My Kid Brother Was A Marine

1944 was a life-changing year for me. My baby brother came into the world weighing a whopping 10 pounds. He was named Jay Lloyd after his two grandfathers.

My brother was born with four definite attributes. He is funny, tough, has a tender heart and is stubborn.

It was the stubbornness that got him into the U.S. Marine Corps. When our dad refused to help him get a motorcycle, he became a leatherneck.

By the time he graduated in the class of 1962 from NBC high school, I was married and had my first child. It was just three months later that he departed for Parris Island. On that sunny early...