“When my grandfather told him what his name was, the man misunderstood. Since the boat was coming from Great Britain, the man assumed that he was Irish. He wrote down my grandfather’s name as Cam (as in Cameron) McGruder, or that is what he intended the papers to say. He, for some reason though, decided to spell out the first portion of the name. Being in a big hurry (and having terrible handwriting), the man dropped the “C” from the name. As I said, he may have been dyslexic, because he reversed the “B” and made it a “D.” He also may have thought that he misunderstood my grandfather because McGruder is a common Irish name. He then stamped my grandfather’s papers and closed his window for lunch.”
“My grandfather was afraid of being found out and deported, so he just decided to spell his name the way his immigration papers read. That is the origin of the name ‘Magruder.’”
The interviewer looked at Jay, tapped his pen on his desk several times, and said, ”Very well, I will just put down ‘other’ for ethnicity.” The two then began a long process that took over one hour. By then, Jay decided that he must call into work so that he would not worry his coworkers. The interviewer invited him to use his phone, although it was a long-distance call from Houston. “And J.D.” the interviewer looked Jay in the eye, “go ahead and put in your two weeks’ notice while you are at it. Welcome aboard!”
From: J.D. Magruder, Young Recruit; The Magruder Mysteries' Untold Story
by: D. C. Scott (the fifth and final book in the series)
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