What’s Dad’s Secret? Golf and More Golf

Singling out my Veterans Day Guest was easy. Col. Paul A. Wedlan was happy to be interviewed. The hard part was the logistics. We had to work around his golf schedule. Throughout his 60 years of playing golf, the Air Force veteran allowed for only two interruptions that I know of--World War II and Vietnam.

We settled on the day and time, and my parents, Paul, 85, and Jan, 81, waited for the phone call.

Watches and clocks synchronized, I rang them up at 1500 hours.

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Question: How’d it go this morning, Dad?

Answer: Oh, great. It was supposed to rain, but I told your mother it never rains on the golf course so we teed off at 8:30. Everybody was over age 75 and we completed nine holes, even though I like to play 18.

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Q: When exactly have you not played golf?

A: Four years in China I didn’t get to play. Now, I tried to play in Vietnam, but the snipers shot at us so I didn’t play anymore.

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Q: What else do you do for exercise?

A: Before I go play--you know, I average three times a week on the golf course--I stretch. Let’s see, I also do 20 to 30 sit-ups every day. That’s for my belly muscles. And I do a little gardening. I planted apple, peach and pear trees, and I bet I had 500 pears but the raccoons and deer got them all.

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Q: Even though you retired from the Air Force in 1972, you’re still regimented--dressed and shaved every morning.

A: And breakfast at 8:30. I have Shredded Wheat and I mix it with some other cereal and then I always have a banana and one cup of regular coffee straight. And throughout the day I drink six to eight glasses of water.

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Q: Then nothing until cocktail hour.

A: Two to 3 o’clock I have a cocktail--usually vodka with orange juice--and a snack, crackers and cheese or one of those little bitty cans of bean dip.

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Q: Don’t you count the crackers?

A: Oh, I limit myself to five with a little bit of cheese and I prefer Alpine Lace.

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Q: Now, I know you like to eat dinner promptly at . . .

A: Well, whenever I get the word. Wait--your mom said between 5 and 6. Then I drop everything and go eat. And from then on I eat everything. Your mother’s a gourmet cook. I think a lot of my eating habits also come from having been all over the world. Like in Spain, remember how we were served paella on a beautiful table?

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Q: You know, at 85 you’re really fit.

A: My only problem’s high blood pressure. When we were in Panama, 1967, they discovered I had what they called chronic high blood pressure so I’ve been on pills ever since. They told me not to eat organ meats, but what I do is I’ll eat liver and onions every couple of months just for the enjoyment.

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Q: Why is it you always have a salad with dinner?

A: When I was in China I went without fresh vegetables for so long. You know, in Kunming we lived in Chinese barracks so the Chinese did all the cooking. I love Chinese food. I was with the aircraft warning net so I had a Chinese interpreter and I used to trade my lunch for his.

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Q: You were under Gen. Chennault, right?

A: Yeah, I was with the China Air Task Force--the China Flying Tigers. I was assigned to Chennault’s headquarters to handle communications. Then, in order to qualify for my flying time, I had to get in a minimum of four hours a month so I would fly as a gunner in B-24s with the 308th Bomb Group on some of their combat missions.

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Q: While I have you on record, Dad, why don’t you tell me something new about the war?

A: I learned to eat with chopsticks over there and when we’d eat in town, the people would gather around Billie’s Cafe to watch me because I was eating with my left hand and with my chopsticks. Crazy American soldier. And in China one time I ate monkey brains.

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Q: Oh, Dad.

A: I didn’t like them particularly but you had to. They were a delicacy. I’d go with the Chinese air force to a Chinese banquet and they’d give you the fish head. That was a delicacy, too, but I just couldn’t eat it. It had eyes and everything.

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Q: So is there any other food you avoid?

A: Jan, is there anything I won’t eat? Your mother says not that she knows.

After 53 years of marriage, Mom would know.

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