J.J.

Johnny James is 79 years old, and is a veteran of WW2 and Korea. He's lived on the streets for "a long time". He served with the infantry during the war, and went to Britain, where he was shipped across to France. He fought there and in Germany before being sent to the Phillippines via the Panama canal and the South Pacific. He saw Japan; went to Hiroshima and Nagasaki; has lived in Alaska, and has been in Texas since the 60s. He has eight children, whom he rarely sees. His favourite car was a Chevy. He sleeps in a dumpster when it gets really cold, and takes shelter by some condos when it rains. He collects aluminum cans which he sells for 40 cents a pound. "The world is fucked", he says. "I fought against the nazis", he tells me, and "now everybody tells you how you're supposed to live". "The young cops, they pick on the homeless. They're scared to go where the real crime is. The older cops, they're OK." "The young people today, they don't want to work." If he could live anywhere, he'd live in Hawaii, he says.