On leave In NYC

It was 1974, and I was on leave from the USMC. I came home to NYC for a surprise family visit.

Well, the surprise was on me. My family wasn’t home, and I had nowhere to stay and very little money to pay for a hotel.

A couple of years earlier, my high school prom and commencement (Rhodes Preparatory School) were both held at the Waldorf-Astoria. I remembered I had met a general manager the night of the prom, so I went to the Waldorf Astoria and I asked for him. I then explained my situation, and the Waldorf-Astoria treated me to two nights at the hotel where I stayed until my family returned late on the third day.