Philip Noce:
CLASS OF 1958
St. Henry's SchoolClass of 1958
Bayonne, NJ
Philip's Story
Life
I am retired after 35 years with AT&T et al. Have four children; two daughters, two sons and six grandchildren.
I divorced after 30 years of marriage a few years ago and
live with my sons. My daughters are married and have their families.
I went to Rutgers but I did it the easy way. I went nights on the GI Bill. If I went to college right after high school I
would have been thrown out. Wrong attitude. I will be updating the other bio sections on all of this.
My youngest son (24) developed a love for our music at an early age. He is a subject matter expert on Doo Wop. He already has five years experience on radio, does live shows
and has been cited in books and liner notes on CDs. He is the only one that got into that music. The other kids were into what was ever popular at the time when they were growing up.
I travel with my son to his shows (gigs) and during the warmer months I like gardening. My real love weighs 3800 pounds - a 68 Montego 4 speed 390 engine the whole routine.
Sometimes the kid in you just refuses to leave.
Military
I was drafted into the Army on June 6, 1965 (some dates you never forget).
After basic training I was assigned to ATC (Air Traffic Control) but had to wait for orders. So I was made the post dental assistant which meant I delivered supplies. I figured I got lucky. After 7 weeks I was called in for an interview. The school was 6 months and I had to agree that I would spend an additional two years after graduation. I said "Wait a minute". Two months already spent in basic another 2 months waiting then six months school and another two years? I am drafted that's...Expand for more
two years total. Well, after I said no the Army had no problems cutting my orders only this time it took
24 hours not seven weeks - Infantry Light Weapons. After the advanced training I find myself on my way to Viet Nam thinking
what happened to my luck?
When I arrive in Viet Nam my orders change. There were new artillery units and they need men. So now things are not too bad - until I arrive at my unit. It seems that the artillery has changed. It was no longer "behind the lines". It was now
mobile which meant if there wasn't a road you were picked up by a chopper and flown right in. I spent a year with the 1st Air Cav out of An Khe. You have a tendency to remember the good. I did manage two R&Rs. I saw Bangkok and Hong Kong.
When I returned the Army did not know what to do with the
Nam vets with less than six months to do. They assigned us to
school support which meant when the future oficers went through their field training we were the bad guys who ambushed the cadets. I was stationed at Fort Knox which was Armor and none of us had any prior experience with tanks.
The Army took care of that by issuing us new driver licenses.
The comments were all the same. The new license read 3/4 ton,
2 1/2 ton, 5 ton (these were trucks) OK we knew how to drive these. Then the license continued 26 ton, 52 ton never drove those, didn't even know what these things were. But we learned.
The twists and turns of military life are an experience in its
self but you walk away a different person. You grow up in a hurry and there is not much difference between the major religions. We are a lot closer then we once believed.
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