and she couldn't have made the 5' mark. I remarked at how courteous he was to her, a rare thing since she was asian and usually they don't get very special treatment when they get to the States. Mike and Jimmy chuckled and told me a tale.
Right here I have to do a disclaimer. I was there, I saw this couple and the way they behaved, and I heard this story from my buddies. But since that time, it was January of 1967, I have heard this same story told about a number of different couples in many different places. It does have the ring of Urban Legend about it... but that doesn't mean it isn't true...or that several other similar strories didn't happen...so I ain't claiming anything more than I was told this is what happened...draw your own conclusions.
Tex (the tall one) used to be a drinker. When he first returned from Korea with his little bride, he would leave her in the trailer park and hit the club and the Military Inn with his buddies. Three or four times a week he would come home really plowed demanding his rightful attentions as a husband, often not able to complete the transaction. He would blame her and start punching her out. It just kept escalating until one evening she had to be brought to the ER by neighbors. When his chain of command got notified, he had to see the bosses and as soon as he got home he whipped up on her again for getting him in trouble.
One Saturday morning he woke up with a splitting headache...in fact he ached all over. It took him a few minutes to realize he was in a hospital bed with several bandages and a couple of casts on. He looked across the room and there sat his little bride, she had a black eye and some other damage...he wanted to know what happened. I can't figure out how to dialogue her broken english, but here is what she said, in essence. She told him that he had beaten her again and then passed out. She had gone out and found a 2x4 somewhere in the trailer park and brought it home and commenced to beat on every part of him, leaving no part unattended. She said she knew he would be very angry with her and when he was better he would want to get even with her. But, she said, remember that when you are done, you will go to sleep again.
Apparently he got the message. He quit drinking...quit whippin on the girl...and began to treat her kindly and courteously. And they lived happily ever after.
I don't know if the story is true or not...part of me hopes it is...but as an object lesson it serves a great purpose, doesn't it? Like I said, I saw that couple in the snack bar and I noticed how well he was treating her...that's enough for me."