IN FLORIDA, WITH EASTERN

The offer to remain in Florida with Eastern Air Lines rather than returning to United Air Lines, in San Francisco was not only a business career decision, but also a moral one. Although Eastern had picked up my salary and extra living expenses, United had continued my seniority. They had even sent me a one year pin along with a very complimentary letter about my excellent report from Eastern. They were looking forward to my return.

I found out that Fred, the other United employee, had also been asked to remain with Eastern. The two of us had a long discussion about the morality of Eastern approaching us behind United's back, and what the opportunities might be at either company. After much soul searching, we both decided to stay with Eastern. After informing our new employer, we each sent in a letter of resignation to United.

I had another personal problem: Mother, who was in San Francisco awaiting my return. In a long telephone call, I found that she was working with a pharmacy company, in San Francisco, and we agreed that she should stay there for now. As it turned out, she later met and married the pharmacist; but more about that in another blog.

Now it was time to reorganize our living arrangements. Dan, from Los Angeles, who had been working at the ticket counter, was returning to United with the remarks that Fred and I were not of sound mind for not going back. The biggest surprise was that George, from Seattle, our other co-renter, turned out to be gay; he was leaving to start a beauty salon with a gay friend he had met. Strange, but none of us had any idea that he was gay. That left Fred and me to find other accommodations. We found a great two bedroom apartment in Miami Springs; it was very close to the airport and came all furnished. So, now we were Eastern employees, Fred continued working in Terminal Control and I was in Reservations.

Eastern put me into a management training program. In effect, I was to spend time in all departments. It was April 1948, and Eastern was entering its slow period. This was great as I was able to get in a lot of training. My first assignment was airline accounting. This is where all the tickets picked up at the boarding gate were separated, by airline, and sent off to the Airline Reporting Corp. This company was responsible for processing all the tickets from all the airlines, in order to determine, which owed what. We also audited the money from the ticket counters, by agent, for accuracy, etc. Other departments were Departure Control, Flight Operations, Baggage Handling, Travel Agency Relations, Outside Sales, Ticket Counter, and Terminal Control where seat inventory was managed. Between assignments, I would return to reservations where we handled incoming reservations from the general public, from travel agents, and a special desk that handled calls from hotel concierges.

In the summertime, Miami and Miami Beach were almost empty cities. Hotels closed and boarded up for the summer. In Miami there were a few motels and only two hotels, the Columbus and the Everglades. On the beach, most of the hotels were in South Beach up to about 20^th Street. The big flashy hotels of today didn't start to come into being until the mid and late 50s.

One of my favorite places on the Beach was a bar owned by comedienne Martha Ray. Martha was often in attendance, when she was not making a movie or doing some TV show. She was very friendly and was just as funny in person as on the screen. Another place I enjoyed was a bar on the beach that featured twin pianos. I don't recall anymore who the performers were, but they were great. They would play for about twenty minutes every hour. They had a strict rule: no drinks served during their performance and no noisy conversations. No one minded the rule and the bar was packed every night.

I purchased a very used car. It was a 1939 Ford and not in very good shape. The Miami area had lots of canals and this was a very good thing; when the ford started to overheat I could pull up next to a canal and get some water for the radiator. The windshield also leaked when it rained, and I often ended up with very wet feet. In any event it was better than the bike I had been using.

I recall a funny story that I didn't think was funny at the time. I had just bought the car and decided that I would drive the car from Miami Springs to downtown Miami to go to the movies. As I came out of the movies, the bus that I used to ride on, was just stopping by the theatre. I ran for the bus and boarded; it was just about back in Miami Springs when I woke up to the fact that I was now a car owner and that my car was parked back in Miami. It was a long time before I forgave myself for being so stupid.

I had a number of girl friends, but nothing serious; the same for Fred. Although we were better paid than before, money was not plentiful, so a date often meant inviting a girl to the apartment, where we would listen to records and have a couple of beers. Many times a couple of girls came over and the four of us would cook dinner, and just hang out, having fun talking and joking. There were lots of girls working at Eastern, so most of the times these were the girls we entertained and hung out with.

