Who is James David Huff ???

October 10th, 1944 0620am, a baby boy is born.  Looking out the window, the waters of Presque Isle Bay and Lake Erie are only two blocks from Hamot Hospital.  The early morning sun has just begun to outline the old steamship dock and the distant penninsula.  Dorothy looks at the second of her illigetiment children.  Another bastard born into the world, his arrival would not even be mentioned, in the Times newspaper, with the respectable children born that day.

Such is the beginning of a story not told before. This is the story of the man you know as James David Huff.  Other than casual recording of his name, in the files of the United States Marine Corps, SSA, IRS, CIA and FBI, the child born that day and the man he became are never linked. 

The events, as they unfold, are real and happened as recorded.  No attempt has been made to paint a pretty picture, although there is beauty in this story.  No excuse is offered for the wrongs I have done or the people I have hurt, yet there is joy in much of the telling.  I am what I am,  "What you think of me is none of my bussiness".  Truth is a liberator and God's grace is sufficient.  With this disclaimer out of the way, let us begin.

Dorothy Diehl was born on January 28, 1922, daughter of Charles and Rose Diehl of Erie, Pennsylavania.  She was the youngest of eleven children.  Her mother, Rose Fields Diehl died on December 15, 1951, at the age of 72 years.  She was partially blind and the cause of her death was unknown.  Her father Charles had died in 1929, when she was only seven, and her mother was left to raise this large family.  Dorothy came from a poor family.  In her infancy she was placed in the Erie Infants Home as she was suffering from malnourishment and body sores.  At age two, she was hospitalized for abscesses on her neck.  She was very slow in learning to talk and she had speach difficulties thoughout school.  Dorthy was in special education classes and withdrew from school in 1938.  After age two, there was no record of any serious illness of any kind.  Dorothy was in good health during her pregnancies with both myself and my older half sister.

Because of Dorothy's limited intellectual ability, her mother was very protective of her.  Dorothy lived with her mother untill 1945.  Being good Catholics, neither my half sister, Nancy, nor myself were aborted. 

Nancy was born March 31, 1943 and like myself, her father was "unknown".  Nancy was considered to be very slow in developement and was subsequently adopted by a family in Sarasota, FL.  I have two pictures of her and will add them to this page.  Her first communion and her engagement are the only images I have of her.  I don't think she knew she was adopted and I deliberatly never contacted her for that reason.

When I was two months old Dorthy left me with an elderly lady named Catherine Huff.  The idea was to pay Mrs. Huff to take care of me and eventually return me to her.  However, shortly after that Dorothy "disappeared" never to be heard from again.

Mrs Huff was taking care of her bedridden husband, Arlen, a victim of a serious stroke.  Taking me in was to help provide some income.  Instead, I became an instant liability.  Being such a beautiful baby and Mrs. Huff being such a loving person, rather than "giving me up" to the Erie County Institution District, she fought to keep me.  She will ever remain the first blessing in my life and became my "real" mother.

(cntd)

random shots from box of old pictures

Brenda around 1963=65 at farm little boy on far sidewalk (look under horse) in cowboy outfit was me age 5 - 1949 - my first Rose Bowl Parade, Passadena, CA - think roy rogers was grand martial..

our first car - Brenda bought it while I was in "Viet Nam - 1966

I know these are off the wall.  Today is one of those off the wall days.  I scanned several pictures I found in a box while sorting "stuff".  Posted some to Haley, Isabelle, Ashley and Dawn's FB pages.

Operation Double Eagle I Viet Nam - Jan/Feb 1966

The hole I lived in

Kids in local village

Corpsman, ARVN interp, driver and myself
doing "good will" medical visit

Kids are all alike around the world

Little brother

Baby sitting is full time job

Family

All kids like to swing

Lined up for "sick call"

My corpsman HM 1 J O BRACKIN
most loved and respected man
willing to put his life on the line for us

ask me about the object (top middle of picture)
and I just might tell you about it.

July 2012 = since posting these pictures I have noticed many people from Vietnam as well as those interested in Operation Double  Eagle visiting this page.  If you would like to talk to me, please comment or email. 

Omega -

a message from Viet Nam 1966 as best as I remember writing it - If you don't want to know...................stop now




OMEGA


Omega he said. Omega he cried
The bringer of death, to one who just died.
I am the last, you'll know on earth.
The one who ends, your life from birth
Omega he said. Omega he cried.

Your life in my hand, your future to give.
You were born to die, not given to live.
I am the end, of all you know,
Sent from on "high" to bring you low.
Your life in my hand, your future to give.

I never knew you, you never knew I.
We did not question, but went forth to die.
"Orders" they said, "The enemy kill"
You were my foe, I did their will
I never knew you, you never knew I.

The bringer of death. The reaper am I.
Patiently waiting, for you to come by.
Nearer you came. so unaware.
To end your life, I did not care.
The bringer of death. The reaper am I.

I look down my sights. I see you quite clear.
The image I see, seems so very near.
The recoil soft. You drop mid stride.
What have I done. Another has died.
I look down my sights. I see you quite clear.

Omega am I. Avenger so deft,
That when I kill you, there's less of me left.
Mine not to ask. I do as told.
I kill you first, then I grow old
Omega I am. Avenger so deft.

It is to late now. I've taken your life.
A picture I find, of your child and wife.
Do it again? You know I would.
As you to me, as if you could.
It is to late now. I've taken your life.

Omega, the end. Omega, it's done.
The battle is o'er and no one has won.
They lied to me. They lied to you.
I took your life and took mine too.
Omega, the end. Omega, it's done.

jade




It isn't over yet.................

My Plight

How is this, as a thought
Alone I am and with naught
To share with me a simple dream
Even venture a little scheme
That would be all I sought

I would not, if I would
Though I might, if I could
To dare with thee as if I mean
Presume upon your bosom lean
As it were, that I should

This I know, is my plight
Live and die, in the night

jade

A Fae Wood

I found myself upon a path within the wood

Less traveled this and yet I knew and understood

This was the way I was to go


The forest dark and dim within beckoned to me

The path was faint and overgrown most hard to see

This was the way I was to go


Step over step I made my way slowly forward

Quiet, silent, disturbing none, ever onward

This was the way I was to go


A light ahead, faintly glowing, a fairy ring

Wee folk dancing, the ancient song I heard her sing

This is the way for you to go


Beautiful she I can't describe So innocent

So pure and clean and much alive I stared intent

Knowing this way was mine to go


With open arms they welcomed me and taught me songs

Of peace and joy and happiness forgetting wrongs

This was the way I longed to go


We smoked a pipe and drank a toast, though different "kinds"

We shared a dream of hope and love in all our minds

This was the way that I should go


I woke alone, the forest still, with nothing there

I know, am sure, twas not a dream, and witness bear

This was the way that I would go


And you may come, along with me, this path to walk

To love and laugh, forgiving all their unthought talk

This is the way for us to go


Will you come with me?


jade