Soul Sanctuary: Notorious Nonfiction Stories of Romance, Suspense, and Miracles

By Herb Klingele

Herb graduated from high school, has a class A driver’s license, and is an operating engineer. Herb owns his own business, and he is also an arborist and a high-climber. He is a sergeant (USMC) and has a junior college AA business degree. He holds classes on how to win friends and influence people.
Herb’s third wife had left him. She could not see any light at the end of the tunnel for him ever quitting drugs or alcohol. Praying to God, the phone rang at that moment; a call from a friend of Herb’s dad who at forty-three years sobriety never called Herb. Instantly, the mental obsession and the physical compulsion were lifted from Herb.
Herb attended three alcoholics’ anonymous meetings daily and also checked into Kaiser Chemical Dependency and Veterans Administration Chemical Dependency. He is now fifteen years clean and sober. Why do bad things happen to good people? God loves us that much. Through spiritual discernment, this book may help others, also Herb’s first book, Soul Journey. With miracles of biblical proportion, Lacey intrigues Herb, an account every woman should read.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Balboa Press
• Release date: Oct 12, 2018
• ISBN: 9781504397964

Herb Klingele

Herb has lived a life of extremes, experiencing miracles beyond comprehension or understanding. Herb lost his arm to save his soul, in a chair 24 seven, cannot express the joy of these thorns in the flesh given through the grace of God. Herb has been married three times, living alone as a widowed man with a great sense of humor, reading the word of God consistently, married at the age of 16, blessed with four children, giving God all the glory for these precious souls. This will be Herb’s 10th book, written from the school of hard knocks, living with the Holy Spirit. Herb has danced with the devil right through the middle of hell. A little soft shoe, the Boogaloo, a trip to the light fantastic. Spun the devil around 20 years ago and never looked back. Herb recommends starting with his first book, an autobiography, “Soul Journey .”Experience the miracles as Herb walk through hell with unshakable faith. Recently a grandfather of a murdered 16-year-old only grandson, “Sequoyah Hunter .”Herb has written “Soul Hunter,” living his grandson’s last days and life. Herb writes nonfiction: remember that when you leave this life, you can take nothing you have received. Only what you have given; a full heart enriched by honest service, love, sacrifice, and courage. Herb is presently working on a series of romance novels. Ten manuscripts being edited and published concurrently of the love between a man and a woman. “Soulmates Journey To Heaven,” another book is coming out shortly, “Faith Finds Love.” Herb finds himself devoting his life to God and service with spiritual discernment helping others get to heaven in his writing. Herb knows where he came from, his calling for God, and where he is going at the end of this journey.

Book preview

Copyright © 2018 Herbert Klingele.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Scripture taken from the King James Version of the Bible

Balboa Press

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Bloomington, IN 47403

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

The author of this book does not dispense medical advice or prescribe the use of any technique as a form of treatment for physical, emotional, or medical problems without the advice of a physician, either directly or indirectly. The intent of the author is only to offer information of a general nature to help you in your quest for emotional and spiritual well-being. In the event you use any of the information in this book for yourself, which is your constitutional right, the author and the publisher assume no responsibility for your actions.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

ISBN: 978-1-5043-9795-7 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5043-9797-1 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-5043-9796-4 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018912005

