:03:01
Memory is a funny thing.
:03:04
Recollections slip in and out
and around in time...
:03:08
...leaving plenty of room
to weave and backtrack...
:03:12
...and drift and glide.
:03:15
In my life, I've found that...
:03:17
...memories of the spirit
linger and sweeten...
:03:20
...long after memories
of the brain have faded.
:03:23
My fondest memories are
of my childhood days...
:03:27
...back in Yazoo, Mississippi.
:03:30
I can still see the town now.
:03:32
Ten thousand souls, and nothing doing.
:03:35
Where the old men sat drowsily
in straw-bottom chairs...
:03:39
... watching the big cars
with out-of-state plates whip by.
:03:43
Drivers hardly knowing...
:03:45
...and certainly not caring
what place this was.
:03:48
There was a war going on then.
:03:51
And it touched our lives every day.
:03:53
War, President Roosevelt
reminded us...
:03:56
...required everybody to make
sacrifices. And boy, we did.
:04:02
The cotton grew tall that year,
the summer of 1942...
:04:06
...but I sure didn't.
:04:08
Matter of fact,
I stayed so small and puny...
:04:11
...l was a target
for the neighborhood bullies.
:04:14
Fortunately, I lived next door
to Dink Jenkins...
:04:17
... Yazoo's best athlete
and favorite son.
:04:20
Dink?
:04:23
Where do you think they'll send you?
:04:26
Probably Fort Benning for basic,
then overseas, I reckon.
:04:30
How long will you be gone?
:04:32
That's hard to say.
:04:36
If you're not home, who will
show me how to throw a curve ball?
:04:41
You promised to show me.
:04:43
Partner, you're gonna do just fine.
:04:45
While I'm gone, you'll make
friends your own age...
:04:48
...and who knows,
you might even meet a girl.
:04:54
Will!
:04:55
Suppertime!
:04:57
This was a time of large families.