As a kid, I thought Labor Day was watching Jerry Lewis and the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) Telethon in my Grandma Shaffer’s Huntington, Indiana home. As a young adult, I answered and accepted donations as a WKJG- TV33 MDA phone bank volunteer in Fort Wayne.
After my college graduation, I worked in a Garrett, Indiana factory that assembled the Sonobouy for the Navy. I worked with two men named, Wee and Hi from Vietnam, who were genuinely appreciative of living in the United States. Wee shared with me how he made his way to the roof top of a tall building in Vietnam. He jumped, grabbed and held onto with all his might a helicopter. His wife was in a different location and took their two young sons into the water to a makeshift boat. Somehow they were reunited. (Hi has a similar story.)
Wee’s wife gave birth that year to one more son. Wee said that they named him Charlie because of the U.S. Military, who tried to protect them. Both of these men appreciated living in the U.S.A. and exhibited through their labor.
Wee and Hi’s English was not good. They wanted to learn English. Wee and Hi purchased Walkman’s, and I checked out audiobooks from the Allen County Public Library. They listened to the audio books while sounding out and writing down the words. During our lunch break, I figured out the words written. We pronounced the words over and over together, and I then defined them.
It was funny. Wee and Hi said clearly, “Oh, no, John Cougar Mellencamp!” as I placed the “Scarecrow” cassette tape in my Walkman. I would sing and dance as I soldered.
One day Wee and Hi asked, “Why do people get flowers at works?” I was leaving the Sonobouy factory the next week. I had a dozen colorful flowers delivered to each Wee and Hi and my last day with them. I wrote a note to Wee and Hi that came with their delivery, “You received flowers because I am thankful for working with you.”
I am thankful for Wee and Hi. They taught me to be proud of being an American but mostly the “Joy of Labor.”
This song from "Scarecrow” is for these men as I smile, and I still hear their voices, “Oh, no, John Cougar Mellencamp!"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwHpzdKe8cY
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