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Nor did I ever see an autopsy report. One year later, close to the anniversary of his death, my mother told me that she had been informed—by
"the government"—that he had died of multiple bleeding abscesses on both
lungs. This was about the time of a news report that Legionnaires’ disease
was responsible for the deaths of several men in Philadelphia, all veterans,
all of whom had also died of multiple bleeding abscesses on their lungs. My
mother claimed that "the government" now believed that my father, too,
had died of Legionnaires’ disease.
That may or may not be true.
My mother never showed me the letter from “the government” that supposedly provided her with this information. She told me she had thrown it
away. I have no doubt that she had done precisely that, if, in fact, there had
ever been a letter in the first place. But by then, by March of 1977, I was
so disillusioned with the idea of truth in relation to my father’s life, much
less his death, that I didn’t pursue it.
He had led a secret life. And even in death, she kept his secrets.
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