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JoeWorld-OnLine.com JWO Staff I lucked out as a child of the 60's. I grew up in the state that would produce one of the best selling toy name brands in the world. I would have access to toys that were merely on drawing boards. I used to get Mr. Potato Head in the mail in plain brown boxes. When I got my 5 Star Jeep in came in a plain white box with the outline of the jeep on it GIjOEs already in the seats. It was my 5th Birthday. My mom, grandmother, and aunt worked for a local department store still there today, Ann & Hope. The salesmen would come in and leave stuff for me through my family. By the time I was ten I had every set imaginable. Its all gone now. Then in 1994 I was one of the lucky people to see the re-invention of something from my childhood...the leatherbelt...no just kidding...GIjOE of course. I was working the RI Air Guard Air Show at Quonset Point, I was USAF Security Police, when, while walking the display area, I found Hasbro reps setting up with the 30th Anniversary Joes. Little did I know what was going to happen then. On Sunday, I bought 3 sets and while doing their money drops was offered a baseball hat which they were out of (Hasbro employees only hat). I actually got the hat while working for a Citizens Bank in Pawtucket near Hasbro. The Hasbro Cafeteria Chef and I talked on deposit day and I told him my delema. He got it for me. Thats where it all began. My childhood started all over again. Today I live in Huntsville, Alabama with my wife and kids. I work for NASA with Protective Services and work part-time for a local Hobbytown. I am also a WW2 living historian for a local Veterans Museum as well as a mechanic for the same. I also write for Sideshow Toys and this great web site. I thank Charlotte and Scott for my return to the editorial desk and I thank you the reader for making this a great place to work.
Thanks! Dave "Tanker" Matteson
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