Snyder's Family

Airman Snyder and I had stopped for the night in Manhattan Kansas, which was only a couple of hours from his mom's house on the east side of Kansas City Missouri. The only part of the next day's drive I remember is passing through the downtown KC area on the freeway, which was particularly stressful. We were in a vastly under-powered flatbed government truck, traffic was surprisingly heavy, I never had no clue what lane I should be in, and (even with the side mirrors) there were a lot of blind spots. (This was in 1974 and I don't think the signs were particularly helpful). But we made it through town without incident and pulled up in front of Snyder's house around mid-morning.

As I recall, Snyder's mom lived alone with his 2 brothers - one about 16 years old and the other around 10. (I don't think there had been a father in the picture for a long time.) Shortly after we got there we ate lunch and the youngest brother didn't like whatever vegetable his mom had fixed, which resulted in Snyder giving him a big lecture about eating everything on your plate.
Unfortunately, I just couldn't hold my tongue: I had been to the chow hall with Snyder many times since arriving at McClellan and he was about the pickiest eater I'd ever seen. So I was like "Seriously? You never eat anything you don't like." and he was like "But that's crappy military food and this is good mom's food"... In retrospect, I really should have stayed out of it. At that point it hadn't yet dawned on me that Snyder had been the "father figure" in his little brother's life prior to joining the military - so yeah, my bad... (But still - hypocrisy?)

Aside: I have always been baffled by how my memory works... That lunch incident was totally inconsequential yet (after 42 years) I can recall what the table looked like, where everyone was sitting, what the window (and curtains) behind the table looked like, what was outside the window - and how mad Snyder got (he was a bit red in the face)... Yeah - it's hard to make sense of what my brain decides to retain.

The only other memory I have of that day is when Snyder and I tried to help his other brother fix a leaking radiator. We were making use of the big soldering iron we carried in our military tool box (the thing was over a foot long and was referred to as the "donkey dick") and we had it hanging down from an extension code draped over a rafter in the garage. Snyder's brother wasn't paying attention to what he was doing and grabbed the iron by the barrel (hot part) instead of the handle, which resulted in second degree burns over the palm of his hand. He was screaming in pain - Snyder was freaking out - and I made a mental note to be extremely careful if I ever had to use one of those again. (And the radiator didn't get fixed.)

We spent the night at Snyder's house (don't recall where I slept) and early the next afternoon we headed for St. Louis, where his in-laws lived. Since he wasn't in a position to invite me to stay with them he dropped me off at the Motel 6 by the airport (right off of I-70). As I recall, his in-laws lived in Florrisant (a nearby suburb).

BTW - they were named "Motel 6" because (at the time) they actually cost $6 a night (less than half of a typical Holiday Inn), but they charged extra for almost everything (except towels and bedding). There was even a coin slot on the television, and I was thrilled to discover that the one in my room was stuck in the "on" position, hence I had free TV. (It was black and white - but still - bonus!)

Coming up next - the hockey game.