I sat across from my grandson Ammon last Sunday at the Baker Valley Ward linger longer. Sitting beside me was Terry Fisher. I introduced Ammon to Terry, and then said a surprising thing. I said to Ammon: "But for this guy, you wouldn't even exist." I'd never had that thought before, but it was true. The story is this:

Terry and I had been best friends since the age of 5. Our parents knew one another, and I had gone to play with him at his house. We were the best of friends all the way through elementary school. We weren't close through junior high and high school, but maintained our friendship.

Because of my severe depression in the fall of 1966 I had dis-enrolled from Oregon State University, and had returned home. I don't know how Terry knew that, but soon after my arrival, he called, and said, "There are two openings in the U.S. Navy in Boise. Shall we take them?"

I had to think quickly. "I've quit school. I'll lose my draft deferral. I'll be drafted into the army, and be sent to Vietnam where I'll be killed." I heard myself say, "I suppose so."

I became a draft dodger. I dodged the draft by enlisting in the Navy. There is not a doubt in my mind that if I had ignored the situation, I'd have ended up in the Vietnam conflict and been killed. Terry saved my life, thus making Ammon's birth possible.

I have dredged my mind for a single memory of what happened next, but nothing is there. I've blocked it out. I suppose Terry drove us to Boise where we signed papers committing ourselves to four years of military service. We were given a 120-day deferral before we were to report for duty. Those 120 days became a magical time of transformation that totally changed my life. The date must have been about 17 November 1966 because it was on 17 March 1967 that we made the journey to San Diego, California where Terry was appointed leader of squad number 1, and I of squad number 2. We spent the next 11 weeks marching side by side around the grinder.

In those 120 days of waiting for the dreaded day to come, a Book of Mormon was placed in my hands. It must have been right after our trip to Boise. My world went from extreme darkness to great light. I've lived happily ever after, and Terry and I are still great friends.