Rickus

By Rick Campbell

My name is John Richard Campbell. I’ve been called Rick all my life. Instead of Ruckus, I named this book Rickus. That was the name of my band, whenever I had one.

For you, who choose to read this book, I hope you find it interesting. It contains some events that happened in my life. I would swear in a court of law they are true.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Newman Springs Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Jun 12, 2020
• ISBN: 9781648011566

Rick Campbell

Rick Campbell, a retired Navy Commander, spent more than twenty years on multiple submarine tours. On his last tour, he was one of the two men whose permission was required to launch the submarine's nuclear warhead-tipped missiles. Campbell is the author of The Trident Deception, Empire Rising and Ice Station Nautilus, and lives with his family in the greater Washington, D.C. area.

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Rickus

Rick Campbell

Copyright © 2020 Rick Campbell

All rights reserved

First Edition

NEWMAN SPRINGS PUBLISHING

320 Broad Street

Red Bank, NJ 07701

First originally published by Newman Springs Publishing 2020

ISBN 978-1-64801-155-9 (Paperback)

ISBN 978-1-64801-156-6 (Digital)

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Foreword

My name is John Richard Campbell. I’ve been called Rick all my life. I was born on February 2, 1941, Groundhog Day, in a small house at the corner of North St. and Cherry St. in Belton, South Carolina.

The average income then was $1,777 a year.

A new house costs $4,075.

New car costs $850.

A gallon of gas costs 12 cents.

Kerosene costs10 cents.

Milk costs 54 cents.

Coffee costs 45 cents a pound.

A postage stamp costs 3 cents.

Franklin Roosevelt was the president.

Henry Wallace was the vice president.

For you, who choose to read this book, I hope you find it interesting. It contains some things that actually happened in my life. I would swear in a court of law they are true.

Cason’s grocery, a quarter mile west of Belton’s town square, at the intersection of Breazeale and Cherry Streets, was a big hub of activity for years. It had groceries, meats, produce, and a delivery service, which was a bicycle with a large wire basket mounted on the front. Cason’s also had two gas pumps, kerosene oil, and a rack that people could drive their car up on to have an oil change. I was too young to remember, but my dad worked there before he went into the army.

On August 11, 1943, my brother, Jerry, came along. I was only two and staying with my grandparents, John and Ellen Campbell. Grandpa John worked for Cox’s Lumber Co. as a house painter. I guess work got slack because he went to stay with his three sisters, who worked at the Belton Cotton Mill. Grandma Ellen took me and went to her sister’s, Jess Thompson, house. She didn’t have room for us, so we stayed in her old chicken house that had no floor. It was a big adventure for me.

Work picked up for Grandpa John, and he rented us a house on Ellison Street. Grandma was glad to leave that chicken coop.

In early 1946, Mama took me and Jerry to a house she had rented a quarter mile down the road from Cason’s. It only had a front and back room. To get to the bathroom, outdoor plumbing, we had to cross a creek, behind the house, on a 2×6 inch board. Mama got water from a well next door. Jerry and I wasted no time exploring the creek. There were craw fish, tadpoles, and frogs; we never saw any fish. We played in the yard until it began to get dark. Mama would yell, Y’all come in now, or the Booger Man will get you. We’d go and take a bath in a number two tin tub, eat our corn bread and butter milk for supper, listen to the radio for a while, and then go to bed.

One day, it was raining cats and dogs. I was looking