It was about that time that a young lady came to work at Eastern. Her name was Helen Oliver.

 

 

 

Eastern Air Lines

Although I didn't realize it at the time, I was a very lucky man. United Air Lines' offering to "loan me" to Eastern Air lines could have meant my flying to one of Eastern Air Lines northern cities, but here I was enroute to Miami, Florida. On board our flight I met a fellow United Airlines employee, Jack Frederickson, from the Oakland office. We spent the time getting acquainted and wondering how Eastern Air Lines may differ from United. Fred, as he liked to be called, suggested that we try to find accommodations together. Eastern would be paying us our current salary, plus a housing and food allowance. I agreed, as I felt that Fred was a very nice guy. I felt we could get along for the five few months we would be with Eastern.

Upon our arrival in Miami, we were met by Ed Noaks, who was the Miami Airport ticket counter manager for Eastern. He sent us off to a nearby hotel with instructions on where to report the next morning. At the hotel, we met other United employees, who had arrived earlier. It was at the hotel that we met Dan, who was a United employee from Los Angeles, and George, from Seattle. The four of us decided to get accommodations together. There were about fifteen people at the hotel, both men and women, employees from various United Air Lines cities.

The following morning we were picked up and taken to the Miami airport where we were going to have a two day training session on Eastern Air Lines procedures. After training, the people were assigned jobs such as in reservations, at the ticket counter, in accounting, with operations, etc. Fred was assigned to Terminal control, Dan to the airport ticket counter, and George and I to reservations. The four of us would all be working at the airport.

Now we had to find a place to live. At that time, Eastern, National, and Pan American Airways, the only airlines serving Miami, were located on N.W. 36^th Street. Eastern had their own facilities at the corner of LeJeune Road and 36^th Street. National and Pan Am were together further north, on 36^th St. Today's Miami Airport is on the 20^th Street side of the old location. It's hard to believe that the airport of the 1940's with only one runway and the entire length ending at Red Road, would grow to what it is now. And it keeps growing…

The four of us decided to look for a place in Hialeah, which was very close to the Airport where we would be working. We found a great house that was being rented out by famous jockey Eddie Arcaro. We rented it for around $200.00 a month, for the four or five months we would be there. The house was fully furnished and even had a TV set. If I remember correctly, TV was only on in the evening until 11.00 PM. In any event we never watched it as our house became the meeting place for most of the United employees. It seemed that almost every night was party night at our house. We were all pretty young, but, to everyone's credit, our parties never got out of hand.

Things were going great at Eastern. We all liked what we were doing and the Eastern Management treated us very well. We had been there for three months and thinking about our return to United. It was about then that Fred and I both started to get extra attention and complimentary remarks like "We're sure going to miss you guys".

Eastern decided to give all of us a farewell fishing trip. All fifteen of us plus some Eastern escorts, set sail from Miami. We had been out for about three hours when a rain and wind storm hit us. We were bobbing like a cork, and nearly everyone was sea sick. We were a happy group when we reached shore. I don't think it was a great farewell fishing trip. I'm sure we all would have preferred a beach party.

Back at work, I was called into the reservation manager's office along with two supervisors. They started out with some compliments on how much they appreciated United Airlines loaning us to them and the great job we had all done. The conversation became more personal when they asked me to consider the possibility of staying with Eastern. They outlined an employment offer that included a substantial salary increase, management training, etc. They informed me that there were two other United employees that they would like to keep, but did not reveal who they were.

It looked like another crossroads in my life. Should I return to United Airlines in San Francisco, who had been very good to me? Should I resign from them and stay with Eastern? I had a little time to decide before I had to give an answer. It was not an easy decision; I wanted to give it a lot of thought.

