My dad was Archie Bunker

He didn't play the lovable bigot on TV but, he was everything Archie stood for and believed in. If I didn't know better, I'd swear that my dad was used as the blueprint for the show.

Long before 'All In The Family' aired, my dad was the flag waving, anti-everything. He never called a race or nationality by their politically correct terms, so you can imagine the things I heard coming out of his mouth. Only the fact that such language isn't socially acceptable by today's standards prevent me from repeating his words.

He was a member of both the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars, having seen action in Guam, Luzon and the Philippine Islands. He worked hard as well. He labored as a deck hand on Ohio River barges, laid rails for the Baltimore & Ohio railroad and was a mold maker in an iron foundry. In his younger days he also tried his hand at boxing and professional style wrestling. Word has it he was pretty good at both.

He had his chair and no one sat in it. The words "Get outta my chair" were heard on pretty much a daily basis. As was "Get a damn haircut". This was his country and he loved her right or wrong and if you didn't like it he'd invite you to join one of those "commie" countries or just kick your butt. That is, up until 1970.

I remember sitting and watching the evening news with Walter Cronkite or Huntley and Brinkley each evening and listening to him berate all "those damned hippies" protesting in the streets.

On the evening of May 4, 1970 the news was about one single incident. At a little known school in Ohio, National Guardsmen opened fire on a group of unarmed students, killing four. Nothing as terrible as this had happened in recent memory. I watched in horror myself. These people were only 3 to five years older than myself. I turned to look at my dad, waiting for what he was going to say. To my surprise it was "Those sons-of-bitches! They're killing kids! I'll never have anything to do with it again. Bob, you remember what the hell happened here".

I do, Dad. I do.