Balboa Press rev. date: 10/11/2018

Contents

Acknowledgments

Preface

Introduction

Chapter 1: The First People in My Family to Arrive in the United States

Chapter 2: World War II Hero Audie Murphy

Chapter 3: Baby Jackrabbit

Chapter 4: The Slaughterhouse

Chapter 5: Grab Bag

Chapter 6: Three-Legged Hunting Dog

Chapter 7: The Powwow Dance

Chapter 8: The Prayer

The Holy Spirit Moving; the Miracles

Chapter 9: Black Widow Spider

Chapter 10: First Television

Chapter 11: Mitchell’s Market

Chapter 12: Dragging the River

Chapter 13: Half-Filipino Sister

Mom Pulled a Gun on Dad

Chapter 14: Lillian White Corn Little Soldier

Chapter 15: The Willow Switch

Chapter 16: Parochial School

Santa Claus

Chapter 17: The Move from Washington to California

Chapter 18: The Move from Washington to California Again

Chapter 19: La Honda, California

My Brother Kevin and I Were Gifted at the Game of Golf

Dad Recycling Tires

Eighty-Three-Year-Old Dentist, No Novocain

Leisurely Sunday Afternoon with no Breaks

Friend Ron, a Professional Shot-Putter

The channel catfish

Depression Toys for Boys

Chapter 20: Dad Leases a Gas Station

Pre–Ken Kesey’s Dad’s Property, 1959

An Educational Soda Machine

350-Pound Cushman Motor Scooter in the House

Our Best Friends

Chapter 21: The Ranch

Chapter 22: Driving Dad from Bar to Bar

Fishing for Steelhead

Chapter 23: Young Boys in a Small Town

Chapter 24: Memory Lane

The Fear of Heights

In the Jailhouse Now

Enabling

The Sling

Camping with Rattlesnakes and Cougars

Chapter 25: Sanctuary Town for Social Misfits

Chapter 26: No Food in the House

Chapter 27: 1932 Ford Model T Bucket Roadster Convertible

Chapter 28: Four Children Gang Up on Dad

Brothers Hanging Out

New Year’s Eve 1964

Simplified Method When Smelling Gas Fumes

Diving off the Roof

Driving around the In-Laws’ Home

Chapter 29: Dad’s Legacy, His Children

Chapter 30: Intermission

The FBI

Slap the Monkey

Coming Back as a Minister

Dynamite and Xmas Trees?

Give Everything Away and Live on the Streets

Paper Clips

Abomination of the Soul

The Suits?

Boot Camp

The Med Float

Dear John

Firing Squad

The Compound

The 2×4 and Cigarettes

British Marine Pilots

No Rights

British Marine Pilots

Ninety-Six-Hour Leave

The Island

Feds Again?

Gitmo

The Bob Hope Special

Quantico, Virginia

Chapter 31: Cousin Kandy—Hospitality to Angels

Chapter 32: Cousin Wendy

Chapter 33: Spare Change

A Broken Nose

Robbing the Pizza Parlor

The Wager and the Maître D’

Chapter 34: I Will Be with You Again One Day, My Brothers, but Not Yet

Chapter 35: First Two Miracles, and Many to Follow

Chapter 36: Grandma’s Miracle and Dad’s Blessing

Greed

Christmas

Chapter 37: God Showed Up

God Had His Hand on This 1965 Chevrolet One-and-a-Half-Ton Truck

Harley-Davidsons

Thorazine Shuffle

Chapter 38: Just a Coincidence?

Chapter 39: God Called

Chapter 40: The Miracle of an Abduction

Chapter 41: Disappearing Hawks

Healing Waters

Chapter 42: Arnold the Cat

A Prayer Answered

Chapter 43: Why Bad Things Happen to Good People

Highway Patrol Drill Instructor

Chapter 44: Valentine Cards and Romance?

Chapter 45: More Shall Be Revealed

SkidRow Frank

Chapter 46: A Young Lady’s Miracle

Suggested Reading for Every Woman and Young Girl

The Woman

Chapter 47: A Gentleman Whispers Soul Romance and Love

Herb and Ginette enjoying life with understanding

The Bond

Prophecy Fulfilled

Epilogue

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Herb Klingele, author, April 1949, Yakima, Washington.

Dedicated to my four amazing children, who will leave a legacy of grandchildren and extended family for generations to come. Through their knowledge and wisdom, these children have contributed to the raising of their father with all his shortcomings, and for this they are to be acknowledged. Each one of them preciously loves with God’s grace, so freely given.

I realize they are gifts from God, sent from heaven above.

Before treasuring my children, I cared for their mother, Patricia Margaret. I am appreciative of their mother for the unique upbringing that she provided for the children, more often than not bearing the burden of their father’s absence. As a family, they love and care about one another and have fun together. All that Dad can offer is the best that I can do with what I have at any given moment. I turn my will and life over to the care of God and live with unshakable faith, absolutely insisting on enjoying life and refusing to have one negative moment, which otherwise would be a time of happiness lost forever. I don’t take myself too seriously, so I find myself calling my children on the telephone to ask for support from time to time.

Katherine Marie, my oldest daughter: high grade point average in high school and college, successful, and independent. Katherine, as your father I am exceedingly proud of you for being the family matriarch and caring for us all.