 

AN AIRLINE CAREER BEGINS

It's surprising how a career starts. Looking back on my life, I guess it was fate. I started out as a dental technician to join a good friend who, like me, was waiting to join the Army. I needed something to do. The army provided me the opportunity to work with dentists, and this ended up leading me to the United States. The unpleasant situation which made me to give up this profession, forced me to seek another career path, which fortunately led me to one that I got to love. Back in the 1940's the airline industry was really just getting started. I didn't know it at the time, but here I was on the ground floor with United Air Lines which, in the future, was to become a major American airline.

I reported for work in November 1946, as a reservations agent. My job was to answer the reservation phone and book the caller on a flight to the destination requested. There were no computers in those days; each flight and date had a page with spaces for the number of seats available. When I started, our airplanes were 21 passenger DC-3s. When each 21 spaces were filled out with names written in, the flight was sold out. United's main route was from the West Coast to New York, with stops in various cities enroute.

I had my first flight as an employee in December of 1947, when the company sent me to Chicago to attend a two weeks training course. It was quite an experience; it took us three days to get there. Our DC-3 was about half full. The Stewardess, that's what they used to call these lovely ladies, gave us all blankets, as whatever heating the aircraft had was not enough for winter operation. We made three stops enroute and, at two of them, Salt Lake City and Omaha, we landed but had to stay overnight due to snow storms. At the two stops where we could not take off, United put us all up in a hotel. Finally we reached Chicago.

The United Airlines training classes were held right at the Chicago Airport. As I remember, we had about twenty participants; most from SanFrancisco, as this was to be united's main station at that time. All of us were accommodated at a nearby hotel. We would be picked up every morning and transported to the airport. The weather was terrible, the wind blew, and it snowed almost every day. Chicago's nickname as the "Windy City" certainly was apropos. The two weeks went by fast and we were soon enroute back to beautiful SanFrancisco.

While I was attending classes in Chicago, my mother moved to SanFrancisco to be with me. This was very fortunate as I had only been at work for a few days when I came down with the measles. It was just at that time that United decided that they had hired too many people as they were anticipating receiving a number of DC-4 aircraft from the military. The military was reducing their need for all the aircraft they used for the war, but ended up delaying their return to the airlines for almost six months. The SFO reservations manager had the job of deciding who would be furloughed. As I was one of the last hired, they tried to reach me at home to give me the bad news. Since I was sick in bed, my mother took the phone call. Instead of telling me, she somehow got an appointment with the reservations manager and talked him out of furloughing me. I don't know exactly what she told him, probably something about how dedicated to my job I was, how much I loved my job, etc. I guess it worked as I kept my job. (Never underestimate the power of your mother.)

 

Being a reservations agent was not a difficult job. I got to talk to a lot of very interesting people who wanted to fly somewhere and learned about all the different destinations in the USA. Flying was not the popular means of transportation that it is today. The old DC-3s were not pressurized so they couldn't fly over about 13,000 feet. Today they can fly at 30,000 feet or higher. The turbulence back then could be high at times and weather would often result in delays or cancellation of flights. In some ways, this has not changed. Mother Nature still has a say in this.

I remember being at the airport when welcomed the first DC-4 in SanFrancisco. Compared to the DC-3s, it had 44 seats instead of 21, and I remember remarking to a fellow employee: "Where in California, are we going to find 44 people who all want to go somewhere at the same time"? Filling 21 seats on a DC-3 was not always easy, back in 1946 we would often have to assure people that flying was safe, that they wouldn't get a nose bleed and that the stewardess was a registered nurse (as it was in those days). I had been with the Company for almost a year when, in November of 1948, United had a fatal crash in Brice Canyon.

As it happened after every commercial air line crash, people would cancel reservations. Phone activity would drop dramatically. It was at that time that United and Eastern airlines made an agreement on personnel. Since neither airline competed for passengers (United was primarily an East West carrier and Eastern a North/ South carrier). The agreement called for United to loan personnel to Eastern during the winter, and Eastern would loan personnel to United in the summer season. This agreement was very timely for us as the Brice Canyon crash cut deeply into our passenger loads and once again we had more employees than needed. That's when I was asked, "Would you like to spend the winter working with Eastern Airlines?" I thought for about thirty seconds… and responded YES. It was on my first anniversary with United that I found myself enroute to sunshiny Miami.

