Then my folks decided to move back to Arkansas but this time they rented a house in downtown Huntsville (pop. 2k). My father got the job of deputy city marshal. He got that job because the last person to have it got beat-up right on the town square and decided he didn't like the job at all. My dad carried a .38 cal pistol and made sure that everyone knew that he didn't fight but would shoot. This is where we were living when I got my first driver's license at age 14.
After the school year my folks decided that they had had enough of Arkansas and we moved back to California where we stayed for a short time with some friends (Bob & Arlene Blair) in Los Gatos. This is where we were living when I bought a 1947 Indian motorcycle for $50. The salesman had to show me how to start and shift the motorcycle. It had a 'suicide-clutch' and a big chrome shift ball on the right side of the fuel tank.
Our next move was to Morgan Hill CA which is about fifty miles south of Los Gatos. We lived in a rented trailer in a trailer park behind a motel right on the US-101. We were living here when I traded-in my Indian motorcycle for a blue & white Buick. I had a job working in a gas station right across the highway from where we lived. Also living in the trailer park was a group of Gypsies that made lawn furniture and sold them from off the back of a flat-bed truck. I hung around with one of the guys who was just a few years older than me.
At the end of summer we moved to Draper Utah where I enrolled at Jordan High School as a junior. During this time I got a job delivering coal to people's homes to make some spending money. We then moved to Sandy, which was closer to Jordan High School, and lived in a rented trailer. During this time my father was employed at the Utah State Prison as a guard. We made one more move during the school year to Midvale, which was just about four blocks from Jordan High School.
The following summer we moved to Palo Alto California. I spent my senior year attending Palo Alto Senior High School, which was right across the street from Stanford University. During this school year I was on the wrestling team in the 191 pound weight class. Also during this year I had met was dating a nice girl by the name of Jannice Jean Saitta. After dating for some time we decided to get engaged. Instead of continuing on to college I decided to go into the U.S. Marine Corps when I graduated in June. Jan and I were planning to get married sometime later on.
I entered the Marine Corps in July of 1962 and did my boot-camp at USMCRD San Diego. After boot-camp I did my ITR at Camp Pendelton and then went back to San Diego for my Radar Operator's school (MOS 6741) learning how to direct air-to-air intercepts with F4 Phantoms, F8 Crusaders. I also learned how to do air-to-ground attacks using A4 Skyhawks.
My first duty station was at El Toro California in Marine Corps Support Squadron 3 (MASS-3). Our mission was to provide close-air-support to the Marines on the ground with the A4's. While stationed at El Toro I went to the Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Warfare school and received a second MOS (5711). Shortly after NBC school I was transferred to LTA Santa Ana California. I was in Marine Corps Control Squadron 9 (MACS-9). Our mission in this squadron was air-to-air intercepts using the F4 Phantoms and F8 Crusaders. I was stationed there when I met Martha Burruel.
I met Martha quite by accident around the end of November 1963 while I was on guard duty. It was about 7PM when the phone rang. "PFC Snodgrass, Sir!" I answered. It was Martha calling the base to act as a 'go-between' for her cousin and a Marine who had since shipped-out for Japan, which neither Martha or her cousin GeGe knew about. After explaining that the fellow she was calling for wasn't there any longer I struck-up a conversation with Martha and made plans to come by the next night to meet her at her home on Ball Road in Anaheim . Martha told me to pretend that we already knew each other when I got there because her mother didn't want people coming to the house that Martha didn't already know.
Not knowing what Martha looked like, or what the situation would be when I got to her house, I decided to bring my friend Johnny with me and use the 'story' that Johnny and I were on our way to Los Angeles. This way if things didn't work-out right I could get us out of there quickly. As it turned-out, Martha was beautiful and I couldn't keep my eyes off her! When it was time to leave, Martha walked us out to where I had parked my car and, as I was standing by the driver's side door of my car, Martha said to me, "Aren't you going to kiss me?" You could have knocked me right off my feet with a feather! She didn't have to ask me twice!
From that day on I tried to see Martha as much as I could. The only nights I couldn't come by was Thursday nights because I had to stay on base and help 'Field-Day' (clean) our barracks. When we went out on dates we had to bring Martha's younger sister Marion along with us as a chaperon. This didn't bother us because Marion would usually just go to sleep! On the thirteenth day after I met Martha I knelt down on one knee in front of Martha, as she sat on the sofa in her front room, and asked her to be my wife. I was so very happy when she said "Yes!" There was only one problem: I was already engaged to another girl!
I had to make several trips to Palo Alto to explain to Jan that I was in love with Martha and that we were planning to get married. This must have been hard for Jan because we had already had our engagement printed in the newspaper.
Martha and I were married on Feb 7, 1964 at 11:45PM at the Baptist church in Mira Loma CA. We had already bought our wedding license and was planning to elope and get married in Long Beach the next night. We were visiting some friends of ours in Mira Loma and my friend Jessie said that since we already had the license, and there was a church directly across the street, we should go ahead and get married right then. Martha and I looked at each other and giggled because although we knew that we were going to get married the next night this took us by surprise! Well, as it turned out, since it was late evening, the Minster wasn't available so Jessie started calling around town to find one that would marry us. By the time we contacted one who would marry us, and finished performing the service, it was 11:45PM. I slipped my Palo Alto High School ring on Martha's finger as her wedding ring since I didn't have a wedding ring for her at that time.
We didn't want Martha's parents to know we had gotten married because they were making plans for us to have a church wedding sometime the following June, so I had to drive Martha back home after our wedding. When we got to Martha's house I kissed her good-night and crawled into the back seat of my car to sleep while she slept in her bedroom, not twenty feet away. Some wedding night!
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