Kenneth Thomas, my second child and only son: high grade point average through high school and college—and took over my tree company, for which I am beyond proud. Through your hard work and success, you have created a thriving business. You have also given me, your dad, a grandson who loves to push Grandpa around in his rusty wheelchair whenever Grandpa has to go to the Veterans Administration hospital, where the boy is admired and respected for doing so for his grandpa.

Kimberly Ann, my third child and second daughter: high grade point average through high school and college, owns and runs a successful acupuncture practice, and used to teach French at an all-girls Catholic high school before that. (I cannot keep up with how many degrees this one has.) Your father is exceedingly proud of and divinely inspired by your accomplishments. My spiritual granddaughter Emmanuelle Rose was taken from your womb because God needed another angel to guide and protect this family.

Kelly Eugenia, the youngest child of four, high grade point average through high school and college, registered nurse, and works as a professional aesthetic clinician. You have given me three beautiful granddaughters to admire and appreciate. I am exceedingly proud, and it is with love that I pray that these beautiful, intelligent grandchildren will be protected and loved by you.

Acknowledgments

Family, thanks to God, made Soul Sanctuary possible.

My father, Eugene Henry Klingele (1924–1993)

My mother, Ruth Ann Klingele (1929–2012)

My eldest son, Herb Klingele

My wife Pat O’Sullivan

My brother-in-law, Thomas Patrick O’Sullivan (1948–1967)

My eldest daughter, Kathy Klingele, family matriarch, overseer

My son Kenny Klingele, his wife, Jina, and their family

My grandson Sequoyah Klingele

My daughter Kimberly Klingele, her husband, Daniel Hemmen, and their family

My granddaughter Emmanuelle Rose (Klingele) Hemmen, guardian angel (2006–2006)

My stepgranddaughter, Michiah Hemmen

My daughter Kelly Klingele, her husband, Hue Meeker, and their family

My granddaughter Madeleine Klingele

My granddaughters Sadie (Klingele) Meeker and CoCo (Klingele) Meeker

My brother Kevin Edward Klingele (1950–2007), his wife, Stephanie, and their two children, Kevin Junior and Becky

My brother Jack Robert Klingele, his wife, Shirley, and their four children, Johnny, Jimmy, Susan, and Eugene

My sister, Judith Marie Klingele-Morris-Preston (1953–2005) My brother-in-law (Judy’s husband) James Stuart Morse (1947–1984)

Jim and Judy’s two children, Samual (Klingele) Morse and Madelynn (Klingele) Morse, and Maruca (1991–2005)

My great-niece (Madelynn’s daughter) Ashley (Klingele) Cendana-Swindell

My brother Thomas Christopher Klingele (1960–2011), his wife, Tina, and their two children, Christopher Klingele and Crystal (Klingele) Sheehi

A special thanks to the following for their hard work and contributions:

Ginette Blais-Guardian angel sent from God, a prayer answered—Read Chapter 47

My wife Patricia M. O’Sullivan, for providing me with valuable information such as dates and names

Billy Fred Tex Marcott Mentor, my teacher and former father-in-law

Kimberly Ann Klingele, my daughter, for her editorial skills and mentoring

Lisa Tusberg, Graphic Designer

Russell Raz Holder, a biker friend, for his editorial skills and mentoring

Paul Williamson, brother in heaven, provided an 1875 Gutenberg Bible

Farrel Phelps, my brother in heaven, a Native American (Sioux), for his help with punctuation

I have compassion for my nieces and nephews Samuel (Klingele) Morse, Kevin Junior, Becky Klingele, Christopher Klingele, and Crystal (Klingele), the reason being that whereas my children have a dad, these nieces and nephews have lost theirs.

*     *     *

All scripture quotations are taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

The first printing press was put into operation ca. 1461, and the first book printed in Latin was the Bible, later translated to English.

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Rare Gutenberg English Bible, 10th ed., 1875.

End view of gold scrolling locking the Holy Scripture.

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Gutenberg English Bible, 10th ed., 1875.

Open view of its radiance and power, on an intricately carved rosewood Bible cradle.

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Front cover, Gutenberg Bible, 10th ed., 1875.