AN AMERICAN BEGINNING

Sacramento, California was a far cry from Vancouver, British Columbia. Here I found a city where the sun shined almost every day. It was very hot in the summer and mild in the winters. It was the first time I had seen palm trees. Sacramento was a city of parks and nice homes. It was a good introduction to what was going to be my adoptive country. Vancouver was a city I loved dearly. It had beautiful mountains, the Pacific Ocean, and the frequent rain that brought a lush green to all the landscape. I loved the smell of the cedar trees, the bounty of the fruit orchards, and lovely home gardens full of colorful flowering bushes and plants. Vancouver was a city I would always love, no matter where I lived.

The first thing I had to do was to find a place to live. I contacted Dr. Spurgeon, my employer, to let him know that as soon as I found a place to live I would be ready to go to work. I checked the local paper and found a room for rent. Visiting the home, I found that it belonged to an old Spanish American war veteran and his wife. I don't recall how much I paid, but it was a nice room. The old veteran's name was Pete. He had a well trained police dog. Several times coming home in the evening, the dog would not let me in the house. I would have to wait until the barking got the attention of its owner. Pete's wife was an invalid, and was very heavy. He often asked me to help him get her into a wheelchair.

I worked for Dr. Spurgeon for about a year. He was married and had a very young daughter. In the beginning, everything was great. I was enjoying my work and he seemed pleased to have me working for him. I had decided that I wanted to learn how to fly. Every weekend I would go out to the airport and take flight instruction from a great guy who was an ex flight instructor in the American Air Force. Flying became my love and I even thought about the possibility of a commercial license. When I took the physical exam for my license, I learned that I was shade blind, which precluded my getting a commercial license. It is not that I was totally color blind, but I was not able to tell dark blue from black, etc.

Things were not going well back at the office. It became clear that Dr Spurgeon had a drinking problem. He had become an alcoholic. Unfortunately, he expected me to be his enabler. I would have to purchase his liquor for him. This was not easy as I was still only nineteen and couldn't do it legally. He would insist that I go out with him to dinner. This became more than I could handle. His wife would call me and ask that I try to get some money for her as she didn't have money for food etc. I didn't drink and this man I had met in the Canadian Army had become someone much different. It became my job to get him home, get money from him for his wife, etc. His practice was going down the tubes. I decided that for my own sake I had to leave. He was not happy with that decision, but I was not going to get anywhere staying with him.

I just had to get another job. I decided that I had enough of dentistry so I applied for a job at the Payless Drug Store in downtown Sacramento. I ended up at the candy counter selling candy. It was about this time that my mother showed up. Pete was happy to rent us a second room and mother moved in. It was nice to have her with me. The war had destroyed our family and as we had all ended up all over the place, it was good to become reconnected. I was still flying every weekend but only for about an hour as money was short at the time.

I decided that I needed to find a better job than the candy counter at the Payless Drugstore. I was not sure just what I wanted to do. I got the Idea of going down to San Francisco and see if I could find something to do. As I got off the bus in San Francisco and was walking up Market Street, I saw a sign for United Air Lines. Their offices were at the corner of Post and Powell Streets. I decided to go in and see what kind of jobs they had. I guess they thought I was a little strange when I asked for the personnel department. They didn't have one. I spoke to the office manager and told him that I had been on several UAL flights and thought that United would be a great company to work for. We spoke for quite a while about all the jobs in the airline industry. He thought that reservations would be a good place to start and offered me a job. This was November 1946. I was to come to work in the reservations office at Post & Powell. There would be a training class in Chicago in December and I would have to participate in that. Two days later, I started work.

OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS

The job offer from Dr. Spurgeon, one of the dentists that I worked with in the Army at Chilliwack, came as a real surprise. Although we had been friends as well as Army comrades I honestly had never expected much in the way of communication after we all returned to civilian life, especially from somebody who had returned to life in California. I was flattered that he thought that much about me. Since he offered me the job of heading up his dental lab, I certainly was not going to turn it down.

