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
I wonder how many people went AWOL after biting on the dog collar.
ReplyDeleteA 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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