Intricate and precise hand-beaten leather design.

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Carved rosewood cradle with a hinge only the Spirit of God could have designed.

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This reads as follows: Complete within Scripture finding a marriage certificate; This Certifies That were solemnly united by in the Holy Bonds of Matrimony; At on the day of in the year of our Lord One Thousand Eight Hundred and conformably to the Ordinance of God, and the Laws of the Commonwealth. Signed in the presence of two witnesses, also approved by [a pair of open-frames pictures of husband and wife]. BE YE of one mind.

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These drawings, originally done in pen, were transferred to the early printing press of Johannes Gutenberg. The Ascension. It came to pass, while he blesses them, he was parted from them and carried up into heaven (Luke 24:51).

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Gutenberg English Bible, 10th ed., 1875.

Provided by the Williamson family.

Preface

My charting from my memory is like the prediction of an earthquake, like the crying of loneliness sadly forgotten. I offer the contents of Soul Sanctuary exposed to the light of the heart opened up to a time machine. We are all picking up speed as time progressively leaps forward, unavailable through our knowledge and wisdom, unless we are traveling at the speed of light where time stops.

So many memories of childhood are forgotten. If you reflect slowly on your childhood, it will materialize, especially if you pay attention to conversations you have with others, as these will shake your memory of childhood.

My belief is that we only come this way once. I revisited and am living out the emotional ride of my childhood and past experience. Take a walk with me and experience what it was like to be a child in the mountains raised with no supervision, going through the experience of having to work hard as a child. I grew to the age of accountability, accepting responsibility for my questionable actions.

My healing comes through evaluation, pressing the echoes of time to help me remember and to reveal things. I was given inspiration by reminiscing. I have only my Herb memories to access.

Follow me. I offer my readers a resource to share with friends. Reflecting on times past opens the mind and allows me to reconnect with my childhood. I have received spiritual discernment from others, learning through my experience. It was not a comfortable life for me at times, but I have an appreciation of the blessings I gained and of the fact that I suffered hard knocks and found out that nothing is for free in this world.

I allow my sense of loyalty to inspire others, and then I identify with it, tapping into its undeniable power. God’s chronograph is extensive and enduring, creating companionship through his ability to show us love. Love is unconditional with no expectations and is consensual in spirit. I keep an open mind today. God’s will for us, simply put, is that we love God and all his creation to the best of our ability and that we ask that his will, not ours, be done.

I find myself paying attention to the little things, which are the miracles. Most walk around with blinders on, oblivious to the wonders. They are all wrapped up in their self-indulgence and pride of self that is small. These things are called sins of the flesh. I am not perfect, and I know I will fall short if I am not willing to grow along spiritual lines and if I do not help others alter their hearts and right their wrongdoings.

I express in Soul Sanctuary that I can operate with a higher power, which is too beautiful to connect to an end. My friendships grow through truth, honesty, freedom, fun, enjoyment, strength, and kindness born of love. My home is a safe place for the care of people, especially those with physical or mental impairments who require organized supervision or assistance.

Introduction

The greatest revenge against regrets and resentments is forgiveness. Through regrets, we learn to forgive ourselves. Through resentments, we learn to forgive others. By learning to forgive ourselves and others, we are inspired to live a life of being happy joyous and free, uninhibited by bondage and experiencing the miracles.

I’ve heard it said, Once you love someone, you love them forever. People fall out of trust, intimacy, and respect, not love.

Here’s a little hug for you to make you smile when you feel blue, to make you happy when you feel sad, and to let you know life is not so bad. I have given a hug to you, and somehow I feel better too. Hugs are better when you share, so pass one on and show you care.

Care to make God laugh? Plan your life. If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof over your head, and a place to sleep, then you are richer than 75 percent of the people in the world.

If you have money in a bank or in your wallet, and spare change in a dish someplace, then you’re among the top 8 percent of the world’s wealthy.

If this morning you woke up with more health than illness, then you’re more blessed than the million people who will not survive this week.

If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of confinement, the pain of being tortured, or the pain of starvation, then you have it better than five hundred million other people in the world.

If you can attend a church meeting without fear of harassment, arrest, torture, or death, then you’re more blessed than three billion other people in the world.

If your parents are still married and alive, you are very rare, even in the United States.

