One Direction, Two Paths

           The year was 1950, a time when Howdy Doody was a favorite children’s television show, Bing Crosby was “Riding High” on the silver screen, and Nat King Cole neared the top of the charts with his ballad, “Mona Lisa.”

           This was also the year that Chester and his best friend, James turned eighteen. Their birthdays were just one week apart, so they had celebrated it together since they were twelve. This year, however, was going to change the course of their lives like they had never known.

           It was June 30, 1950, when the two friends had been attending the movie theatre and a news reel came on at the beginning describing a horrible conflict that had broken out between North and South Korea. The United States military was looking for a few good men to aid the South Koreans in this battle.

           Chester and James, being the red-blooded Americans that they were, decided then and there to sign up with the U.S. Army and go fight a war halfway across the world. Before telling their parents, the young men rushed down to the recruitment office and volunteered their services.

           Chester and James began basic training at Fort Stewart, Georgia that lasted less than four weeks before they were deployed to Japan where they awaited further orders. Both men were assigned to the 27^th Infantry Regiment nicknamed, “The Wolfhounds.”

           On August 1^st, the regiment made their way toward the southeast shores of South Korea, to a city known as Pusan. By August 4^th, The Battle of Pusan Perimeter had begun between allied forces and the Korean People’s Army.

           For forty-five days the battle continued. Many lives were lost during that time, but the United Nations troops managed to push back the Korean Army one-hundred-forty miles to the Naktong River until the Korean People’s Army retreated in defeat.

           Chester had been separated from James during that decisive battle, only to find out the following day, that James, along with a small group of men, had charged a battalion of enemy soldiers that were attempting to penetrate the perimeter and overtake the line. That was the last any had seen of any of the men.

           Chester was beside himself, fearing the worst. He had to stay focused and just hope they could locate his friend in the days to come.

           The war continued and Chester had still not heard any news about James. Of the bodies found around the Pusan Perimeter, none were identified as James, which gave Chester hope that he was still alive.

           Weeks had passed and the battles had continued, but Chester’s head wasn’t fully in the game. U.S. Forces continued to attack the North Koreans by land, air, and sea, and despite Chester’s ability to avoid enemy fire, he was struck down by friendly fire during an air raid of U.S. bombers. Shrapnel had pierced Chester’s leg, and he was sent home soon after.

           After his return back to the United States, Chester was welcomed in celebration by the townspeople who threw a parade for all of the returning soldiers, but he had his mind still in Korea where James was still missing.

           With the Chinese Army now involved in the war, following the crossing of the 38^th Parallel dividing North and South Korea, the war had become bloodier. Chester felt the need to return to the battlefield and find James, but his leg had received severe damage, and it was unlikely he would ever be able to walk without assistance again.

           As the war ended on July 27, 1953, Chester felt hope that James would return once again, but as other soldiers returned home, James was not among them. Once again, Chester felt downhearted. He was losing hope that his friend had survived the war.

           Years had passed, and on his thirtieth birthday, Chester’s wife of four years, Hannah, had thrown him a surprise party. Many of his friends from the office where he worked as an advertising executive, along with some of his neighbourhood friends were in attendance. Chester put on a happy face, but inside, he began to think of James again.

           There was something gnawing away at him inside; something that made him feel that James was still out there waiting to be rescued somehow.

           Chester had difficulty getting around without crutches, but he was determined to better himself in mind and body through a daily regiment of exercises that his physiotherapist had shown him, and his new obsession with reading self-help books. His favorite being, “How to Win Friends and Influence People,” by Dale Carnegie.

           Within a year, he was able to walk unassisted for several minutes, and after a decade had passed, he was without crutches, and walking with just a slight limp. Chester had also become a motivational speaker and was invited to several school campuses and corporate events to help encourage the attendees to overcome their fears and apprehensions.

           By the time he had turned fifty, Chester was ready for an early retirement from the advertising firm. He and his wife had raised three children and two grandchildren already. It was 1984, and a former Hollywood actor, Ronald Reagan, was now the President of the United States.

           Chester and his family had planned a trip to the California coast to spend some quality time together. They rented a house on the beach in Long Beach, California, just thirty minutes from Disneyland Park.

           Wanting to give back to those less privileged than they were, Chester convinced his family to volunteer a few hours at the Long Beach Rescue Mission helping out those who needed some help.

           When they arrived at the shelter, Chester noted the lengthy line of people who waited patiently for the doors to the kitchen to open for breakfast. He couldn’t help but notice, how many appeared to be veterans. Most of them were dressed in Army greens or camouflage, and some were missing limbs.

           The pain in Chester’s leg began to throb as if were reliving the moment the shrapnel entered his flesh. Chester met one of the staff near the entrance at the rear of the building and they went inside.

           They were each given assignments; even the grandkids were given jobs. Patrick, the oldest, helped by handing plates to the people as they approached the food line, and Elizabeth, the youngest, offered entertainment by dancing to the music that played on a piped-in sound system.

           Chester and Hannah helped dish out the food. Nearly thirty minutes into serving, a man approached with his plate held out. When he spoke, Chester found something familiar about the bearded stranger. It was in his eyes. He had seen this man before.

           Before it came to him, the man spoke up and asked, “Chester, is that you?”

