Two - one I ‘knew’ a little better than the other.
One was my buddies neighbor. Vietnam era. Multiple tours. He had POW plates. He raised Flemish Giant rabbits and was also certified Bird Of Prey recovery person. Whatever that’s called. Never spoke to him about his service at all, but I did buy a rabbit off him. I asked once about his service and made it clear he did not want to talk about it. Then the next time I saw him, he offered me a book to read called Devils With Green Faces. There was a picture of him in it, with another soldier, and they were holding up a dead VC’s head much like you would raise a trophy bucks for a snapshot. He was an odd bird. We had a love of rabbits in common.
Other was my knife service guy, for like literally 30 years. Every restaurant from Boston north that I worked at, I used his service. So I’d see him at work every other week during that stretch when he was working his route. Great guy. Incredibly affable. Little Italian. Did a lot of tunnel work in Vietnam, I guess. Cambodia. All over that mess. Multiple tours. I asked him about the book the other ex SEAL had given me to read, and he said he knew him.
Once, when he was coming through the kitchen grabbing our knives, I was im the process of cleaning soft shell crabs and he exclaimed “holy schitt, you’re skinning him alive!” And I chuckled mirthfully and responded “well I bet you’ve seen that before”….
There was a lonnng awkward silence and he very quietly said. “Yes. Yes I have.” He did not say another word that day, which was unusual. Just silently went about replacing all the knives and slipped out without saying goodbye. I felt bad about it.
Another time, he came through for the knives and I was in the midst of throwing a tirade at my staff for burning a large quantity of pine nuts. I was pounding my fist on the table berating my sous chef over the burned nuts and saying how I hated the smell of burning nuts because it smelled like burning money. I screamed a rhetorical question at my sous chef - “can you think of anything that smells worse than burning nuts?!!!”, my knife guy quietly said “i can. A big pile of burning bodies.”
That was another awkward silence and quiet exit day.
He’s retired now chilling with his family. I miss seeing him.
Last edited by Mr_Harry; 09/12/23.
