American River Review 2022 - copy - Flipbook - Page 74
take care of back home after the war he worked in the shipyards they had six
more children all together four girls and five boys four of the five joined the
military two in the Army two in the Navy one soldier stayed stateside one was
sent to Korea both sailors shipped out to Vietnam out of twenty-four grandchildren four joined the military two in the Army one in the Navy one in the
National Gaurd one soldier and one sailor made the military their careers now
a great-grandson is in the Marines
I can still hear Nana’s
San Francisco-accented voice saying
American
when she meant
White person
As I scour the soundscape of my childhood
and adult hood
I can’t find a time
when she called herself or any of her own
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