Dickie Hilton was a war-baby born in 1943 in Oakland, CA. He didn't know his mother; she abandoned him when he was a year old. She handed him over to the woman who babysat for her. Dickie didn't know his father either; he was away in the service. Dickie was gone by the time he returned home.
At that young of an age, Dickie has no memories of anyone except for the man and woman who raised him. They were the ones he knew as Mom and Dad.
When he was between the ages of 10 and 12 years old he lost a brother he didn't know he had. Then later he lost the women he called 'Mother and Grandmother' together. All of them died in horrible, tragic accidents.
He's been down so many roads his entire life finding himself in one situation after another. Some were good, some were not so good, and in some cases they turned his life upside down. Looking back now he knows he brought it on himself all because of the choices he made.
Almost everyone at one time or another in their life ends up in a situation or situations that are beyond their control and they have to make a choice. People don't think about the consequences of those choices or can't see they may be getting into a worse situation or that their actions or in-actions could cause undesirable consequences; all of which can shape a life either in a good way or bad, just as his choices did in his own life. He couldn't see the messes he was making at those times in his life until it was too late (first as a runaway at 15-1/2 with the horrors of being on the road, entering the Navy at 16-1/2, becoming a UDT Frogman sent to Vietnam and experiencing the horrors of war, then ending up in prison at 19 with fears of unknown dangers therein).
After prison, he was successful in Arkansas and Oklahoma as a Master Mason in construction that later led getting into the oil development. Governor Reagan pardoned him in recognition of his successes.