Photo: The Georgian - Shortly Before Demolition - Springfield, Illinois
Jim Leach has posted an article on the pending demise of The Georgian.
Here's a memory I have of a dinner there in the early 1970's.
A conversation with a soldier just home from basic training, on his way to Vietnam..
The soldier was a friend of my parents.
Setting: The Georgian.
Me (young boy): What are those, dog tags?
Soldier: They're for Identification purposes.
Me: Can I look at them, they're not like my dad's WWII dog tags.
Soldier: Sure, you can look at them.
Me: Why is this side blank?
Soldier: To help Identify you.
Me: But it's blank?
Photo: The Georgian - 9th & Jefferson - Springfield, Illinois - 07.2005
Soldier: Well they put it into your mouth between your upper, and lower teeth to get the impression of your teeth.
Me: Wow! I hope I can go to Vietnam too when I grow up!
Soldier: Right.
Me: But how does your teeth make marks on this metal?
Soldier: You have to kick the lower jaw.
Me: But wouldn't that hurt?
Soldier: No.
Me: But why not?
Soldier: Son, when they use this on you, you're not feeling anything.
Me: But why not?
Soldier: Cause Your Already Dead. (echoes: DEAD DEAD DEAD DEAD).
Me: Oh.
He got lucky, and ended up in Germany.
I took some photos of The Georgian. The lot there will soon be part of a strip mall - or so a local business employee told me. The lot just south of The Georgian has already been cleared. And as you can see a crane has already been moved into position for The Georgian.
Photo: The Georgian - Springfield, Illinois - July, 2005
2 comments:
I wonder how many people went AWOL after biting on the dog collar.
A lot of compassion and anger, heartache and heartbreak, understanding and incredulity, love and hate, gets filtered through the generations. That one put a lump in my throat.
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