Memoirs That Made Me Who I Am Eugene Leone

Over the next 11 months we will be sharing the Memoirs That Made Me Who I Am. These are compiled stories written about the life of a former Gallup resident Eugene Leone.

Before his passing, he wrote, “It is with great delight that I share these stories from my heart, which have been inside for many years. My desire is that the reader would be able to go back to a time that was very real and may have been lost through the years.

Chapter Five The Log Cabin Lodge

II, Gene Leone, was serving in the last year of a two-year Air Force Cadet Flight training program. Our class was ordered to be shipped to the Salt Lake City Air Base for deployment for active duty in the vast Pacific theater of war. We were (almost to a man) overjoyed to be allowed to destroy Jap planes and kill many of the “little yellow-bellied Japs.” No thought was given to the fact

Our mission was to go via train to Salt Lake City and it was articulated quite clearly that we were not, under any circumstances, allowed to share our travel schedule, timing, or route to anyone! I then called my mom and let her know the day and time we would travel through Gallup. I made her promise not to tell a soul, except my girl, Clara, as this would result in serious consequences.

But, back to the 100car troop train which was grinding to a stop with my car at the platform of the Gallup, NM railroad depot. This place, however humble, was my hometown, and I was overjoyed at being able to see and embrace the love of my life and my mother. Just as the train jerked to a stop, I looked out the small door window and very nearly fainted; over half of the entire town’s population was standing on the platform waiting anxiously to greet me!

But, why me? Oh Mom! What have you done? I hadn’t done anything noteworthy, much less heroic. I was puzzled at the number of women; young and old, some with children, and men that that were elderly. But my girl, Clara, urged me to walk and greet more people and soon a cute little girl all dressed in her Sunday finest looked at me and said aloud, “Da, Da.” And then my somnolent brain kicked in and said to me “of course these people are not just here for you.” My arrival in a uniform renewed their hope and wish for their husbands, fathers, boyfriends, brothers, uncles, and friends, who were out there in the horrible war, risking their limbs and life, to come back home. Some will return in a flag covered casket, some with missing limbs, some with a mental disorder, but none will return as the person who left. I looked first at my beloved Clara and she was crying, which was unusual for her. Then I looked at my dad and mom and saw for the first time a look of approval from him, even admiration. At that moment I was ready to go through hell and back for them.

The train was moving when I got to it. The conductor, who is the boss of any train, graciously had given me 10 minutes, which necessitated running the train faster to make up for lost time. Since it was a singletrack line, this meant that a number of “cutouts” (parking places) were

Included is this 100-car freight train loaded with tanks, huge army trucks, jeeps, artillery guns, and lots of secret stuff I can’t disclose.

As soon as I boarded the train car, the Sergeant said that I was to report to the Captain. I walked to his office car at the very end of the train. I took a deep breath and knocked. He hollered out “Come in Leone!” In the service, all officers are addressed as “Sir.” Non-commissioned officers are addressed by their rank, Sergeant. All the rest, the regular soldiers were always addressed by our last and/or family name. I was “LEONE” for two years.

I knocked on the door and a loud and sonorous voice called out, “Come in Leone!” I went in, stood at attention, and when he finally looked at me, I saluted, which he chose not to return. He said, “You know Leone, what you did can be classified as a courtmartial offense” (because disclosing a troop’s movement is top secret). “This would result in ‘brig’ time (a jail time) offense, but this must be your lucky day because when I stepped off the train, this old lady whose husband had served in the Army Air Force, came up to me and said, ‘Captain, are you in charge of this train?’ When my Sergeant answered her, she said, ‘thank you for allowing that soldier to greet the people and help give them hope and confidence.’ Then she hugged me, can you imagine that?”

As you can imagine I was extremely lucky to only receive minimal consequences as a result of my naïve actions. How lucky was I!

Daddy’s Little Kiss

By DZuni Photography

“Daddy, blow on my fingernails please”, came the first request of my daughter as she extended her tiny hand with freshly painted red nails. I complied. “Daddy, brush my hair please”, came the second request as she propped herself in front of the mirror with a pink brush in hand. Once again, I complied. “Daddy, tie my shoe laces please”, came the third request as she sat on the recliner edge, tapping her heels and for the third time, I complied. Her final request, not a single word was spoken. She stood at the doorway with her eyes closed, puckered lips and arms spread like angel wings. She simply wanted Daddy’s little kiss. I complied.

Early Morning October Moon

By Abel Bates