Q&A with Ted Cook

'When it comes time to go, I'll know I've done my share.'

Edward "Ted" Cook, Sr.

On Memorial Day, Edward "Ted" Cook Sr., 81, will lead observances in South Portland as captain of the Color Guard for Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 832. He recently shared with The Current his thoughts on those duties, as well as other stories from his life.

Q: Where and when were you born?

A: I was born March 8, 1930, right here in South Portland.

Q: What was South Portland like at the time?

A: Well, I don't know, because I was just a little baby (laughs). Actually, my father got transferred to St. Albans, Vt., until I was about 11. Then we moved back here.

Q: What schools did you attend here in town?

A: I went to the old Reynolds School, on Broadway. I went to South Portland High but I didn't graduate. I quit and went into the service.

Q: So, you would have been in what we now call middle school during World War II. What was South Portland like during that time?

A: South Portland then was quite active because of the shipyard. They had what they called "the barracks." It was rows of what today you'd call low-income housing. It was not just for service members, but for anybody. They all looked alike. More than once you'd hear tell of some fella who'd come home drunk and end up going into the wrong house. It was busy times in South Portland.

Q: What did you do between school and joining the military? Did you have a job?

A: No, I just hanged around. I had no job. That's why I went into the service. My father said, "You either get a job or you go into the service, take your pick." So, I went into the service with another fella.

We went in together. I remember taking the physical and I'm going up the stairs and he's coming down. I said, "Where are you going?" and he said "Out. I flunked the physical." He had a heart murmur. So, I said, "Great, now I'm all alone."

Seventeen years old, but I went, got sworn into the infantry and went to Fort Dix for 13 weeks. I went to Georgia for my schooling and from there to Japan. It was peacetime then, of course.

I came back, but then the Korean Conflict broke out and they sent us right back. I was there for about 18 months, I guess.

Q: What did you do during the war?

A: By then I was in the combat engineers. We'd build something, then somebody would blow it up, then we'd go back in and build it back again. We'd just keep going wherever they needed something built.

Q: Was it hard work?

A: Well, no, it wasn't that bad. In some places, if you were right in the thick of it, yeah, it could be bad. But for most of our work, we were pretty well covered. We came under fire a couple of times, mostly when we'd be working at night, under the lights, and, first thing, the lights would get blown out, and we'd just run.

You always had your rifle with you, right along side you, even when you were building something. Your rifle was never too far from you, believe me. We worked with a shovel in one hand and a rifle in the other, more or less.

Q: Did you get out of the service after the war?

A: I got out just a little before it ended, in '51 or '52. I could have stayed in. Sometimes I wish I had, and made a career of it. When I got out of the service I went to work for the South Portland Planing Mill. Where Megquier & Jones Steel is on Broadway, there used to be a planing mill right behind there.

I worked there for about a year and then I went to a warehouse called the Galt Block, on the State Pier. I was there for about five years. From there I went to Brockway-Smith Co. I was there for 29 years.

Q: When did you join the VFW?

A: Well, I first joined right after the war, but it was taking up too much of my time, or so my wife said.

See, I didn't have a car back then, and so I used to take the bus. The bus let off on Elm Street and I had to walk right by the VFW where it was then to our house near Willard Square. Well, I just couldn't seem to get by it. Something would beckon me to come in.

My wife, she didn't like that. She said, "Take you pick, that or me." So, I said, "Well, let me think this over." [laughs]. No, I'm just kidding, but I did give it up. If I'd stayed in, I'd be a 50-year veteran. But, as it is, I've been a member for 18 years.

Q: How did you meet your wife?

A: Well, I've been married for 57 years. My wife’s name is Doris. She used to live in "the barracks," in Broadview Park. They're all private homes now, but back then it was like a housing project. I lived there for a while, and that's where I met her, you know, just saw her around the neighborhood. There was a lot of action back then. In fact, I used to go with one girl and I was going into the service as my brother ended up coming out of the Navy, and she ended up marrying him.

Anyway, there was always something going on, dances and whatnot. We raised a little hell, but never got into any real trouble.

Q: Getting back to the VFW, what has it meant to you to be a member of the Color Guard?

A: Oh, I love it. We do a lot of observances and ceremonies. I just enjoy doing it, as long as we do it right. I mean, people are really looking at you, and the veterans, they know what the hell you're doing. Like, the other night, at the beginning of the hockey game, this other Color Guard came marching in with a rifle, the Maine flag, the American flag, and then another rifle. Well, that's backwards. The American flag comes in first, and it goes out first, always, always. I spotted that right off.

Q: Do you ever get frustrated that people don't seem to know their flag etiquette, like they used to?