           It was then that Chester realized that the man before him was his long-lost friend, James. The two were reunited at last. A disgruntled man a few feet back in line asked them to hurry it up, so Chester told James not to leave and he would see him after he finished serving.

           He watched closely as James walked toward one of the tables and sat down. He looked as if he had been living on the streets for years. He then noticed that one sleeve was dangling loosely at his side.

           Chester gathered his family after breakfast had been served and brought them to the table where James was sitting. He introduced them all, and young Elizabeth innocently asks, “Where is your arm?”

           James told Elizabeth that he had lost it during the war to which she replied, “Can’t you just pop it back on? That’s what I do with my Barbie dolls when their arms come off.”

           James chuckled and said that his arm was missing so he can’t pop it back on. Chester quickly changed the subject and asked James if there was somewhere they could meet later to talk, but Hannah reminded him that they had plans with the family the entire day.

           James asked Chester to meet him back at the shelter the following morning, and they would talk then.

           The following day, back at the shelter, Chester spotted James at the same table and joined him. Chester told James that he kept trying to find him when they were separated in Korea, then he asked him what happened to him.

           James began to tell him that the North Koreans captured him. He was starved, beaten, then tortured repeatedly for months. Eventually, he managed to escape his prison during an air raid. He had nearly reached the 38^th parallel when he felt a searing heat rip through his left forearm.

           He had passed out from the pain, and when he came to, he was laying in a bamboo shack. A young Korean woman kneeled over him and wiped his brow with a damp cloth. She called out and moments later a soldier dressed a South Korean uniform entered.

           In broken English, the man introduced himself and told James that he was safe in the village of Gojanha-Ri, South Korea. Soldiers of the Republic of Korea found him and carried him down the river to the village.

           James grasped his arm before continuing with his story. He said that the people in the village did not have medicine to treat the wound and infection was spreading, so they needed to remove the arm from the elbow down.

           He spent the next several months recovering from his amputation, and eventually was handed over to the next U.S. military troops who were passing through. They flew him back to California, and that is where he had stayed.

           Chester asked how he ended up living in the streets, and James told him that the veterans around there were treated like outcasts by most of society. Because of the things they experienced, not everyone trusts that he wouldn’t snap at any moment, so nobody would hire him.

           James said somberly, “I lived of scraps and hand-outs for the first ten years, and then someone told me about this shelter. They give me food to eat, a place to stay off the street sometimes, and clothes for those cold nights. They even had a doctor come by every now and then to check on the health of all the vets.”

           “What if I found some help for you, James,” Chester asked. “I could get you off the street for good.”

           “Nah, I’m fine,” he replied. “You got a good thing going. You’ve got a beautiful family and looks like you are doing well for yourself. Don’t be worrying about me.”

           Chester tried to convince James to allow him to help, but James wanted nothing to do with it, so he gave James his phone number and told him to call whenever he needed someone to talk to.          

           Another two years had passed, and Chester was back home enjoying his retirement when the phone rang. It was James on the other end of the line asking for bus fair so he could return home. Chester arranged to have a ticket in James’s name waiting for him at the station.

           It was supposed to take just over forty-eight hours for the bus to arrive, and nearly fifty hours had gone by, but still no James. Chester called the bus terminal in California, and the girl on the phone said that James had picked up the ticket and boarded the bus, but along the route, the bus had blown a tire on the I-40 around Albuquerque, New Mexico. The bus then went off the road and into a ravine.

           Some of the passengers were able to get to safety, but the driver and over half of the passengers did not make it out before the bus exploded into flames. The bus company was unsure about the identities of the survivors or the victims.

           Chester began to call the state police when the doorbell rang. He put down the phone and hurried to the door. When he swung it open, James was standing on the doorstep. Chester wrapped his arms around James and squeezed him tightly.

           “It’s good to see you too,” he said sarcastically.

           Chester asked James about the bus crash, but James had no clue what he was talking about. After hearing the story, James admitted that he sold the ticket to a young couple with two kids. The bus was full, and one of them was going to have to stay behind, so he offered them his ticket then hitchhiked all the way from California.

           The next day, while watching the news, there was a list of the victims of the bus accident that James was supposed to be on. The mother and two children had perished in the crash, and the father, who James sold the ticket to, survived.

           There was a moment of silence until Patrick and Elizabeth paraded into the living room and broke the silence with their version of, “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go,” by Wham.

           Over the next few days, Chester helped James contact Veterans Affairs. They arranged several job interviews for him and gave him a voucher to spend on clothing at a nearby thrift store.

           By the time the first interview came around, James had a new wardrobe for work and for home. Chester gave him a little extra cash to buy a new pair of shoes instead of the second-hand ones. Chester felt that James had spent enough time in old shoes and deserved to be comfortable.

           The first few interviews were rough, and went nowhere, but the fourth went quite well. The advertising agency where Chester once worked, was looking for help in the mail room sorting and delivering mail to the different departments. It was a job he was capable of even with just one hand.

           It wasn’t until James started working there, that Chester admitted he put in a good word for him, but he said it was the interview that won him the position. They liked how James did not see his missing arm as a disability or a deterrent.

           Both of these men, these long-time friends, began their lives on a single path, but with one step in the wrong direction, their paths were divided. They had similar skills and similar interests, yet, with one twist of fate, they lived completely different lives.

           James may be starting over again, but all that matters to both him and Chester, is that they are together again.