A King, a Prime Minister, and a General

I had a friend who served in the Second World War.

John got to see a King, a Prime Minister, 

and a General,

all on the same day.

"Mighty nice station you have here," said Churchill.

Rumor had it that he smoked seventeen cigars

    and drank a fifth of bourbon everyday.

"They say Eisenhower just wanted everyone to get along.

He shook hands with everyone of us.

That was pretty impressive for a nineteen year old,"

John once told me.   

"I'm not easily impressed these days," he would tell me.

But John, he was impressive.  I'd see him out walking

all over Tarboro,

from Bojangles

over to the hospital. 
He looked dashing in his
Greek fisherman's cap,
with his pipe and cane.

He recalled that during the war,
he carried a good luck piece,
a locket that belonged to
his girlfriend, Gloria,
just nineteen then.
Same age as Lauren Bacall,
who died recently at the age
of 89.
John and Gloria
were together sixty three years.