To the Editor:

I just went out for a little shopping.

My first stop was Rite-Aid. I drove my car into their parking lot. My next stop was Acme. I drove into their parking lot. Then I went to Family Dollar and a convenience store, which both have parking lots.

For the past 46 years, I’ve never had to parallel park, because everywhere I go, there is a parking lot.

Then I got a letter from the state Motor Vehicle Commission, directing me to go to Cherry Hill for a driver's license re-examination. I pulled into the MVC parking lot. They sent me to their parallel parking site. Of course, I could not parallel park to suit the MVC, and I failed.

I’m an 82-year-old Korean War veteran who spent 27 months in a communist prison camp where one out of three Americans died. I have been treated for post-traumatic stress disorder since 1954, but I have never gotten a traffic ticket. It seems that serving one’s country and having a clean driving record means nothing to the MVC.

I lost my wife of 42 years in 2010, live alone, and need my driver’s license to go shopping, keep doctors’ appointments and go to church. If I lose my license, I will be forced to leave South Jersey.

I only drive on familiar county roads, never in the rain, or anywhere that takes longer than 10 or 15 minutes.

I’m not a teenager, and believe I should be given more consideration. At 82, how many more years do I have? All of my friends have passed away, and I’m the last of seven children.

I served my country in the Army and got wounded twice. That seems to mean nothing to the MVC, either.

Manuel Castlewitz

Clayton