Veteran recalls Vietnam combat that earned him a Silver Star

RP Members here is a story about a Vietnam Veteran and his memories of combat that earned him a Silver Star!

After graduating from Kenmore West High School in 1962, John M. Washington went to work for Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., changing tires and repairing vehicles.

He had worked part time for the company during high school, so the switch to the full-time job went without a hitch. A year later, he met Germaine Clark on the Elmwood Avenue strip, and three years later, they were married.

For the first three months of their marriage, life rolled along like a new set of tires, “smoothly,” Washington says. He went to work, and his wife, who was from Watkins Glen, attended her senior year at Buffalo State College.

Then a draft notice arrived and Washington found himself facing two years of military service.

“That ruined everything,” he says.

Lacking the financial resources to hang on to their garage apartment on Elmwood, which for Germaine was within walking distance of Buffalo State, she moved in with her widower father-in-law, whose name embodied the essence of patriotism – George Washington.