I received my "draft notice" to report for induction in early September, 1961. Mary (my spouse) and I were engaged to be married sometime in the future. Our engagement was official on my birthday, May 13, 1961, as a fabulous party in Mary's parents' home in Jamaica, Queens. I was working steadily, though on and off, as a freelancer photographer for PARIS-MATCH out of their NYC offices. I also was lucky to have small assignments from other publications and some small adverts but had not yet worked for LIFE or LOOK magazines.

I had been visiting Ruth Lester, the Contributions Editor at LIFE for several months. Ruth was a real dear, tremendously encouraging of my work (and many other beginning photojournalists). Though she had no real "clout" as far as getting assignments from LIFE, she was well positioned to discover new talent and recommend them to the Picture Editor, Dick Pollard. I was lucky enough to get a recommendation and Dick looked through my portfolio of PARIS-MATCH and other photos but his Rolodex was full of stringers and available young freelancers. We shook hands and the best that came of that meeting was that Dick Pollard knew my name. Ruth Lester encouraged me to shoot local news events and bring her the film. She would have the LIFE lab process the film and see to it that the editors in the Newsfronts Department had an opportunity to view my work. Who knows? I just might sell and picture to LIFE. She'd finish up by replacing my film wirth some from the LIFE storeroom.

It was Ruth who sent me down to meet with the George "Buddy" Bloodgood, the Picture Editor of SPORTS ILLUSTRATED, a few floor below in the TIME-LIFE building on Avenue of the Americas and 51st Street. Buddy was a crewcut, beaming, shirt-sleeved, Irishman, who offered me a shot of Irish Whiskey behind closed doors. He liked my portfolio of photographs but astutely told me that I was no sports photographer. I thought I had "struck out" once again and was preparing to leave the meeting when he added: "But I like your people pictures. You're a great photographer of people and I can use you just in those cases when I need pictures of people. Human interest stuff. Okay?" I shook his hand. "When can I start?" I asked. He earched his desk for some papers and came up with a sheet. "This weekend," he answered. "Wildwood, New Jersey. You know it? It's on the shore. Cover the National Marble Championships. I'm serious. The action is, not what I would call, sport-like." And so I was in at TIME-LIFE publications.

This was several months before my draft notice arrived. I was to report to 39 Whitehall Street in lower Manhattan where I would undergo a complete physical and mental exam and if I passed, would be sworn into military service and sent to Fort Dix, NJ for basic training.

More about my two years in the U.S. Army working in the Pentagon as the "Chief Army Photographer" (my thanks to Dirck Halstead who held that position and passed it on to me).