A: I do. When we do the Memorial Day parade, we'll go by and people won't take their caps off, or kids will be playing on the side, running into the street. It's getting better though. Somebody must be educating them. For a while, say five or six years ago, it was bad. There was just no respect whatsoever. Sometimes there wouldn't even be anybody out there for the parade. We'd be doing it all by ourselves, but it's got better the last few years. Even on Veterans Day, when it's cold, there's usually quite a good little crowd, and they're getting more respectful.

Q: What do you think about while leading the flag?

A: Oh, I just take pride in being there. My health is excellent, so I'll do it as long as I can. I think about all of the veterans. Most of them from our post are dead now. There's so few of us left.

Q: Are you not seeing new members come in to the VFW?

A: Oh, no. Membership is bad. Not just here, but everywhere. People just aren't joiners today like they used to be. It's too bad, but very few of the Vietnam veterans have joined. When they came back they were treated like animals, and so they don't feel respected, and don't join. We have a couple, but our members are mostly from Korea and World War II.

Q: Do you not get any service people from Iraq and Afghanistan?

A: Not really. We had a couple. We even paid their dues for them so they could join, but we haven't seen them since.

Q: It sounds like there is a kind of generation gap, at the post.

Yes, I’d say there is. Of course, I must admit, it's hard for the younger fellas. Here, we're all old. We don't really get off our stools and say, "How are ya, how ya doing." A young guy comes in and sits at the bar and nobody talks to him. So, he's probably like, "The hell with this place."

But we would like to get some younger folks in, so they can take over. To me, it's important, just to keep the memory alive. I mean, if this place dies out, it'd be just disastrous.

Q: Is there a danger of that happening?

A: Oh, yes. At one time South Portland was the biggest VFW post in New England. We had over 2,000 members. Now, there are few hundred, but only a dozen or so that are really active. At any one time there aren't more than four people in here.

Q: Is there any factor you can point to that’s contributed to the decline in membership?

A: Other than us dying off, you mean? Mostly, it’s just a lack of money. We used to have all the land around the building, but we had to sell that, and the building, too. All we are now is just this little area around the bar on this side of the building. We don't own it at all anymore. We have a 100-year lease, rent free, but even so, it costs a lot of money to run this place, you need a license for this and license for that.

What we got for the building, it's in a bank, but every month you have to cough some out, and there's more going out that coming in.

Q: Are the license fees especially burdensome?

Well, yes. Here, you have to be a member, or be with a member, to get in. In some of the bigger states, anyone can get in, and it's the bar that keeps them alive, but their liquor license costs them a small fortune.

But here’s a better example: It wasn't too long ago, this fella comes in, to check on things, from the city, or the state, or wherever. Some of us where there playing cards and next thing I know, he's over talking to the bar manager. After he leaves, the manager comes over and points at us and says, "Do you know we have to have a $60 license for that?" I said, "Are you kidding me? A bunch of old men playing skat for quarters, and for that we need a permit?"

It's irritating as hell. Just ways to make money, I guess.

Q: Apart from your work with the VFW, what else do you do with your time? Do you have any hobbies?

I don't really have any hobbies, but my wife and I, we volunteer at St. John's Church food pantry, downstairs below the church on Main Street in South Portland. I do that every Thursday.

It started when I retired about 15 years ago, when the one in charge of the Meals on Wheels needed some help, so, I agreed to help out and it just sort of snowballed form there.

That’s another gratifying job, because some of the people who come in there are really down and out. Every week there are more people. The woman who does the interviews, she tells me every Thursday, there'll be eight or nine new ones. Last Christmas, we did 103 families. I'll do it until I can't do it any more. 

Q: What is your primary job at the food pantry? Do you still drive?

No. It got too slippery in winter for me. I help load up the cars now. I like working outside, although lately we've gotten very wet.

Most people are very grateful, but some of them act like you owe it to them. I don't mind helping a woman, but when a young, big-scrapping guy just sits behind the wheel and says, "Put in the back seat," I'm like, "Are you're legs bothering you? Why don't you get out here and help me?"

Q: What advice would you have for someone just starting out today?

A: Gosh, there's no jobs, you can hardly afford to feed yourself. Someone getting married today, I'd tell 'em, don't have any kids. (laughs)

But if they do, and they asked me, I'd say just keep your nose clean. My father always told me, "Just do your job and keep your mouth shut." That's what he told me and that's pretty much what I've done all my life. I kept my mouth shut until it was time to say something.

Q: Is there anything else you’d like to do in your life?

A: Not really. When it comes time to go, I'll know I've done my share.