The Way I Was Made

My Grandpa James "Jim" Arthur

On the commute home I was singing out loud and dancing in the seat of the Baja to Griffin House:

"Well I was born and I was made; by the hands of marmalade.
I got legends in my blood, I got Indians in my veins.
And in the year of '44, Grandpa went away to war
Went to Hitler's house and kicked in the door.
There began the way I was made.
And in the year of '47, that rue girl came down from heaven.
And '48 a bride and groom, in love on their honeymoon
And they weren't doin' nothin' wrong
but it's how my mother came along
And here I am with words and song, singin' 'bout the way I was made.
Oooohhhhh, feels so good to have your blood in my veins.
Oooohhhhh, feels so good to have your blood in my veins....

....Legend says our family tree
grows black and white and Indian leaves
And if the history books are right none of us are really white
In fact I think that means that everybody's blood is just the same.

Whoooooohhhhhh, feels so good to have your blood in my veins...

And I was sitting on K Street with the evening sun reflecting off the windshield and alligator tears began to well up in my eyes. I was thinking about the previous day talking with my grandpa on the telephone. He always makes it a point to tell me he is proud of me. I have spent the last six years of my life serving in the United States Army. Every time I go home to Wyoming there are a group of "young at heart" individuals, my grandpa, gram, Floyd Fillin and Sarah who always let me know they are proud of what I do. Sometimes I don't feel like I deserve such compliments, for many of them have lived through and served in WWII. A War that had to be fought and a war where there was no confusion as to why they were fighting. My grandpa, Jim Arthur, spent 1946 and 47 in Germany. He spent the rest of the duration of the war plus 6 months. Grandpa reported his time spent in WWII was, "as it was winding down".

Grandpa was in the Army for 18 months. He began the 13 week Basic Training Course in October of 1945. Upon completion of Basic he was sent immediately over seas. As a green Private he was shipped to La Harve France and traveled to Germany where he arrived in January of 1946. His job was to guard supply trains in Bremerhaven and Bremen. The Germans were starving and cold. They wanted anything they could get their hands on off the trains. Not only for themselves and their families, but also to sell on the black market. The coal trains were especially targeted for robbery. These supplies were meant for our troops and the English and French. Grandpa talks about it so modestly and as if he was in no danger, just doing his job.

After Grandpa was separated from the Army he got promoted to Private First Class, which probably would have earned him a pay raise had he still been in the military (although not more than a dollar a month extra, I'm sure). I am currently waiting on promotion to Staff Sergeant myself. I could have been my grandpa's or great grandad's NCOIC (supervisor). A thought that truly escapes me as I have been blessed not to have seen war first hand. Their experiences as Private (great grandad shoed horses for the troops in WWI) and Private First Class definitely outrank my experiences as a Sergeant. I feel as though they had much more to offer the Army and their comrades during their time in the military than I have.

As I began writing this blog, I realized I didn't know where the Cherokee Indian in my blood came from, so I had to call Grandpa. He begins by saying, "Nobody really knows. Supposedly an Arthur come into Montana out of Canada with two boys and he had an Indian wife. One of the boys was Grandpa's grandad (James Arthur)... And from there I began chicken scratching our family tree, with Indian leaves, on a piece of paper. It seems I have another subject for another blog sometime in the near future.

And this is the beginning of a story about the way I was made. I am proud to have my ancestors blood running through my veins.