I had the pleasure and honor of knowing and bending elbows with “Old Man Charley”
He had served in the USN at the end of WWI and in WWII and when Korea came around, the Navy wouldn’t let him back in....so he joined the Merchant Marines.
They broke the mold after making men like him.
When I was a kid for some reason I struck up a friendship with an old man on my street named John.
He fought in WWI and told me stories about riding in the 40 and 8 train cars.
They would fit 40 men and 8 horses.