I arrived home from the Marines on or about mid April of 1958 having gotten discharged about 6 weeks early of my two years of active duty thanks to President Eisenhower decision to reduce the size of the Marine Corps. Actually old Ike even wanted to disband the Marine Corps altogether but Congress was wise enough to avoid such a move. I guess Ike being an old Army man and having spent his war years in Europe and not the South Pacific did not realize the versatility that the Naval Soldiers had to offer. Anyway he did not get his wish, we still have a Marine Corps and one hell of a lot of Marines. Recently the Commandant of the Marines issued a proclamation declaring that there was no such thing as "former marines"...that once you are a Marine you are a Marine for life...So I guess that settles that for the time being...probably a good thing, who knows...sorry for the editorial here lets get back to Oldsmobiles......
I had sent home a pretty good some of money to my mom to keep for me and along with the money they had gotten for my beloved 53 Olds, I pretty much went shopping for wheels as soon as I had gotten settled into my parents guest bedroom on Charles Street in Lafayette...They had moved to town and retired the summer that I had left for the Marines...Built a new small 2 bedroom home with a one car garage. It was good to be home and I guess I still had Oldsmobiles in my blood as it was not long and I owned yet another one. My second Olds was a 1955 88 Olds 2 door Hardtop. Blue and White it was a very sporty looking car...I soon loved it as much as I had the 53 model.
But now for another little side bar detour here with the picture to the right. You see I could not find in my computer a picture of me with my 55 Olds. Sure I have one some place but instead will bore you with this picture of the same era...One from the fall of 1958 when I was given the opportunity to go deer hunting in Upper Michigan with my brother in law Ralph Hengst who I have written about previously on this blogsite. I so much admired the sportsman in my brother in law Ralph...Anyway here is Ralph and I in the center of this pic outside the bar in which we stayed in a little town of Mass Michigan about 20 miles inland from Ontanogon Michigan on the Lake. Has absolutely nothing to do with this blog story of the 55 Olds except that when this picture was taken I did in deed own the said 55 Olds the subject of this blog story...OK back to the Oldsmobile.
Well the 55 Olds got me back and forth to my jobs that I had when first getting discharged. Work was hard to find as there was somewhat of a recession going on...The Marine Corps had told us we needed to re-enlist so as not to go home and not be able to find work. But work can always be found if one looks and wants it hard enough. I started out within about a week of getting home working for 90 cents an hour setting up new John Deere Corn planters for the John Deere dealership. Soon I moved up to selling things at the Tractor Supply Company which lasted about a year maybe and then luck good or bad landed me at the new REA Magnet Wire company for a good paying job. One that soon led to my making more money than I needed at the time and that led to thoughts of getting my first "brand new" automobile which will be the subject of the next story here...Yep you guessed it it was yet another Oldsmobile....
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