Ashley's Home Work Assignment

Veterans 2011 Creative Arts Competition
Creative Writing: Personal Experience (Patriotic) category.
Ashley’s Homework Assignment

               
“Grandpa! Do you think you could help me with my social science assignment?” Ashley politely asked.
“I don’t know, Mi-hita, I’ll try. What’s it about?”  
“Well, Grandpa, our teacher gave us an assignment to write a paper, describing what the traits are of an American patriot.”  
“Hmm,” I said, at the same time rubbing my chin and trying to think. “Let’s go to the dictionary and see what we find for the meaning of patriot. P-a-t-r. Here we are, ‘Patriot: One who loves, supports, and defends his or her country.’ I can tell you a story that may fit the description of an American patriot. Maybe you can use the material for your assignment, shall we try?”
“Okay, Grandpa.”
“The year was 1944. WWll was raging in Europe and the South Pacific, Now in the war’s fifth year. The American and Allied forces were winning on all fronts, and soon the war would be over. However, like so many young kids of this era, this one particular fourteen-year-old boy still wanted to avenge Pearl Harbor. He wanted a crack at our attackers.   The scuttlebutt of the day was. The merchant Marines were taking young boys at fourteen, providing their parents would sign for them. Maybe it was not too late. Well, that idea did not go over too well with his mom, so this boy had to bide his time until he reached age seventeen to enlist.
“In the meantime, the boy drops out of school after only reaching the seventh grade, in order to pursue full time employment as a cook at the old downtown Hilton Hotel in Albuquerque. He had been working there four years by the time he reached sixteen. By now he was well on his way to becoming a professional cook.
“One day, the executive chef calls him to his office and tells him that the Hilton Hotel had chosen him for a full scholarship to attend the Cornell Culinary Institute in New York. He...