11. HOMEWARD BOUND

Approximately six weeks after returning from our ‘Mountain Vacation’ we received orders to go home. After submitting the required paperwork and after a few more days of waiting, we finally got the okay to proceed.

The next morning we got aboard another troop transport and headed for home. Although we did not have the weekly layovers as we did coming over, the trip still took 25 days. Each night we would gather on deck and look for some signs of San Francisco. About three nights prior to actually arriving there, we could see the lights glowing over the horizon. What a beautiful sight that was! It was even more beautiful to see the city the morning we passed Alcatraz Prison and sailed under the golden gate bridge.


Clarence Lewis and Henry Dillard. [Name of girls unknown]

We spent about a week there and Clarence and I really toured San Francisco. It was and is a beautiful city and has some landmarks that have no equal. Included in these landmarks are the previously mentioned Golden Gate Bridge, and Alcatraz Prison. They further include the San Francisco/Oakland Bay Bridge, Knob Hill and Fishermen’s Wharf to name a few. If I had one complaint with San Francisco, it would be their ‘gay’ population. Where these people come from, I have no idea. I only know that they are seriously misguided and wrong.
I don’t recall how Clarence got back to Danville, nor does he. He just came to visit me and I asked him; he just could not recall other than we did not go on the same train. I was fortunate that my return was not on a troop train. There were no Pullman cars available, so I was destined to sit in a day coach for the entire trip of five days to Chicago. I got very little sleep on the trip, but was happy to just be on the way home. I was fortunate in meeting a very attractive young lady and her mother who were sitting adjacent to me. I don’t recall their names, but they were very interesting. After a couple of days, the mother said one evening that she was going to move to another car and get some sleep and that should give her daughter and me some quality time together. That seemed sort of strange to me, but being the type of person that I was, I sort of nestled in for a possible romantic relationship. The mother did not know her daughter turned out to be a perfect lady and helped me keep my reputation as a perfect gentleman. In other words, nothing happened. I had the feeling when I next saw the mother that she was disappointed that nothing happened between her daughter and me.

When we got to Chicago, I said farewell, changed trains and headed south for Lynchburg, Virginia. At that point, my ticket called for me to catch a Trailways bus for Danville, which was 65 miles away. Since there was a four-hour layover, I decided to hit the road and hitchhike home. After walking approximately five miles and not catching a ride, the bus approached and I flagged it down and got aboard. Two hours later I arrived in Danville, my home that I had not seen for two years. It looked as if everything had changed. Even the buildings looked larger. I really felt proud to show up at home wearing my uniform and service ribbons. Robert was there and we did some dating and partying together prior to my having to return to Little Creek Naval Base in Norfolk, Virginia, for discharge. I had 30 days leave before I was scheduled to return. Robert had to leave before me and was back home with his discharge while I was still at Little Creek. I was in Norfolk for three weeks before my actual discharge. It seemed as if they were holding the discharge in one hand and a reserve sign up paper in the other and saying, “Enlist in the reserves and we will give you this discharge.” I waited them out, however, and at the end of three weeks had the discharge in hand and headed for home.