My first call and visit was to the U.S. Immigration office in Vancouver. I needed to find out what I had to do to enter the United States and accept a job there. I found out that my Canadian occupation as a dental technician would give me a preferred place in line. It would be helpful if I had a sponsor, preferably a relative, who would be willing to guarantee that they would support me if need be. I should also have the promise of employment. There were also many forms to be filled out, including my honorable army discharge and a police report that I had no criminal record. I would also have to obtain a Canadian Passport for crossing the U.S. border.

I called my sister in Rhode Island. She, and her husband Harold, had purchased a home in Coventry R.I. and were both employed. Vera had a job as Secretary to a Supreme Court Justice in the Supreme Court, in Providence and Harold was working as a civilian at the Navy Yard. They both agreed to become my sponsors. I was able to get a job confirmation letter from Dr. Spurgeon. Finally I had obtained all documents required. Now I had to wait for a call from Immigration. I was informed that this would take two to three weeks.

I had resigned from the post office and was staying with my father. While waiting for my hearing at the U.S. Immigration Office, I learned that my mother had obtained her discharge from the Canadian Air Force and was visiting Vera. We spoke on the telephone and she told me that Vera had updated her on my situation and had agreed to sponsor Mother as well. As my mother said, she had no reason to start her life again in Canada, if her two children were going to be living in the U.S.A.

It took all of three weeks to hear from U.S. Immigration. They had found everything was in order and I was granted Immigrant status. They gave me a green card and I was on my way. I was certainly going to miss living in Canada, and especially Vancouver. The only American experience I had was my trip to Washington D.C. and a couple of trips to Seattle while I was in the army. From what I had seen on those trips, I felt sure that the American and the Canadian people were pretty much the same and I would get along just fine. I had always been a very positive and adventuring person who rarely saw anything negative. I was looking forward to a new adventure, perhaps the beginning of a whole new life, and I could hardly wait to see where it would lead.

 

 

Decisions, Decisions ?

Returning from the visit with my sister in Washington was a welcome respite from my Army duties. The train ride from New York to Vancouver and then up to Chilliwack gave me lots of time to think. The War was over; I had to make some decisions as to what I should do. I assumed that I could remain in the Army. I had a great job. The 18 months that I had served would count as double toward a twenty year retirement, since they were served during wartime. But, was that what I really wanted? Somehow I didn't feel like the Army was the ideal place for me. Perhaps the best thing to do was just waiting until the Army offered me a suggestion.

I didn't have to wait very long. I received word from the Station Commander that the Army was offering all enlisted men the opportunity to remain in the service until the future needs of the Army were determined. Additionally, any serviceman who had not yet reached their nineteenth birthday at the end of hostilities could seek a discharge. Somewhere, from deep inside, a voice said "The Army is not for me. Let's see where life would lead me". I was only eighteen and I wanted more than what the Army could offer. I requested the opportunity for discharge.

Within a couple of weeks I was ordered to turn in all my Army material. I permitted to keep and wear my uniform for up to thirty days, or until I could obtain civilian clothes. I was to report to the discharge center in Vancouver, where I would receive my discharge certificate and $100.00 to help me assimilate back into civilian life.

Prior to leaving Chilliwack, I said my farewells to everyone at the clinic; we exchanged civilian addresses and promised to keep in touch. I particularly felt sad to say goodbye to a young Indian soldier who lived in a little room in the basement of the clinic. His job had been to take care of the clinic, sweep the floors, and keep the furnace going at night so we had heat and hot water in the morning. He could not read or write and would often bring me a letter from the Indian Agent at his home reservation. The Indian Agent would write on behalf his mother who could not read or write, and ask me to read it to him. He would ask me to write back to his mother and would tell me what he wanted to say. I was trying to teach him how to read and he was learning the alphabet. We had become good friends. I urged him to keep on learning, I hope he did, but I doubt he did it. In a way, it's funny how war can bring people together in friendship on one hand while at the same time we are engaged in killing each other in some part of the world. I really don't think I would have ever made a good soldier.

