I was on leave that very week, and living a couple miles from Grant Park, me and a couple buddies went down there and got arrested for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Got shoved into a paddy-wagon, and when we got to the station, I guess the cops saw my uniform and c*nt cap, he asked what I was doing there, I explained we were watching the stinking hippies (and there were several of them in the paddy wagon with us), he chuckled and told me to beat it. I said “those two other guys are my buddies”, and he sent us all on our way.
And, just like today, this was a dem on dem battle. My family were blue collar dems (the Archie Bunker type), and the hippies were just... well... from outer space. It was a big rift in the party, much like it is now.
A week later, I was on Pan Am over the Pacific heading back to Tan Sun.
After watching the hippies all week on TV, it was a blast watching the Chicago cops bust out the billy clubs on ‘em. While everyone else on my flight going back had that somber look on their face, I kept thinking about that evening at home, and the folks around me must have wondered “what’s that guy smiling about?”
When I got back, I reported to work right away (the very next morning), and I remember we were setting up for a run to put up a floatation dock, going into a pretty shitty area, but all the crew and our escort infantry kept asking about was the riots in Chicago. Funny, in the middle of a crap-fest, and the folks around you are asking about the Dem Convention :)
Amazing huh? I still carrry mucho disdain for them to this day.. Much like today’s moronials, they are ungrateful snots who should be kissing the ground every day that they weren’t born in some of the places we were lucky enough to see. You know, like that shitty area you were headed to. Thanks for your service.