A Funny Thing Happened on My Way to Freedom

Book excerpt: Author Desi Sanchez, a native of Cuba, was twenty-two years old when the Bay of Pigs incident took place there in 1961. He had made the decision to side against Fidel Castro long before the confrontation and served as a merchant marine in the SS Houston during the invasion. In 2010 Desi Sanchez received an honorary crew member certificate of the DDE-510 Eaton. Havana was Desi Sanchez’s home. He was born there, grew up there, went to school there, and fell in love there. Eventually, however, as Castro’s regime began to take hold and everything began to change, he learned that home isn’t where your life happened; it’s where your heart is. Sometimes you just have to find a new home. Originally writing his memoir in order to bridge the gap between generations within his own family, Sanchez has since come to realize the importance of preserving history from the perspectives of the participants for all to see. Now he shares his life story.