Hold up your head, put a smile on your face, and feel blessed. You are blessed, because whereas the majority can do these things, most of them do not.

If you can hold someone’s hand, hug them, or even touch them on the shoulder, then you are blessed because you can offer a healing touch.

Read this message. You have just received a double blessing in that someone was thinking of you, and furthermore, you are more blessed than over two billion people in the world who cannot read.

We are blessed. Remember—throughout the year, be thankful for the blessings you have.

Get down on your knees to pray; God loves hearing from strangers.

Mother Teresa said, At the end of our lives, we will not be judged by how many diplomas we have received, how much money we have made, or how many great things we have done. We will be judged by ‘I was hungry, and you gave me food to eat. I was naked, and you clothed me. I was homeless, and you took me in.’

Do more for others than you do for yourself.

Have you found happiness in your life? Has your life brought joy to others?

Jeremiah 9:23 reads, Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches.

You came into this world with nothing, and you will leave the same way, with absolutely nothing.

What is your legacy? What footprints are you leaving behind? Is your destiny eternal? Or could it be that a six-feet-deep hole awaits you at the end of your journey? You either believe in Santa Claus or you do not. In comparison, you either have faith or you do not.

Did we just evolve out of slime, or were we created? Is there a God in heaven above? Is there a hell below? Is life eternal, or is this the end?

Have you ever been put into a life-or-death situation? If you have not, then you do not know what it is like to pray from the very core of your soul for your life’s sake. Are you fortunate to have been born in the United States? Do you take the United States for granted? Do you appreciate freedom? Do not just travel abroad on the tourist trail. Get into the guts of the culture in a foreign country and observe what rights you do have then. Absolutely none. Do you feel the world owes you? A barrage of questions have been put forth unto you. And there are more.

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CHAPTER 1

The First People in My Family to Arrive in the United States

Ludwig Wolfgang Von Klingele, my great-great-grandfather on Dad’s side of the family, came to the United States in the year 1848 of our Lord. He came from the Black Forest in Germany, on a ship around the Horn of Africa, and disembarked in San Francisco, California. He then migrated to Quincy, Illinois. From there, some of the family moved to Yakima, Washington, the apple capital of the world.

I offered to a friend, Bob D., a manuscript to read; I’m not finished as of yet. Bob called me up with joy. He was doubled over laughing and crying with total astonishment at my great-great-grandfather’s name. Bob proceeded to say, He sounds like he was one of Hitler’s henchmen.

That statement led me to do a little research. Adolf Hitler was born on April 20, 1889, and my great-great-grandfather landed in San Francisco in 1848. The mathematical equation and geographic location just do not add up in light of Bob’s sick sense of humor. I had not expected to entertain my dear friend Bob, specifically in the reflection of Adolf Hitler.

Bob was seventy-eight years old and feeling that senility was setting in. Possibly dementia was warping his mind. Not really out of context, Dad and his two brothers joined the military during World War II. And their last name was screened before the military would let them serve.

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Great-Grandpa and Great-Grandmother Klingele, fiftieth wedding anniversary.

I have a faint memory of when my great-grandfather and great-grandmother on Father’s side of the family suddenly passed at the same time. I have a picture of them on their fiftieth wedding anniversary, the golden anniversary.

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Herbert and Vera Klingele, married in 1919.

Herbert and Vieira had three sons, Wally, Kenny, and Eugene.

Grandfather was cranking a Model A Ford to get it started early in the morning on a cold, snowy day when he developed pneumonia. Soon afterward, he died (penicillin was not yet available). He was twenty-six years old, and my grandmother was pregnant with my father. In the year 1923, if you received a diagnosis of pneumonia, there was a good chance that you had just received a death sentence.

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Eugene Henry Klingele, born January 15, 1924, in Lewiston, Idaho.

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Jim and his wife, Emma Klingele, 1929, with a Ford Model A.

Great-Uncle Jim and his wife, Elma, lived on a large, successful apple ranch. As a hobbyist machinist, he was able to restore and rebuild a 1929 Ford Model A that looked original under the hood. Its running gear included a 289 Ford V-8 engine with overdrive. He and his wife traveled across the United States and back in this vehicle. It cruised like a Cadillac at 70–80 miles per hour all the way. Dad’s cousins (Great-Uncle Jim’s sons) today have some of the most prominent apple ranches in Yakima.

