backs. Bobby was now clean and sober and got a job as a nurse’s aide for one of the paralyzed veterans at the Long Beach VA and began taking caregiver classes at the hospital, determined to leave the drugs behind and straighten out his life.
He and I soon became the best of friends, with Bobby on several occasions inviting me down to his place in Long Beach for one of Sharon’s delicious home-cooked meals. He would later join me in organizing the Patients’/Workers’ Rights Committee and attended every meeting we had.
Bobby really missed me when I was away, telling me he got depressed after the Patients’/Workers’ Rights Committee fell apart and that he’s anxious to know what we plan to do next. He’d heard rumors I was back in town and wants to know about everything I’ve been doing. “What’s up, brother? What’s happening? Anything new?” he asks.
His eyes light up as I begin telling him all about the AVM. Then I share my idea of setting up a meeting with Senator Alan Cranston to discuss the conditions on the SCI ward. Later in the afternoon I show him the buttons and banners in the trunk of my car, explaining how we will get all the guys we know in the hospital to join us, and will take over the senator’s office and begin a sit-in, not leaving until our demands are met.
“Will he actually meet with us?” Bobby asks.
“I don’t know. That’s what we’re going to find out. Come on, Bobby, follow me!” I say as I wheel over to a pay phone, in that crazy and spontaneous way of mine back then, and put in a couple of quarters. “I’m calling the senator’s office over at the Federal Building in Westwood right now!”
Bobby stands next to me with a curious look on his face.
“Hello, is this Senator Cranston’s office? Who am I speaking with, please? . . . Hi, this is Ron Kovic and I’m a paralyzed Vietnam veteran calling from the Long Beach veterans hospital. I’m calling today because we’ve got some serious problems down here on the Spinal Cord Injury ward and we’d like to set up a meeting with Senator Cranston as soon as possible.”
The guy, who by the sound of his voice I can tell is very young, thanks me for my service, telling me that the senator will be out of town for the next few weeks. However, the senator’s aide offers to meet with us the following week on Tuesday, February 12, at two o’clock, promising that he’ll take notes and share all our concerns with the senator. “Will that work for you?” he asks in a chirpy voice.
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