Barron M Broomfield 

5/5/2022 

Where do I Begin? 

It was November 12, 1952. Steel mills were dominant in Southwestern Pennsylvania and Northeastern Ohio and the pure white blanket of snow which had descended on the area earlier in the day, had now morphed into a grayish slush because of the billowing clouds of soot that regularly filled the skies. As the temperature dipped, the slush changed to black ice which combined with the ever-present potholes to make driving a chore. As Doyle Broomfield maneuvered his vehicle through the streets of Warren, Ohio his thoughts were focused on getting his young wife to Trumbull Memorial Hospital. He quickly pulled up to the emergency room entrance and helped the orderlies place his wife on a stretcher and wheel her into the hospital. Inside the maternity ward doctors and nurses exchanged sly looks and grins as they prepared their patient to give birth. This would be the fourth consecutive year Mrs. Geneva Broomfield would be having a baby in November. In 1949, 1950, and 1951 they had delivered three beautiful girls but this year the couple were expecting their first male child. As Geneva began experiencing the now familiar pains of labor, she focused her attention on the television which was showing a popular wrestling show. Tonight’s show featured an Italian wrestler who had recently set a record with a live gate of $1000,000. He apparently made quite an impression on the young mother. His name was Baron Michele Leone and shortly after the show’s conclusion, Barron Michele Broomfield was introduced to the world.  

On October 6, 1970, American Billy Hayes was arrested in Turkey as he attempted to smuggle 2kg of hashish out of the country. His subsequent trial, imprisonment, and escape from custody were the subject of a popular novel and film entitled “Midnight Express”. 

On February 16, 1974, thirty-one US airmen were arrested in Turkey on drug charges and thirteen of them were indicted on charges of attempting to smuggle hashish out of the country. I was one of the thirteen and this is my story. 

Please excuse my blatant attempt at promoting my upcoming novel, but if you go back and read last week’s posting, it may help in understanding my madness. Now let’s proceed. My goal over the next few months is to help you realize the importance of understanding history and how that understanding, right or wrong, determines your future. I will be using my own life as evidence of how listening to and following the advice of others is a tricky situation, full of misguided or sometimes uninformed opinions that are usually the result of doing things a set way because,” they have always been done that way”. A young bride was asked by her new husband, why she always cut the ends of her ham before cooking it. The bride called her mother for the answer and was told that her grandmother was the one that started the tradition. Thanking her mom, she called her grandma and asked her why the ends of the ham were removed, thinking she was going to find the secret behind it. The grandmother started laughing and replied, “When your mom was growing up, I only had one roasting pan, and the only way the ham would fit in it was if I cut the ends off.” It gives more meaning to the expression of “one size fits all”, when you do a little digging into what was communicated and why. So, the question was why write a book about an incident that occurred almost fifty years ago and is only remembered by those directly involved in it. As I stated last week, it was the result of the military denying my application for disability due to PTSD and the reason they gave for denying the claim. There was no formal, official, military record of the event ever taking place.

I began my journey fifteen years ago and now I have a clearer understanding of how and why I made some of the decisions in life that were against my upbringing and not in line with what I dreamed of doing as a youngster. I went to college flunked out of to be a civil engineer, without knowing what they do. I entered the service because of remarks my parents made when I flunked out of engineering school. The Air Force offered me the opportunity to transfer to officer school and I declined because of the fear of failing in what appeared to be a white only club. I never even saw another Black person in my missile ship until my sixth year in the service. It was because of the academic score needed to get into the missile field. By the way, I scored a 98 on the ASVAB in 1972, and now the passing score has dropped to the mid-thirties. No one ever told me to my face that I could not do something because of my race but the evidence was overwhelming everywhere one looked. For me, it was the comfort of being with my own kind that held me back from being more at a younger age, but the military and later success in the casino industry and more, helped me to believe I could do anything I wanted in life, and for the most part I have succeeded in whatever I put my hands to. It was the failures that followed great gains that caused me to fall backwards, and that revelation is what fuels me now.

I have led a full and interesting life, college, a ten-year career in the military, ten years working in Vegas casinos, ten years doing school security, ten years helping kids at Job Corps gain entry-level positions in Security, Law Enforcement, the Military, Corrections, and even Homeland Security, ten years as Owner/Operator of a Security and Private Investigations Company that landed me a contract with Haliburton Oil and Gas, that ended with me owing the Federal Government over a million dollars ( Hint, buy the book, buy the book ). I will be filling in the blanks with some of the remarkable people I have met and sharing great adventures I have experienced, including my successes and failures. Starting next week, I will list ten of the high/low points of my journey in life and I will let the audience vote on their order of appearance. There will be times when I will drift into other areas along with the top ten list so buckle your seat belts, relax and enjoy the ride. Teaser: Whatever happens in Vegas, NEVER stays in Vegas.

Hadji