The Boxer

I never had the pleasure of meeting my great-grandfather Monroe, and that's a sad thing because the stories about him are among my favorites.  One in particular is my favorite and demonstrates what a character (scrapper) he was.

Monroe and his best friend M- joined the military back in WWI.  They were sent to what is now Ft Lee for training.  At the time, they had to wait for all the other newly enlisted men to arrive for the training to begin, so the men were entertained by setting up a boxing ring.  There was a Lieutenant who was a big man and from accounts an excellent boxer.  The main event was watching this LT take on anyone who was willing to fight him.  One by one his challengers were knocked out and carried out of the ring.  During all this, Monroe was watching the matches and dancing around with his fists up muttering to himself while he ducked and dodged as though he were in the ring. He even made the comment that he would take out that "SOB".

So when the last guy was carried out of the ring, the Lieutenant invited anyone who wanted to go a round to enter the ring.  And before anyone else could make a move, Monroe was in the ring.  It was the big burly Lieutenant against the small statured scrapper from Deltaville.  The match began.  Monroe began bouncing and moving on his feet.  The Lieutenant took a giant swing at Monroe but Monroe ducked and the blow missed his head.  But as he dodged, Monroe came up with a swift upper cut that hit the Lt square on the jaw.  It's said that the Lieutenant was literally lifted off the ground by the blow and was knocked out.  As he Lieutenant was carried away, Monroe turned to his friend and said, "I told you I'd knock out that SOB".