Love Story
It is now on paperback; hardback copy has been sold out by
Barnes & Noble. I highly recommend for all ex-navy or current military no
matter what branch you are. It is something we can relate. It is true and well
written. This is our story or daring
dream. To order your paperback copy
please email Ray Burdeos RBURDEOS@aol.com
(Barnes & Noble hard copy edition reviews. Not
available right now)
Synopsis
A sincere account of
interracial love in New York during the era of Sinatra, Martin & Lewis, and
the Velvet Fog. The author's simple approach to characterization yields an
honest picture of the public perception of 'mixed couples' at a time when
Camelot attempted to re-direct our morals.
CUSTOMER REVIEWS - An Open Forum
Number of Reviews: 6 Average
Rating:
A reviewer, a doctor from
manila, February 12, 2001,
the realities of love in a persecuted world
this is the story of a filipino sailor conscripted into the u.s. coast guard
during the time when the ultimate dream of filipinos raised in the background
of world war II was to find a place in the 'land of milk and honey'. social
inequalities in terms of bigotry and citizenship are highlighted in the story
from the time this sailor was recruited until he retires from the service. it
pictures sweet love lost in exchange for a place in the sun in the baby-booming
u.s.a.
A reviewer (edsa1@aol.com),
July 30, 1999,
'A 'Filipino' out of water.'
It's not common that you read a story where a beautiful, blonde young ingénue
in 1963 New York falls for a leading man who is... pinoy. This is an honest,
sincere love story of two people from two different worlds.
A reviewer, a 34 year old
instructor in L.A., June 17, 1999,
A sincere account of 'Mixed Couples.'
A sincere account of interracial love in New York during the era of Sinatra,
Martin & Lewis, and the Velvet Fog. The author's simple approach to
characterization yields an honest picture of the public perception of 'mixed
couples' at a time when Camelot attempted to re-direct our morals.
A reviewer, a 34 year old
instructor in L.A., June 17, 1999,
A sincere account of 'Mixed Couples.'
A sincere account of interracial love in New York during the era of Sinatra,
Martin & Lewis, and the Velvet Fog. The author's simple approach to
characterization yields an honest picture of the public perception of 'mixed
couples' at a time when Camelot attempted to re-direct our morals.
Alex Alejandro
(valejan963@#aol.com), successful US Coast Guard retiree, June 15, 1999,
Excellent reading
The flow of the story is smoothly written and easy to follow. The author did a
good job of describing his true life's experiences while on active duty in the
US Coast Guard.
----
Story takes us back to time of Vietnam War... review by Melvin
Schreiber, Daily News, Dec 23, 2001
Ray Burdeos lives in Galveston. He retired from the U.S. Coast Guard in 1979,
after 23 years of service, for which he received commendations and an
achievement medal. After earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Healthcare
Sciences from the University of Texas, he managed the Department of Defense
Outpatient Clinic at St. Mary's Hospital for a time.
But this story takes us back almost 50 years. Burdeos and
other Filipinos were permitted to enlist in the U.S. Coast Guard and Navy, and
doing so fulfilled a long-time ambition of the author. He was assigned, as were
most Filipinos, in food service, and he became the steward to the captain of
the Coast Guard in New York, Captain Ross P. Bullard. That was 1963, a year
that changed the author's life.
In the course of his duties, he met Kim Bullard, the captain's
daughter, and they were attracted to one another. They began to see each other
secretly, and the attraction grew to love. But this was love between people of
different races, and America in 1963 was not ready for that, certainly not in
the military.
Kim and Ray knew they would have to confront her parents with what
was already an accomplished fact, and neither wanted to hurt her parents
or embarrass the military service. Capt. Bullard discovered them together one
day, before they were quite ready to expose their loving relationship. The
captain was angry but amazingly restrained, trying to understand how a lowly
steward, and one of Filipino background at that, could ever aspire to seriously
court the daughter of a Coast Guard captain. What would that do to Capt. Bullard's
career, to have a Filipino son-in-law? Bullard was an excellent commander and
was in line to promoted to admiral.
But this is really a story about what America was like in the
1960s. It was a the time of the Vietnam War and the protests against it, the
time of flower children, a time of dramatic change in the American population
and its viewpoint. While a relationship between an enlisted man and a
high-ranking officer's daughter would cause fewer eyebrows today, the attitude
of the military and of the population as a whole was not so tolerant and
benevolent in the 1960s.
The captain arranged for Burdeos to be transferred to New Orleans,
putting distance between him and his daughter, resulting in the eventual
discontinuation of any contact between them, clearly a profound loss for each
of them. Burdeos has chronicled that loss and the attitude of his friends and
acquaintances in the military and out of this touching memoir, replete with
photographs. It reads easily in an evening.
Change is inevitable and this little volume and its story is a
testimony to the ability of the human spirit to recover after being severely
challenged. We don't know what happened to Kim, but Ray married and had
children and grandchildren. And life goes on. But we are changed.
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Preview the first two
chapters