A man to ride the river with.
Rodney Rhodes hailed from the Louisiana Bayou country where he was born and raised. He worked as an electrician in NYC after serving his nation during the Korean War. Rodney went through some of the toughest fighting of the Forgotten War and like so many other men and women who served with honor doing that conflict deserves recognition for his service.
However, I am including him here because he became a good friend while I worked at the Trenton, New Jersey Vet Center on Jersey Street. He was a quiet good natured guy who always had time to chat, and in fact visited the Vet Center many days for that purpose alone.
We shared coffee and donuts and discussed his war and mine (Vietnam) and what life became for us after returning home to learn that although we had changed beyond self-recognition, everyone else seemed like the same folks we left behind.
I always told people who asked my age that I was 22 --or whatever I was at the time-- going on 90. He not only found this funny, he knew exactly how I felt and what I meant.
When the Vet Center helped set up a tribute to Korean War veterans to honor them and the local Korean population at the Olympic baseball game between the USA and Korea in Trenton, Rodney was a great supporter and helped in every way possible.
At some point within the years he came to the Vet Center, he visited Washington DC and stopped at the Wall to honor Vietnam dead. He took a terrific photo, had it framed and presented it to me at a ceremony at the Vet Center.
I made him sign the back, which he did including the inscription I used to open this post. When I asked him what he meant, Rodney said, "Where I'm from, riding the river is a way of life. A man to ride the river with is a man you can trust your life to."
Then he told me about a friend of his who he rode the river with years ago. They passed under a low hanging live oak tree. As they did, a snake dropped from the tree into the boat. It wasn't the type of snake anyone might want to have that close since it was a water moccasin. His friend pulled out a pistol he always carried and blasted a couple shots at the snake. He missed the snake, but sank the boat. They remained friends because he knew the man shot at the snake to keep them both from getting poisoned many miles away from the nearest hospital.
Rodney had a way of smiling that told more than his words. After that story, I knew a lot more about him and his values than I had before and knew that he too was a man to ride the river with.
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