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A little before his 39th birthday this person "????" Jernigan was living in the magnificent city of Naples, Italy, and decided to award himself with a birthday present trip to Cairo and Alexandria, Egypt. Other trips were planned to India, Russia, Yugoslavia, England, Sardina, and also return to Ireland, where he was previously stationed. Realizing he needed a passport to visit all the places he was planning, all his numerous papers were collected and taken to the US Consulate in Naples to apply for the passport. After quite a while he was ushered into the "inner sanctum" where an individual who took his papers looked him over with suspicion. That gave him cause for worry because if you are in a foreign country and someone has all your papers, you would become quite uneasy. He was finally advised that that what he thought was a certificate of birth was simply a hospital record of "????" Jernigan birth and could only be offered a 90 day temporary passport.
Later he wrote to the State of Texas for a birth certificate and finally received it. He was surprised that his name was "Boy" Jernigan, born 30 Aug and not the name he had used to join and spend 25 years in the three branches of the military. "Boy" told his mother, Ila Mae (Menasco) Jernigan that he didn't have a name and she suggested that he select one that he would like to be called. He determined that he had the choice of a lifetime and could pick a name he especially liked. "Boy" Jernigan spent a lot of time looking though books, making up names, finally decided on "Shannon Joshua Jernigan"., and applied to the Division of Vital Statistics in Austin, TX, for a name change from "Boy" to "Shannon Joshua" Jernigan.
When the new certificate of birth arrived, the problems began again since all his service records, social security, drivers license and every other bit of identification of a lifetime had to be corrected. He has since traveled all over the world with his passport. Just call him Shannon, a name he must like since he named himself.
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