Audio
Episode 18: Captain Charles Young
Transcript
This is Sergeant Alizy Bowman again. You know, sometimes, I get kind of tired of talking about myself. I found myself an interesting person to talk about. But sometimes, you know, the world is bigger than who you are. The other people, they're out there in it. And I figure, I should say something to you about someone that I really admire. I don't know him very well because he's an officer. And if you are an enlisted man, even if you are a sergeant or non-commissioned officer, you only can know what the officer is so well. There's just kind of--there's a space between you as an enlisted man and the officers under which you serve. And that space ain't as big as the Grand Canyon of Tuolumne or Yosemite Valley but that space is still there and it's deep. And there's something cold moving at the bottom of it and that coldness separates you from him. But still even from that distance, you can appreciate when someone is doing something that is important and they've achieved something, that's important. I'm talking about Captain Charles Young. Now, I don't serve and have not served under Captain Young because Captain Young, you know, he's with the Troop I and Troop M down in Sequoia National Park, but I ran into him almost literally. And the Logan, the Logan was the transport ship that took us from the Philippines where we were in the--engaged in the Philippine War. It took us from the Philippines back to the United States back to San Francisco. And, you know, I told you, I may have mentioned I'm from South Carolina and in South Carolina, you don't have there a many opportunities to get on a big ship like that Logan that US Logan. And it don't agree with me. What I mean is the being on a boat don't agree with me. What I'm saying is being in the ocean on a boat don't agree with me. Being on a boat in the ocean in a storm definitely did not agree with me. And so, one evening, I was in the Logan and I was in a sorry, sorry shape. And I was leaning over the rail and part of me was on that boat and part of me was going into the ocean itself and I was just letting it all out because I tell you right now, I ain't a sailor. I'm a cavalryman. And so, what the army thinks that I'm going to be comfortable being in something that makes me think I'm a sailor. So I'm losing a bit of myself from time to time and I'm just basically a mess. And I hear something behind me in the wind, because the wind is blowing and the ship was moving back and forth and there's all that salt from all that water blowing in my face, and it's cold and warm at the same time. You can figure that one now. And I hear foot steps and I feel that someone behind me and I turn around and there he is, Captain Charles Young. And he's looking at me and I'm looking at him, and I just started smiling because I've never been that close to him before. Because we are--we're all together, you know, Troop K, Troop L, Troop I and M, they're all right there, you know, and this is 1902, like late in the season '02 in the Fall. And Captain Young is right there in front of me. And I smile, then I extend my hand to him because I'm meeting the man. He's a legend, a legend in the--in the 9th Cavalry, you know, Captain Charles Young right there. So I extend my hand and say, "Captain Young, how are you, sir? I'm always wanting to meet you." And I extend my hand and I notice he didn't extend his and I couldn't quite figure out at first why because I was so exited to see him. And then I remember, I've been getting sick up till that moment. And I've been wiping all--well, you know, while I was wiping away from my mouth every time I kind of heave over that rail. And so when I extended my hand and he was just staring right at it. He's staring at me because some of it went all over in the ocean, some of it on that rail. I'm going to tell you it was bad. And he looked at me and I looked to him and I just said, "Oh, I'm sorry, sir. I didn't mean no disrespect. I'm just happy to see you." And he just looked at me and said--he said, "Soldier, I'm sad to see that you--that being out here in the ocean ain't agreeing with you but I'm not going to take you a hand right now. I want you to clean yourself up. Get yourself in shape because there's worse things in the world." That's what he said, "There's worse thing in the world than being on a boat. And if you're a cavalryman, you know what I'm saying is true. So, even though you're sick, you got to take care of yourself. You got to clean yourself up because you represent more than just yourself. You represent your troop and you're regiment. And you cannot afford to have someone see you in such a sorry state, because people form an opinion about you every single moment you are alive in this world. They did it for me. They formed an opinion about me. They think they know me and they haven't even met me. That's the world we both…
Description
Sgt. Boman tells of his first encounter with Charles Young, the first African American Superintendent of a national park.
Duration
9 minutes, 4 seconds
Credit
Shelton Johnson
Date Created
07/03/2013
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