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Vera Klingele driving a 1924 Ford Model T.

Grandmother remarried and had a daughter, three sons (Dad and his two brothers), and their half-sister, who all lived together when they were children. Dad’s stepfather, possibly out of jealousy when Dad was a little boy, for no apparent reason would hit my father at the dinner table nightly and make him cry, according to statements from Dad’s two older brothers.

Dad was reflecting on the time of the Great Depression when grown men could not get work. Dad as a kid was working in the apple orchards, picking up brush for fifteen cents an hour. There was not much mention of Dad’s childhood. He would always say it was most probably hard during the Depression.

They were filming a television series, The Little Rascals, and from what Mom remembers, Dad could have been on the television series, but he just was not interested.

Uncle Kenny, looking back, stated that he remembered that Dad was driving some old man around in his Model A pickup and Dad could not even see over the steering wheel. Uncle Kenny was laughing and thought that was the funniest thing.

When he was younger, Dad went fishing and hunting at every opportunity to provide food for himself and anyone else who needed food.

When the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Dad and his two older brothers immediately went down and signed up to go to war. Dad and his brother Kenny went into the army and were assigned to the Pacific Island campaign.

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Eugene H. Klingele, Spec 5, stationed in the Philippines in World War II.

Dad was eventually stationed on the Philippine islands, packing up at Bougainville, preparing to make the landing on Japan before the United States dropped the two atomic bombs, one on Nagasaki and the other on Hiroshima, persuading the Japanese to surrender.

During World War II, 3,862 kamikaze pilots died, and about 19 percent of the kamikaze pilots managed to hit ships. These attacks, which began in October 1944, followed several critical military defeats for the Japanese. They had long since lost aerial dominance because they had old aircraft and had lost many experienced pilots. Japan suffered from a diminishing capacity for war and a rapidly declining industrial capacity. Japan had just awakened a sleeping giant, the United States, who followed our overwhelming allies’ efforts. Japan was also losing pilots faster than it could train their replacements.

Dad had mentioned that before landing in the Philippines, the fleet of ships he was on had been targeted by kamikaze (divine wind) pilots. The first assault by these Japanese suicide pilots was at Leyte Gulf, off the mainland of the Philippines.

The kamikaze pilots in total hit seven carriers, as well as forty other ships. Five were sunk, twenty-three were heavily damaged, and twelve were moderately damaged. Yukio Seki, Japanese naval aviator, later said, Japan’s future is bleak if it is forced to kill one of its best pilots and I am not going on this mission for the emperor or the empire … I am going because ordered to.

Dad was in the tank corps, and all he wanted was to be off the LST (landing ship transport) with his tank. Dad stated that one soldier on the ship was running around crying while asking, What are we going to do when the kamikaze pilots start sinking ships? Dad said, All I want is off of this ship.

He landed near Manila, where his mission was to capture Clark Air Base from the Japanese. He also mentioned that the United States’ .30-caliber machine gun could fire right through the Japanese tanks, because the metal was so thin compared to that of the United States Army tanks.

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Wally Klingele, USMC, World War II.

Dad’s oldest brother, Wally, stayed back in the United States as a drill instructor in the United States Marine Corps. Uncle Wally was the first marine to bring African Americans into the Marine Corps. This happened in 1943. He had to travel on a train down to the southeastern United States to pick up the African American recruits. Uncle Wally mentioned that on one train stop, he walked into a diner with the recruits, not realizing anything about the culture of the South or the lack of consideration for African Americans. The owner met my uncle at the door and said that no blacks were allowed in his diner and that he was not going to serve them any food.

My uncle threatened the owner. Are you illiterate or ignorant, or were you just born this way? With all of your infinite wisdom and mental capacity after playing marbles all your life, if you decide not to feed us, we are going to proceed to tear this diner up.

What this owner of the diner did not know was that my uncle was the heavyweight boxing champion of the United States Marine Corps. The owner then said he would feed my uncle and the recruits but that they would have to eat in the kitchen. Uncle Wally agreed. All they wanted was some chow.

