Dear Sir,
I guess I am writing this to the students now attending Cretin and the
alumni who have attended. My name is James Glaser and I graduated from
Cretin and I wanted to tell you a story.
Early in 1968 I was home on leave from the Marine Corps with orders for
Vietnam. I had been in the Marines a while and knew a lot of returning
Marines and had some sort of idea of what I was headed for, but in truth I
knew nothing. My dad was in WW II and Korea and his advice was to use
these 30 days of leave to get in the best physical shape I could. We lived
on the corner of Scheffer and Albert, a short jog to Cretin.
I felt a little weird back then having very short hair being it was
1968 and most guys were letting their hair grow out and so I kept to
myself a lot but one thing I did was to go up to the Cretin track and run
at night until I was exhausted with a pack on my back with about 40 pounds
in it. As the days passed the runs got longer, all the time I was running
I was thinking. Thinking about God, my future, and how I would become the
combat Marine I always thought I wanted to be.
Well it was Cretin and those years there in ROTC really taught me
nothing, but those years there in religion classes stuck with me. I can’t
remember the Brothers name now, but many of his words were
imprinted in my mind and to this day they are a blessing. I learned at
Cretin, if nothing else, that I could talk to God about anything and I
could ask for anything, although I didn’t always get what I asked
for.
I wasn’t ready for Vietnam. I am still not over Vietnam. Every
day I think of things that happened, young men who died on both sides,
horrible things I had to do, the bodies I had to move and handle, the
blood, mine and others that would itch because it might be many hours or a
day before you could wash it off, but the faith I learned at Cretin helped
my while in combat. I think it got me home, and it has helped me all these
years after, and it still helps me today.
So, I thank Cretin High School for the education I received. I have one
grand daughter who has graduated from Cretin, one still attending and I
feel very good about that. I hope they feel the same as I do over 50 years
later.
Sincerely,
James P. Glaser
Madison, Florida
