and he is fine. he lived to tell the tale and proudly. he was discharged in 1959 after that very honorable service. after he was discharged in 1959 he headed home. to jacksonville, florida. around this time he was getting out of the air force after this amazing service, late 1959 early 1960, obviously there was tremendous organizing happening throughout the american south at that time for the civil rights movement. for that young man who had been serving his country, he was 23, 24 years old at the time. there was a lot in the air. in february, 1960, students in greensboro, north carolina, had started this new tactic sitting in at segregated lunch counters. that tactic moved from greensboro, north carolina and
and when it came to the race riot on august 27th, they buried coverage of that on page 15 at the paper. which is all the more amazing when you consider that after the initial frenzied attack, hundreds of white men running through the downtown, chasing people down and beating them with axe handles. after that initial frenzied attack, the writing in jacksonville actually continued for two more nights. the florida times union, the paper, the wreck paper, they did not seem to mention. it was just a hurricane of violence. in the end, the kids, the young people organized the protests over the lunch counters. they won. they started those protests, like i said august 1960. by the spring of 1961, jacksonville had quietly integrated its downtown lunch counters. and, it took longer, but the