Someone was speaking pre-WWII times. I remember a couple years after
WWII. (1946) I was stationed in Hitchcock, Texas at a remote air station
and they were trying to disperse personnel. Some were discharged and others
just hung around waiting for something to happen. I got a set of orders to
Kaneohe, Hawaii. The only thing I knew about Hawaii was the Hawaiian music
that was broadcast from under the banyan tree at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel.
Or was it the Ala Moana Hotel?? Can't remember. We could hear it in the
States on the radio and I thought that was so neat. "Hawaii Calling" they
would say. I had been ashore for a while and it was time for sea duty. Can
you imagine sea duty in Hawaii?? It wasn't much fun back then as it is now.
It's all modernized and beautiful now. It had it's own natural beauty back
then.

Anyway, I had been in the Pacific during the war but, I couldn't imagine
going to another island and a place that was half way around the world for
duty.. Back then most of the population was Hawaiian. They only had one
mountain two lane windy road to the windward side of the island. They called
it the Pali. It's been closed for many years now. Those wild rides home in
the middle of the night helped my hair to turn grey. The cops were to be
recognized and respected. Those guys were tough... and they were short and
stout. Anyway I did my year in Kaneohe... I didn't really care for it too
much. They didn't have a place for me so I spent time at the hanger and I
worked in the Chief's Club two or three nights a week. I also worked in the
station library which I hated. We lived in Navy Housing.. a small two story
two bedroom unit. My daughter, Carolyn, came down with Scarlet Fever and we
were quarantined for six weeks. Couldn't go outside or leave the house. This
really put our marriage to the test. I had someone buy me a solid planked
balsa wood model airplane and I spent many hours on that. What a blessing
for my spouse. I was going nuts. They delivered our groceries. They would
put them buy the door and we could pick them up after the people left.
Nobody wanted anything to do with us. They burned our trash. One time I did
it after dark and the fire department came. We watched from inside. They
didn't have the nerve to get to close to bawl us out. Everybody knew about
us. Regular lepers.

My orders for Midway came in June of 1948... how could this happen???... I
was going farther and farther from the States and I really wanted to go back
home. We departed Barbers Point on a four engine R5D. I don't remember much
about the flight out but I do remember of us taxing up to the terminal at
Midway (it was a little white baggage shack) near the end of the runway,
where the old power plant used to be. The new hanger stands there now. The
old power plant was in operation then. It seems to me there was a
communication station there too. I'm not sure about that. There were about
50 or so people standing by the white picket fence all smiles and wondering
who was aboard this plane. It was such a warm welcome... I will never forget
them taking us to our Quonset hut. That night we were invited to our hosts
home for dinner. They had fixed a big basket of goodies for us to get
started on. The Quonset hut was a terrible disappointment. It was hot and
humid and with no air conditioning.. We went to bed and we heard what
sounded like little babies crying. Later we learned that these were the
moanie birds. You really never get used to that sound.. you just learn to
live with it. The damn goonies were the next thing we started getting used
to. That constant squawking about drove us nuts. They weren't afraid of us
at all. There were about 600 people, kids and dogs on the island at that
time. There were only two sedans, one each for the skipper and exec. and
perhaps a dozen other trucks or jeeps and lots of bicycles. They had a bus
that made a constant tour of the island.

To be continued...