Things Work Out
November 17, 1999
During WWII, Julius Carabello was a young Italian guy who enlisted in the Navy, not because he had to but because he felt like it was what he should do. He grew up hard in Denver. His mom, a single mother with several children, unable to support the family, had had to leave him in an orphanage till she could catch up. He was there for three years.
Julius had always wanted to go to Regis College and during high school, he saved up, working where ever he could. He was hoping to get a scholarship as a walk-on in football. He enrolled and walked on but by the time he got there, he found all the scholarships gone and it turned out he couldn’t go to college.
So he married his beautiful sweetheart, Lois, and went into a landscaping business with a friend who needed someone with a strong back.
He was married when he went into the Navy and his first job was to teach swimming to new recruits so they could at least get far enough from the ship that they wouldn’t be pulled under when it sank. He had 180 new guys and he taught them all how to swim except this one really big fat guy. Day after day he worked alone with him until finally one day, the guy just floated across the pool because he thought Juli was holding him up.
The brass were impressed and they sent him to Maryland for special training as a coach. They told him the top five candidates got to choose where they wanted to be posted. He came in at number four and he chose San Diego—he’d always want to go to San Diego.
The postings were listed—and he wasn’t going to San Diego. He went into the officer and said, “Didn’t you say that the top five candidates got to choose where they wanted to go?”
“Yes.”
“Well, wasn’t I ranked in the top five?”
“Yes.”
“Well, I chose San Diego and it says outside I’m not going there.”
“Well, Juli, let me tell you. There’s politics even here in the army and San Diego needs a first baseman, they don’t need a coach. Let me tell you, you pick where ever else you want to go, and I’ll send you there.”
So Julius picked San Francisco.
When he got there in January, no one else had arrived and the base wasn’t set up yet. The commanding officer said he could leave. He went home. His first child was due to be delivered any day and he set out across country from San Francisco to Denver.
He was routed from train to train until finally when he had ridden night and day for two days he arrived four hours after the baby was born. He spent the next week with his wife and boy before returning to San Francisco.
He sat there another eight months because the ship he was supposed to be on had mechanical problems. When they finally set out in August 1945, we had just dropped the bomb on Nagasaki.
A Japanese sub followed them for four days until it finally turned around and went home. When Julius arrived in the Philippines, the units were being shipped back home with those who had been in the country longest going first. However, because of his wife and baby, he was shipped home ahead of his unit’s date.
He had taken the postal carrier’s test before enlisting and one day, back at the landscaping job, a guy walked by delivering the mail in blue jeans and tennis shoes. Julius asked him why he didn’t have on a uniform and the guy told him he was a sub. Julius asked him what his test number was and the sub said it was in the 14,000’s. Well, Julius’s number was in the 2000’s and so he went down to postal headquarters and said, “Hey, I took the test and passed it and how come this guy’s number is so far ahead of mine and you never called me?”
“Well, we never had an address for you. But we’re hiring right now. Normally you would have to work as a sub but since your number’s so high, we’ll hire you as a full-time employee” which is why he got paid time and a half for overtime, instead of part-time pay. Which is how he got enough money to buy his first house.
He said to me, “Ya see, Liz, things just work out.”
During WWII, Julius Carabello was a young Italian guy who enlisted in the Navy, not because he had to but because he felt like it was what he should do. He grew up hard in Denver. His mom, a single mother with several children, unable to support the family, had had to leave him in an orphanage till she could catch up. He was there for three years.
Julius had always wanted to go to Regis College and during high school, he saved up, working where ever he could. He was hoping to get a scholarship as a walk-on in football. He enrolled and walked on but by the time he got there, he found all the scholarships gone and it turned out he couldn’t go to college.
So he married his beautiful sweetheart, Lois, and went into a landscaping business with a friend who needed someone with a strong back.
He was married when he went into the Navy and his first job was to teach swimming to new recruits so they could at least get far enough from the ship that they wouldn’t be pulled under when it sank. He had 180 new guys and he taught them all how to swim except this one really big fat guy. Day after day he worked alone with him until finally one day, the guy just floated across the pool because he thought Juli was holding him up.
The brass were impressed and they sent him to Maryland for special training as a coach. They told him the top five candidates got to choose where they wanted to be posted. He came in at number four and he chose San Diego—he’d always want to go to San Diego.
The postings were listed—and he wasn’t going to San Diego. He went into the officer and said, “Didn’t you say that the top five candidates got to choose where they wanted to go?”
“Yes.”
“Well, wasn’t I ranked in the top five?”
“Yes.”
“Well, I chose San Diego and it says outside I’m not going there.”
“Well, Juli, let me tell you. There’s politics even here in the army and San Diego needs a first baseman, they don’t need a coach. Let me tell you, you pick where ever else you want to go, and I’ll send you there.”
So Julius picked San Francisco.
When he got there in January, no one else had arrived and the base wasn’t set up yet. The commanding officer said he could leave. He went home. His first child was due to be delivered any day and he set out across country from San Francisco to Denver.
He was routed from train to train until finally when he had ridden night and day for two days he arrived four hours after the baby was born. He spent the next week with his wife and boy before returning to San Francisco.
He sat there another eight months because the ship he was supposed to be on had mechanical problems. When they finally set out in August 1945, we had just dropped the bomb on Nagasaki.
A Japanese sub followed them for four days until it finally turned around and went home. When Julius arrived in the Philippines, the units were being shipped back home with those who had been in the country longest going first. However, because of his wife and baby, he was shipped home ahead of his unit’s date.
He had taken the postal carrier’s test before enlisting and one day, back at the landscaping job, a guy walked by delivering the mail in blue jeans and tennis shoes. Julius asked him why he didn’t have on a uniform and the guy told him he was a sub. Julius asked him what his test number was and the sub said it was in the 14,000’s. Well, Julius’s number was in the 2000’s and so he went down to postal headquarters and said, “Hey, I took the test and passed it and how come this guy’s number is so far ahead of mine and you never called me?”
“Well, we never had an address for you. But we’re hiring right now. Normally you would have to work as a sub but since your number’s so high, we’ll hire you as a full-time employee” which is why he got paid time and a half for overtime, instead of part-time pay. Which is how he got enough money to buy his first house.
He said to me, “Ya see, Liz, things just work out.”
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