Ninety Years of Life Include Wartime Marine Service

Summary

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Troutville's Edwin Paderick enlisted in the Marines in 1937. That's way before most of us were born. Seventeen at the time, he had to have his parents' permission. His parents grew tobacco in eastern North Carolina, where "everybody was poor but they didn't know it," he said. "When everybody's in the same situation you're in, it doesn't bother you."

Why enlist in the Marines? "I don't know. I wanted to get off of the farm. A whole lot of work and no money." However, he had to wait for an opening. "Back then they weren't chasing you. There were only fifteen thousand Marines total around the world when I went in. So many went into the service because of the Depression."

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Extract

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Ninety Years of Life Include Wartime Marine Service

So this teenager made all of $21 a month after he went to Savannah, Ga., to enlist. He and about 15 others then got into a bus th...

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