After serving on the mighty USS Midway, then thirty years on "The Job," a sailor/police officer has many great stories to tell. Especially if those three decades were spent on the mean streets of New York, during some of the city's most turbulent times. A Korean War veteran and retired New York City police lieutenant, Jim Cocalas has a ton of compelling tales to share: funny, heartbreaking, informative, and thought-provoking. I Was Growed Up Lucky is a deeply personal memoir of a life lived joyfully and gratefully, despite devastating personal tragedies, including the losses of two infant sons and the passing of a beloved wife. Delivered in a casual, conversational tone, Jim tells his compelling stories of life-and-death situations, humorous antics, corruption in high places and, sometimes brutal, human drama, all showing what it's really like to serve as a police officer. In a culture that tends to see cops as robotic superheroes or trigger-happy vigilantes, this book reveals the vulnerable humanity of one policeman, whose true desire was to protect and serve . . . and the personal price he paid for doing so.
About the Author: Thrice decorated, twice commended by the FBI, Jim Cocalas served and protected the citizens of New York City for thirty years as a patrolman, sergeant and lieutenant. Some fortunate people, their children, and grandchildren walk those city streets today because he put his own life in jeopardy to save theirs. He patrolled the Big Apple's poorest and most dangerous neighborhoods with compassion, borne of deep understanding, having been raised in similar circumstances. After spending his childhood in a tough area of Brooklyn, during the Depression, cursed with poverty, but blessed with the love of family, Jim believes he "was growed up lucky." Although, reading his memoirs, one might consider him lucky to have "growed up" at all. During the Korean War, Jim joined the U.S. Navy and served his country aboard the world's largest ship of its day, the USS Midway. He traveled the world from the Arctic Circle to the Mediterranean, Guantanamo Bay to Gibraltar, Haiti to Nova Scotia, and many ports beyond. Now, with his service to country and the people of New York finished, his children raised, and his beloved wife at rest, Jim is pouring his considerable energies into yet another career. As an author, he shares his countless stories, heartbreaking and joyful, in an effort to inform his readers about what it means to serve as a police officer.