Hello, little man. Boy I sure heard
a bunch about you. See, I was a good
friend of your Daddy's. We were in
that Hanoi pit of hell over five
years together. Hopefully, you'll
never have to experience this
yourself, but when two men are in a
situation like me and your Daddy
were, for as long as we were, you
take on certain responsibilities of
the other. If it had been me who had
not made it, Major Coolidge would be
talkin' right now to my son Jim. But
the way it worked out is I'm talkin'
to you, Butch. I got somethin' for
ya.
This watch I got here was first
purchased by your great-granddaddy.
It was bought during the First World
War in a little general store in
Knoxville, Tennessee. It was bought
by private Doughboy Ernie Coolidge
the day he set sail for Paris. It
was your great-granddaddy's war watch,
made by the first company to ever
make wrist watches. You see, up until
then, people just carried pocket
watches. Your great-granddaddy wore
that watch every day he was in the
war. Then when he had done his duty,
he went home to your great-
grandmother, took the watch off his
wrist and put it in an ol' coffee
can. And in that can it stayed 'til
your grandfather Dane Coolidge was
called upon by his country to go
overseas and fight the Germans once
again. This time they called it World
War Two. Your great-granddaddy gave
it to your granddad for good luck.
Unfortunately, Dane's luck wasn't as
good as his old man's. Your granddad
was a Marine and he was killed with
all the other Marines at the battle
of Wake Island. Your granddad was
facing death and he knew it. None of
those boys had any illusions about
ever leavin' that island alive. So
three days before the Japanese took
the island, your 22-year old
grandfather asked a gunner on an Air
Force transport named Winocki, a man
he had never met before in his life,
to deliver to his infant son, who he
had never seen in the flesh, his
gold watch. Three days later, your
grandfather was dead. But Winocki
kept his word. After the war was
over, he paid a visit to your
grandmother, delivering to your infant
father, his Dad's gold watch. This
watch. This watch was on your Daddy's
wrist when he was shot down over
Hanoi. He was captured and put in a
Vietnamese prison camp. Now he knew
if the gooks ever saw the watch it'd
be confiscated. The way your Daddy
looked at it, that watch was your
birthright. And he'd be damned if
and slopeheads were gonna put their
greasy yella hands on his boy's
birthright. So he hid it in the one
place he knew he could hide somethin'.
His ass. Five long years, he wore
this watch up his ass. Then when he
died of dysentery, he gave me the
watch. I hid with uncomfortable hunk
of metal up my ass for two years.
Then, after seven years, I was sent
home to my family. And now, little
man, I give the watch to you.

3 assumptions | assume