Michael Patrick O'Reilly

I will tell you about Mike Reilly because he is the reason why I was invited to live in Hollywood.

I met Michael in 1964, when I was stationed at Norton Air Force Base. I had joined the Air Force shortly after JFK was assassinated and after basic training, was assigned to the AFB in San Bernardino, California. Michael was in my barracks and became a good friend.

He was a lady’s man. He was a womanizer and a drinker and knew how to party hard. In other words… for 1964, and being in the service- he was perfect. Looking back, now, with different eyes, I can see what a low life he really was, but at the time- he was my idol.  I will tell you a little story that will give you an idea of who he was. 

We took a few weeks, one summer, to be camp counselors for the Boy’s Club, which was held on Catalina Island, just off the California coast. It was a chance for us to see the island and have some fun. It wasn’t until years later that I found out my grandfather had been born on Catalina Island. His father, a liquor salesman for the West Coast, had something to do with the Angel’s baseball team which trained there. But I digress.

One night, Michael came to me and told me he had found out that John Wayne’s boat was anchored in the harbor shared by the Boy Scout’s camp. So he made me come with him, while we appropriated a boat, rowed out among the moored cruisers and finally found his boat. Michael had found out the name, so he could locate it.

He stood up in the boat and yelled for John Wayne to let him come aboard. In a few moments the “Great One” showed himself in a doorway and yelled down, “Who is that yelling?”

“Michael Patrick O’Reilly” was the answer.

And, of course, Mr Wayne replied that if we didn’t get out of there, he would call the harbor police… at which time we retreated. But standing up in a small boat, in the middle of the night, demanding to be invited aboard John Wayne’s boat is how I will always picture him.

Mike attended classes at San Bernardino Valley College. He encouraged me to take some classes. I don’t think he was interested in higher education. It was a great place to meet girls. And meet girls he did.

I hung out with Mike for the next two years, until I was assigned to a tour of duty in Vietnam, in 1966 - 1967. After returning in 1967, I came back to San Diego, then eventually moved up to Pomona, and went to work for General Dynamics.

How I kept in touch with Mike, I can’t remember. But apparently I did. And one day, Mike invited me to come and visit him in Hollywood. He had made a friend while living in San Bernardino, who was a songwriter and performer. He had released an award winning song and formed his own music label. Mike was living in a big house in Hollywood and invited me to come for a visit. Little did I know what a change that visit would make in my life.

More to come.