Life After the Depression and the War

About the Book

Cuba and A chance to make big money

The U.S. government was trying very hard to get Castro out of office back in the early ´60s. So the Cuban exiles had planned and invasion of Cuba. I had heard about some pilots that were flying Cuban nationals back over Cuba. They would parachute into different places in Cuba to do whatever they were going to do undercover like acts of sabotage to disrupt the government of Cuba. To cause havoc wherever they could. One evening while I was playing pool at the neighborhood tavern, a fellow approached me and asked me if I would like to fly two fellows to Cuba. I looked at him and the way he was dressed I thought he was a bum that just hung around the tavern. He was dressed in a camouflage suit. It looked like it had been worn for a longtime. Thinking that he was just more or less joking with me I said sure anytime to make 20,000 dollars. That is what he said I could make for a short trip to Havana Cuba. When he left he said someone would contact me. I didn´t pay much attention to it because I thought it was a joke or he didn´t know what he was talking about. About two nights later a well-dressed fellow approached me and introduced himself to me as one of the committee to free Cuba. After a long discussion we agreed that I would fly to the outskirts of Havana. And once over there they would light torches along the highway for me to land and the fellows would hurry and leave the plane and I would take off quickly to come back to Miami. In the event that they couldn´t light the highway for me to land, the two men I was carrying were to bailout. It sounded like that would be easy money for a two or three hour run from the United States and back again. I had already signed the contract and the money was in the bank. The night before I was to take them someone had jumped the Gun and started too soon trying to become the next dictator or president if he was to reach Havana Cuba first. There was a lot of confusion with the organizers of the invasion. There were about five fellows who had their eye on becoming the next president that were running the operation and planning. They were coming from all directions to land in Cuba from different areas. They were coming from locations like the islands Mexico, and the United States, all at onetime. As it turned out history will tell you they landed in the wrong place. It was a place called the Bay of Pigs. Castro had information that they were coming and landing there before hand and was waiting for them to come ashore and land on the Beach. The problem was the area they´d picked was nothing but swampland. They had no chance at all to fight back but they put up a gallant battle before some of them were killed and the rest were imprisoned. That ended the invasion. The rest of the convoys turned back and were going to try again in the future. But the opportunity never came up again to invade Cuba.

About the Author

You asked who I am? I am a World War II veteran who wrote a book about his life growing up in New Jersey. It also shows how we all endured the same situations during the Depression from 1929 to 1938. I served honorably while in the Navy in World War II, and was decorated for my service. I also served in the Merchant Marine during the Korean War. That book title is “Growing up through the Depression and During the War” This 2nd edition is called “Life After the Depression and World War II” in this book you will find a lot of stories about Love, Marriages, Young fun, Flying, Boating, Motorcycle, Stock Car racing, life in New Jersey, Florida, California, Georgia and life in between. This third book is called “Come Ride My Dream.” Here you will read about the stories of my flying experiences. Most have been very enjoyable flights, those you don`t remember too well, but the ones that stay in your mind the most are the ones that were a little hairy and gave you a chance to use all your flying skills that you had learned through the years. God bless us all Tony Fiorentino.