Patrons had to come down a narrow stairs to enter the basement disco bar that was under the bowling alley. It was at the bottom of the stairs that we checked IDs and took a cover charge if applicable. It was dark and loud. The dim light hid a multitude of sins. By 10:00 p.m. on Friday night, the place was packed with 18 year olds - many from as far away as Indiana. It was 1980 and Wisconsin's drinking age was 18. The girls usually came together in packs, or gaggles. Some times as many as nine would squeeze in a car and drive the 100 miles to get drunk legally in Wisconsin. Because of this, it was hard to get to hang out with any girls after bar time at one of the late-night pizza places. There was always a "got-to-go-girl" pulling any potential rendezvous girl out the door at bar time. The guys usually came in twos and threes - guy thing.
One pretty girl always arrived alone. I found out her name was Heide, spelled with an "e" at the end instead of an "i." She was going to design school in Chicago and did not have time to rely on the notorious "gaggles." We would eventually find ourselves eating pizza after bar time on many nights at a dive on the south side of town - often at 4:00 in the morning. One night, some drunks stumbled in the pizza place. Heide looked at one of the drunks and said loud enough for the whole dive to hear, "I know that guy and he is an ass." The guy looked my way in his drunk cross-eyed glower.
I said, "Heide, you trying to get me killed?"
Heide just smiled and said, "You're the bouncer, you can take care of your self." The guy was so drunk he immediately refocused on a waitress and slurred some diatribe about how he was there to pick up his pizza.
Because there seemed to be a social barrier between the patrons and staff of the disco, that meant the bar staff usually hung out together after bar time. For one thing we were all a bit older than the customers. The DJ - who was wearing a cowboy hat - introduced himself to me my first night on the job, "Hey dude, you been to 'Nam too? You got the look." I had to correct him and explain I had been in Germany when Saigon collapsed to "Charlie."
"No, matter," he said, and then lifted the front of his shirt. "'Name's Murry. Let's go to Hanny's after bar time. Hey man check out the hole in my stomach. I got shot in Phnom Penh when Ol' Tricky decided to invade Cambodia."
Hanny's restaurant had been in Lake Geneva for ever. It took until 3:00 a.m. to get the bar cleaned up and we arrived at Hanny's about 3:30 a.m. to loud music, louder customers, and an incredulous waitress. She knew Murry and acquainted herself with my taste in early morning eggs and bacon with perfected complacency. A few minutes later, as our plates were plopped in front of us, a drunk girl with her pants falling off and her shirt on backwards hopped up on the counter just a foot from our plates in her bare feet and began to take the rest of her cloths off as she danced to a Lynyrd Synyrd song. Murry ignored the girl and asked, "How's your eggs Bob?"
This week's Wisconsin soldier to remember is Corporal Robert Paul Warns II, age 23, of Waukesha. Corporal Warn's unit arrived in Iraq less than two months before he was killed. He died Monday, November 8, 2004 due to enemy action. Robert joined the Marines after graduating from Catholic Memorial High School in 1999. Corporal Warn was Wisconsin's 25th casualty in Iraq since the spring of 2003. He was attached to the Madison-based unit of Company G, 2nd Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division, Marine Forces Reserve. Robert was in the same unit as Lance Cpl. Shane K. O'Donnell, of DeForest who was last week's Daily Dadio soldier to remember. Both Marines were killed south of Baghdad. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel mentioned Robert went by "Bobby" and was a senior at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Robert wrestled, ran track, and played tennis in high school. The Journal Sentinel went on to say the unit was activated in June of 2004 and arrived in Iraq in September of that same year.
3,798 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
27,936 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Iraq since Spring 2003.
79 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
112 journalists (several nationalities) have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
Soldier of the week, military casualty, and journalist casualty information sources: Committee to Protect Journalists; cnn.com; and, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
