After a long 3600 mile trip from Guadalcanal; Red Skelton, Esther Williams, Basil Rathbourne, Harry James, Xavier Cugat, and I made it to Honolulu. They stayed on the ship. I hate to tell you this but my next ride (six weeks) was to be on a ship without any movies! I was taken off the ship and housed in Fort Kam. This was a small casual camp. You had to drive through Hickam Field to get there.
I went to Pearl Harbor and caught a small boat out to Ford Island. When I finally found my brother Warren he was housed in a fifty foot high hanger. He and fellow sailors had their bunks set out on the hanger floor. It sure looked strange. He could get out of his bunk and walk over to his plane!
Warren and I spent spent some time together in Honolulu. Warren is my next oldest sibling and is four years older than I.
The 154th Engineers had left a Warrant Officer and some clerks on Oahu. I hitch hiked across the island to visit them. It was good to see the Warrant Officer, a familiar face. They thought that my comrades were on Leyte Island in the Philippines. I had just been within 500 miles of Leyte when I was in the Palau Islands. I had just finished a round trip 11,600 mile trip to the Palau Islands and back to Pearl Harbor. Now I faced 5300 more miles to Leyte. And I was not even in the Navy. I was just a lowly Dogface. I even get seasick easy.
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