Today, 31 October 2019, is a day on which two occasions in my life took place, and as each 31 Oct comes, these events will slowly as they have been, fade and soften. On this day in 1974 I boarded an aircraft at Tainan Air Base, Republic of China and left Taiwan. It never left me. Then Oct 31, 2009, I literally hung up my firefighting gear. I signed all the papers, crossed the "ts", dotted the "Is" in human resources, returned to the fire house, told the man on the desk, aka "watch", "Make an entry...I'm officially retired!" I did 25 years in that fire department. I also did 8 as an Air Force firefighter for a total of 33 years. [image deleted]
The images are of a commemorative medal awarded and a 10NT coin from Taiwan I got in my beer change in NYC. The FDNY rig and old alarm box was not where I was a firefighter, but it's a part of that firefighter experience.