I reported to the discharge center in Vancouver and was handed a certificate indicating that I was honorable discharged, given a pin to wear in my lapel plus $100.00 in cash. I was then directed to a little room to meet with an Army Captain who would help me back into civilian life. He shook my hand and told me that my Country would like me to purchase a Canadian Bond with my $100.00 discharge bonus. I told him the $100. 00 was a clothing allowance and I needed that. The only clothing I had was my uniform. I guess he had some kind of quota to make as he was not happy that I would not buy his Canadian Bond. He suggested that somehow I was not patriotic. I suggested that he was crazy if he thought I was going to give him my money. That was my introduction back into civilian life.

I had contacted my father and made my way to stay with him. The next day I went shopping for a suit and other clothing. Not much of a selection and I even had to show my discharge certificate before the store would sell a suit to me, the war time clothing rationing had not yet been lifted. I spent the next two weeks trying to find a job. A lot of veterans were looking for work and very little was available. I finally got a job at the post office, cancelling stamps. It paid twelve dollars a week. I couldn't live with my father as it was too far to travel every day. I was able to find a room in a small hotel in town, for six dollars per week. It was not much of a hotel. Just a single bed and a chest of drawers, but it was clean. No elevator and my room was on the 3^rd floor. I was beginning to think the Army was not a bad deal after all. I had been at the post office for a couple of weeks and had been to the Military employment office several times but they had nothing available except some manual labor jobs. I had tried all the dental labs and they had nothing available at that moment, but promised to call me if any opening came up.

One evening, going home to the hotel after work, the room clerk told me that my father had called and wanted me to return his call. The only telephone was in the lobby. When I got through to my father, he told me that I had a call from a Doctor Spurgeon in Sacramento, California, and he wanted me to call him. Dr. Spurgeon had been one of the dentists at Chilliwack. He was a young man, about 35 years or so of age, and was one of the Doctors I had exchanged addresses with.

I only had a couple of dollars in my pocket, just enough for my dinner, breakfast and lunch on the next day. Luckily for me, the next day was payday at the post office. I would have $24.00, less Government employment stamps, about $2.00. I got my pay and on that evening I called Doctor Spurgeon. He had set up a practice in Sacramento and wanted to know if I would like to work for him as his Lab Technician. He said that he would pay me $50.00 per week. I told him I would like to come; however, I would have to go through immigration to get into the USA. He said that he would hold the job open for me and that I should let him know if I needed any help. He also said that he would be willing to vouch for me with the US State Dept. if I needed it, and keep him informed.

With some good luck, it would seem that I would soon be on my way to California.

 

 

WASHINGTON, D.C.

In the last blog I told you about volunteering for duty in the Pacific. With the surrendering of the Japanese it was clear that Canadian service in the Pacific was going to be very limited. Although I had no word from the Army as to my status, I had fourteen days of leave coming to me. I decided to take that time and visit my sister, in Washington, D.C. My sister Vera was working for the British Government War Office. I had been in touch with her when her Naval Officer husband was lost at sea, in 1943. He was on convoy duty on a Corvette escorting Liberty ships across the North Atlantic. His ship was on duty when it suddenly disappeared. There was no distress call; it just disappeared. All hands were lost; it's assumed that it was torpedoed and probably blew up; sinking so fast that it was over in a matter of minutes. It remains one of the wars unsolved mysteries.

I called my sister and she was very happy that I wanted to come to Washington to visit her. She shared an apartment with another war time secretary, but said that they had an extra room and I would be welcome to stay with them. I arranged to arrive by train and set off for Washington on the Canadian Pacific Railroad. Once again, I crossed the beautiful Rocky Mountains, across the Canadian prairies to Toronto, where I changed trains to New York, and then again to Washington.

