I would like to share a bad story I carried with me all these years about my basic training. And to this day, I will never forget it.

I joined the Army in 1960 and was sent to Fort Dix, N.J., for basic training. During our training at the hand grenade range, a GI hurled a grenade into another man’s bunker by mistake. The grenade exploded, killing the young GI who I knew really well in my platoon. His body was taken out in parts. He was only 17 years old.

I went on to serve 15 months in the 1st Cavalry Division in Korea guarding the DMZ along the Imjin River.

But I will never forget what happened that day at Fort Dix. It happened October 1960, Company K, 3rd Battalion, 2nd Regiment.

Thank you for giving me the chance to tell this story.