Sergeant Guardian Angel

By: Chuck Parker

I’m going to tell my Guardian Angel story. I believe the Holy Spirit works through others to guide us from harm. Some of my shipmates have heard this but I’m going to tell it again.

During the summer 1971 I went home on leave after my first deployment. Mideast.

I’m on my way back to Mayport in whites, proudly sporting a Third-Class crow and the National Defense ribbon.

I was changing planes in Atlanta when an anti-war, hippie bitch spat on me and said, “Fuck you baby killer.”

I think she was trying to hit my crow but got the left side of my face. Bad Fire Control!

Hell flew into me and I was going to beat the shit out of the bitch.

A hand grabbed my right arm and pulled me away. I looked at him, a short black man. Army. He had chevrons and rockers and shit sticks down his left arm. He had 3-4 rows of ribbons.

He said, “You just keep walkin’ boy.”

I said, “I’m going back and beat the shit out of that bitch.”

He said, “That fucking bitch ain’t worth it. Just keep walkin’ boy. Where you going to? Jacksonville. You’re going to get your ass on the airplane and go to Jacksonville.”

He made sure I got on the airplane and left. I think about him sometimes and the difference he made in my life. I’d like to write a book about my Navy experience.

The title would be “You Just Keep Walkin’ Boy,”