Vera met me at the station in Washington; this was August 1944, and the temperature must have been about 100 degrees in the shade. I had no idea how hot it got in Washington during the summer. I had on my heavy Army winter uniform, which in Canada was comfortable all year round. I did have a summer uniform, but that was in my barracks box back in Chilliwack. We made our way to Vera's apartment and I met her roommate Audrey. It was a nice apartment and I was happy to see my sister after such a long time. We spent the whole evening catching each other up on our lives to date.

Washington was a lovely city. Tree lined streets, many large buildings and what seemed like thousands of people hurrying everywhere. I spent several days just sightseeing as there was much to see. Vera invited me to visit her office and meet her boss, Sir Christopher Courtney. He was very kind and spent time welcoming me to his office and talking to me about the war. The war with Germany was over and he was looking forward to his return to England.

I had another great experience while in Washington. I had lunch with General Dwight Eisenhower and his wife, Mamie Eisenhower. Here is how it came about. I had made arrangements with Vera to meet her for lunch. We were to meet at a certain hotel down town at 12:30 noon. I had been sightseeing and arrived at the location about 12 noon. I was just standing there when an American Officer came up to me and offered me a ticket to the Eisenhower luncheon. It was a luncheon honoring General Eisenhower for his service. Apparently they had a cancellation and the officer was told to go out on the street and give the ticket to a serviceman. At first I thought it was a joke of some kind. The officer said it was no joke, and if I didn't want it he would find someone else.

I decided to take a chance and go with the officer. The luncheon was being held in the hotel I was standing in front of, He led me into this huge Room. There must have been several hundred people eating lunch. Up at the head table were General Eisenhower and Mamie. I was led to a table right in front of the General. It was the experience of a lifetime. Here I was, an insignificant Canadian Army Lance Corporal, having lunch at a table full of high ranking American officers, having lunch with The General. I never did find out the name of the organization that was honoring the General and his wife. They were presented with a beautiful silver tea service. As happened, my sister was going crazy looking for me. I rushed out and actually was walking down the staircase to the lobby just behind the General and Mamie when my sister spotted me. When I told her what happened, she said that she would never have believed me had she not seen me walking down behind the General. It was a surprising event.

My Army leave seemed to be full of unexpected events. I had some more travelling to do.

Vera had been a widow for about a year and was now dating a sailor. His name was Harold Carlson and they had been dating for a couple of months. They decided to get married, and Vera wanted me to go with them to Rhode Island where the Carlson family lived. It was important to her to have some representation from her family at the wedding. This came as a very great surprise as I had no idea this was about to happen. I still had another week of leave before I had to report back in Canada. The three of us caught a train to Providence where they got married with his family in attendance. This was all done on a weekend. The three of us again boarded a train, Vera and Harold to Washington and I left for New York, where I could pick up a train back up to Canada.

When I arrived at Grand Central Station, I found that the next train available was early morning the next day. Grand Central Station was a madhouse. It seemed that there were hundreds of soldiers, sailors, armed service men and women trying to get someplace. I had the afternoon and night to spend in New York. I didn't want to waste a minute of it. I found a check room and left my small bag. From there, I found my way to a Service Personnel Information Booth. They had several ideas of what I could do in the few hours I had. First on my list was the Empire State Building. I was amazed at the view from the top. I had never seen such a fascinating view of a city. New York certainly was big. I wondered what it was like to live in such a large city. Little did I know that someday I would live and work there?

After hours of walking and looking, I made my way back to Grand Central Station. I found that on the mezzanine floor, anyone in the armed forces could find an army cot. A volunteer lady pinned a note on my uniform indicating what time I needed to be woken up so I wouldn't miss my train. I must have been very tired, as the next thing I knew someone was shaking me and telling me to get up. They directed me to a booth down on the main floor, where the Salvation Army gave me a cup of coffee and a donut.

Soon I was on the train heading back to Vancouver and Chilliwack. What information would be waiting for me? Had any decisions been made as to demobilization? What options would I have? I assumed that I would have some decisions to make!