Being Eigth years old in 1968.

You want to know something? I am thinking that 1968 was a happening year. Gasoline was at thirty four cents a gallon. The Beatles were singing Hey Jude. The Rolling Stones were Jumpin' Jack Flashing. Bonanza was a hit television show. Mission Impossible didn't star Tom Cruise. Apollo Eight went around the Moon. I remember my sister listening to Judy In the Sky with Glasses. My Dad was a country music fan and we had one of those cabinet stereos.

My Dad was still into the songs of Hank Williams, Eddie Arnold and Johnny Cash. Mom listened to what Dad listened to, I guess. Me I was into what everyone else listened to. My Dad had a Ford Truck and we piled into the back of the truck when we went somewhere. I don't remember going to much places when I was that young.  My Dad was working at the paper mill in the nearby town. Mom was a janitor in the school.  So life in my small world seemed good to me.

General Nguyen Ngoc Loan Executing a Viet Cong Prisoner in Saigon

Elsewhere things were happening. The Vietnam War was going on. People were dying. Bobby Goldsboro was singing "Honey". Star Trek and Batman were in their last year of television production.

Locally, a very bad car accident at the Brokenhead Ojibway Nation (known as Scanterbury) left a number of dead. Nine people died and one survivor was left wheelchair bound, while thirty-three children were orphaned. A very bad accident due to drinking.

The Manitoba Indian Brotherhood (MIB)was established and Dave Courchene was elected as the president. My Mishoom (Granpa) passed away that summer. I loved that man. Although I was only eight, I remember him well. He was a big guy, people knew him as Miskus (Red). He chewed snuff and he like to kiss the grandkids. He had whiskers that rubbed on your face when he kissed you. It was a welcome show of affection. The Residential school took those kind of things from my own parents.