Dennis Zito in front of my new 1973 Camaro in South Gate

As you can see, the magnolia tree, almost a decade later in 1973, is still not very tall.  This photograph is the last I took while we lived in South Gate.  From June of 1964, until August of 1973, this was home.  Not long after I left for Air Force Officer's Training School in early August, mom finally was able to move to San Pedro, to live near the water.  I'd packed up most of my possessions, primarily my large record collection and books, before I left.

When I was visiting the Robertson's, I was able to speak to a representative with the Coast Guard Officer's Training School on the phone.  I was told that not only was my blood pressure a problem, but that year the Coast Guard did not have a large officer class, and I would not have qualified anyway.  Almost as soon as that door closed forcefully, out of the blue I heard again from my Air Force recruiter in Huntington Park.  He told me that my previous test scores no longer counted and that I was eligible for pilot training.  While I might have preferred to become a navigator, I wanted to join the Air Force more.

Whereas I had gone for a draft physical at the new Wilshire Blvd. draft facility in 1972, where we potential draftees were treated poorly, to a Marine OCS physical at the same facility not long after, where we were treated very well, the Air Force physical was performed at March Air Force Base, near Riverside, CA.  This was the same base where my dad took me, back in the 1950's, as a kid to an air show there.  I walked up into the cargo hold of a C-124 Globemaster on a gray day.

When I easily passed my Air Force physical, with no high blood pressure issues, and my date for AF OTS was set for early August at Lackland, TX, I sold my Mustang way too cheaply to a private party.  My Grandpa Sanchez had given Ann and me each a second mortgage that he held.  I closed it with the home owner for $400 and used that as a down payment for my 1973 Camaro.  The price was $4,000 at Cormier Chevrolet.  The Camaro plant had been on strike for months, so I wondered if the strike would end before I had to leave for the Air Force.

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