The Radio

On Sunday afternoon October 7th 1945, the radio was on in the waiting room Galion Community Hospital  in Crestline Ohio. It was tuned to the Mutual Radio Network station, WLW radio in Cincinnati. Two broadcast that day influenced my life.

The World Series

The fifth game of the world series was on. The Chicago Cubs were playing the Detroit Tigers at Wrigley's field and they were tied a two games each.

 In the bottom of the 5th inning of the 5th game, the score was tied, one up.
Then there was a game changer, I was born.

The Detroit Tigers Scored 4 runs in the top of the 6th inning and beat the Chicago Cubs 8 to 4. The Cubs lost the wold series.

The cubs never won another series.
The curse continued for me. Thirty years later we moved to Chicago.
Sheila became a Cubs fan. Every time I sat down to watch a game with her, the cubs would start losing. I was perty much confined to another room when the games were on. No matter how far ahead the cub were, If I entered the living room and even glanced at the TV, the other team would score. I was really afraid I would get hit by a flying remote control if I entered the room when the cubs were playing.
Some say the Cubs losses were because of the curse of the goat.

I don't believe it.
At work one day, everyone decided to go to the game. I had never been to a cubs game. It was a beautiful April and coulden't resist the chance to get out of the office. We didn't expect any traffic, but we still managed to arrive at Wrigley very late. Just like some 30 years earlier, I arrived in the bottom of the fourth. This time though, the cubs were ahead, leading Philly 13 to 2. They couldn't possibly lose.

Armed Forces Radio

On Sunday night, people in Crestline Ohio were tuned into Armed Forces radio listening to  Phil Silvers , Bing Crosby, Lucille Ball and Bing Crosby.
Crosby sang  White Christmas, Sunday, Monday or Always and Pistol Packin' Mama.
More importantly, he sang I'll Be Home for Christmas for the first time on radio. A song Mom and Dad would often sing on their annual trips to visit my grandparents parents on Thanksgiving or Christmas. The words seem to have created a thread in their lives. We had dropped the bomb on Japan. The war was winding down. Our troops were looking forward to coming home.

Bings song became a Christmas classic. The greatest generation had it embedded in their souls.

As a result of that song and others like it, our parent's seemed drive to return home for Christmas. No matter where we were or how far the trip, we had to go "Over the River and Through the Woods, to Grandma's House We Go". Sometimes it was to the McLains dairy farm in Galion, or the Grosh's house in Symerna Georgia