Dad and his brothers were discharged from the military after World War II ended. Dad and Uncle Wally were wondering where their brother Kenny was, as he hadn’t showed up back in the United States for quite some time.

Uncle Kenny was very drunk, and when he sobered up, he was standing in the middle of Clark’s Field Air Base, wondering where everyone had gone. He did not even realize that the war was over. Uncle Kenny was the last one to leave the Philippines. Later, my dad found out that he was shacking up with a young woman in the Philippine islands. When Uncle Kenny was asked about his war experiences, he could not remember any of them. According to Dad and my uncle Wally, Uncle Kenny completely missed the war.

According to my uncle’s stories after the war, the first thing Wally did was to throw their stepfather out of the house and beat the hell out of him for being a jerk and for having beaten my father continuously when he was a small boy.

Grandmother had a daughter who was a stepsister to Dad and his two brothers.

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CHAPTER 2

World War II Hero Audie Murphy

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World War II hero Audie Murphy. Driver, Wally Klingele.

Murphy was making the movie To Hell and Back. Yakima, Washington.

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Audie Murphy on the cover of Life magazine as the most decorated soldier of the war, July 16, 1945. A copy of Life magazine cost $0.10 at the time.

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From left to right, Gene Klingele, Kenny Klingele, and Wally Klingele, Yakima, Washington.

When Dad came home from the war, he thought he had enough money to last him the rest of his life. Grandmother asked Dad and his brother Kenny if they would please move out of the house. They were both drinking and partying and were causing too much trouble staying at Grandma’s house.

Dad then rented the best hotel room in uptown Yakima. He said that the sink in the bathroom was filled to the top with vomit from his brother Kenny and him, and everyone else they partied with.

After two months they were downright broke and had to go to work. Dad’s oldest brother, Wally, had a gas station, and Dad went to work for him in Yakima.

Uncle Wally started the first Jeep club in the world after World War II, called the Yakima Ridge Runners.

The purpose of the Jeep club was to rescue lost or injured hikers and hunters, or anyone needing assistance in the rugged mountain terrain that a four-wheel drive offered. A World War II–era Jeep or newer could access the terrain when required.

Called a Jeep run, this social activity for families on weekends included racing in the mud on an oval track that was steep in some areas and filled with water in other sectors. Needless to say, everyone who participated got covered in mud, so they wore helmets and goggles. For practice, they climbed hills to see which Jeep could go the farthest up a steep mountain.

After the war, a film was being made in the hills of Yakima, starring Audie Murphy (Audie Leon Murphy, June 20, 1924–May 28, 1971), who was a highly decorated famous soldier. Because of Life magazine’s July 16, 1945, issue with its Most Decorated Soldier cover photo, Murphy became one the most famous soldiers of World War II. He was widely regarded as the most decorated US soldier of the war. After the war he was a celebrated movie star for over two decades, appearing in forty-four films (he also found some success as a country music composer).

I have a picture of Uncle Wally driving Audie Murphy. Murphy rode in the passenger seat of my uncle’s Jeep in the scenes of the movie To Hell and Back Film that were shot in the rugged mountainous terrain of Yakima. My uncle said that Audie Murphy was exceedingly arrogant and egotistical.

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CHAPTER 3

Baby Jackrabbit

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Picture taken by Jim Klingele, 1961. Yakima Indians coming off the reservation down to the fairgrounds for their annual powwow.

Uncle Wally was a close friend of the chief of the Yakima Indian Reservation. At that time there was a sign at the entrance of the Yakima Indian Reservation that read, No Whites Allowed on Reservation. The chief always made an exception for Great-Uncle Jim and Uncle Wally.

Occasionally, Uncle Wally would take my cousins, me, and my two brothers in his Jeep to the Yakima Indian Reservation. There we would hunt and kill jackrabbits just for the sport of it, while driving through the open range of mostly sagebrush. Jackrabbits breed faster than any other animal. There were thousands of them in the sagebrush.

They are no good for eating because the meat is too harsh. Just for the sport, we would kill jackrabbits with .22-caliber pistols or .22-caliber semiautomatic rifles. The fun thing about it was that we never knew what Jack was going to do when we shot one with a .22. Sometimes they would jump fifteen feet in the air and do a couple of double backflips. At the time it was exciting to see what they would do when they were shot. Plus, we were