In August of 1978 I was discharged from the US Navy. It had been a good tour of duty. However I was not a lifer. I had other plans for my life besides being in the military. The ship was in Okinawa at the time of my discharge so I took a courier flight out to Hawaii then to San Francisco then to San Diego for final processing out.
It took a week to process me out. All the time they were trying to get me to re-up. They were unsuccessful as I was ready to go home and continue my life as a civilian.
After I was processed out I bought a VW van. It was a fun vehicle to drive. The driver sat right on top of the left front wheel. Packed up the van with my personal affects and headed east on US 10 to Florida. I would be a 5 day trip of almost 3000 miles.
Somewhere in New Mexico, near the continental divide a very strange thing happened to me. I had been having trouble starting the VW van. It was a problem with the starter. From time to time I would have to crawl under the van and short out the terminals on the starter to make it work. We’ll it was not starting now and I was having no luck shorting out the starter. I was stranded almost 2000 miles from home. And there was no one there to help me.
I continued to struggle with the starter when I looked out from where I was laying under the van and saw two feet and legs standing next to my van.
It was a man. He said “HI there. Do you need any help?” I crawled out from under the van and said “Yes. I have been trying to get this beast started for an hour now with no success. If you could give me a push I think it will start when I dump the clutch.” He agreed and I got into the driver’s seat and shifted the van into second. “I’m ready!” I shouted back to the man. He pushed and I dumped the clutch and the van started. Whew! I was so happy! I got out and walked to the back of the van to thank the man and to offer him some money for his help. There was nobody there! I was by myself. A cold chill went up my spine! Where was he? It was only a matter of seconds between when he pushed and the van started. There was no time for him to run away. When I arrived there was no vehicles in the parking lot. There was no place for anyone to go except off the cliff. And I am sure he did not jump.
The experience frightened me a little. I could not explain what just happened. And there was a fringe benefit. My starter never failed again as long as I owned the van. It was a weird unexplained event and I can never get my mind around it. The only way I can explain this is that it must have been an angel. No other explanation makes sense to me.
I got into the van with chills running up and down my spine, and continued my trip back home to Florida.
Memories of a Baby Boomer 