James Edward Elmer

Born in Gallup Jan 13, 1922

Parents:

Jesse James Elmer

?? Born September 23, 1900

?? Farmington, New Mexico

Jessie Jeanette (Kilpatrick) Elmer

? Born June 1, 1901

? Gallup, New Mexico

Grandparents:

Jesse James? parents: Dad was James Edward Elmer,?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? Mother was Margaret Amy Phelps

Around 1998, while attending a car show in Farmington, several of us went over to? the Library in Farmington looking for family history. This led us to Aztec, New Mexico, where a library in a historic jail held some information we were looking for. We found that James Edward had been a Sheriff there in 1902 and 1903. There were not a lot of details beyond that about him. This was some interesting reading though, and we realized there were a lot of bad guys around in those days.

Jessie Jeanette?s parents:

I was born in Gallup where we lived until our move to Arizona approximately 1923.

Moved to Arizona. My dad Jesse was working at the golf course on Clarkdale at Pecks Lake. He was a caretaker and ran a large lawnmower that was pulled by a tractor. This is where he lost the tips off a few of his fingers. (He fibbed to grandkids that this is what happened when you play with firecrackers.)

When we first moved there, we lived at the Pecks lake location. There are pictures of that time. We were driving a Page car at the time and that may well have been what we traveled in from New Mexico.

Dad went to work at the Clemenceau Smelter. He was working on steam engines as a boilermaker. He worked there until the smelter closed down. We lived in Smelter City at that time. In addition to the regular work, we ran a gas station on Main Street in Cottonwood. (Called Smelter City at that time) It was located a door or two South of where the present lumber yard is today on the same side of the street. We have gone recently (2000) and looked at buildings there, but there is not enough clues to determine for sure which building it might be. Photographs show the station and attached home being one of the only things right there at the time. The brand of gas was Red Crown. We think this became Standard Oil later.

There was a lot of open space there. We had cousins (the Carsons) living a few doors down. We used to go there or they came to our place to play.? This is a picture taken in about 1929 of Irma Carson , who was a cousin to my Dad.

School

Started Kindergarten and went through 4^th grade at Clemenceau. (Cottonwood now)

The school was where the museum is now on the school grounds.(Clemenceau Museum)

In Sedona

First memories?.Dad was raising chickens and cattle here.

1932

Dad had a 1928 Chevy Coupe at this time. He used to drive it to work from Sedona to Clemenceau every day. We finished up that year in Clemenceau School and Dad drove us back and forth until we started the next year in Sedona. I can remember a trip to Prescott with all four of us in that coupe front seat. Just seemed like what you had to do those days. In those days, flat tires were a constant adventure. You either put on a spare, or for a second one, broke it down, patched it, and pumped it back up. Most tires were purchased used, so on top of being just less quality in those days, we were using tires that someone else had already given up on. It would be rare to make a trip to Prescott and back without a flat.

I can remember Dad and his Dad working on the homestead house. I don?t remember a lot more detail about the finishing and moving in. It started out as a three-room house. It had one bedroom, where mom and dad slept. It had a living room that served as our bedroom too, and it had a kitchen. For a bathroom, we had an outhouse. That remained until I left for the service and even into the 50?s. The front porch was also added well into the 50?s.

There were rain barrels on two corners of the house where the water from the roof was collected. Mom would use that water to wash her hair, as it was nice soft water.

Our refrigerator that I remember was a square metal frame with shelves and wrapped in a burlap bag. It hung from a limb out under a cedar tree near the kitchen. Water from a hose, hooked up to our tank truck dripped through the burlap and cooled the food. A similar setup was used in the living room on each side of the house. This was hung in the open windows and the air moving through it from natural causes was the only cooling available. There was no electricity, so no fans. The water dripping through each of these ?appliances? then went on to water garden or flowers.

I started 5^th grade and Jay 4^th at Red Rock School near Red Rock Crossing. (Actually closer to the Loys home about a mile west of the crossing. We rode horseback when we could catch the horses in the morning. Otherwise we walked. This was about 4 miles one way (uphill both directions).? We went there about two years. The desks were individual old fashioned desks with the space for books under, an inkwell, and sides of cast iron. The one room class was about the size of a good bedroom. One side had a lot of windows and natural light did the job. The kids had to take turns doing the janitorial chores at the school. We took a two-week turn at it and got $8.00 for that. There was about 12 kids in the schoolroom ranging from 1^st to 8^th grade. One teacher was Mrs. Bunger. She was a good teacher and a good person to put up with all of us.

The next two years, we went to Grasshopper Flats, which is Sedona now. The school was located approximately behind where the Funeral Home is on Roadrunner Dr.

Life seemed pretty normal during that time and we rode horseback or walked there too. It was almost the same distance as the other school on the Loop Road.

This school, like the other, was a one room class with all 8 grades and one teacher. The most I can remember was 12-14 kids at a time.

This was quite a challenge, and required good cooperation from the students. Of course, to get good cooperation from all of the students, it took good cooperation from the parents

Teachers made parents handle discipline (imagine that). I can remember one kid who had some serious behavior issues. His mom came to class and gave him a good lesson with a piece of hose in front of the rest of the class. He was better after that. (Imagine that)

At home, and we had the job of cleaning and ?candling? eggs . Eggs discovered to have blood spots in them were for our consumption and the others were sold. Dad mostly took care of the chickens. There was no water here at the time and every day,? the cattle had to be driven (as with horses) to the creek for water. We had to help clean chickens for market. They were taken to a store in Cottonwood or Babbitts in Flagstaff for sale. Dad hauled this stuff to the stores in the 27 Cadillac. It was a big car and the seats folded down. He later converted this vehicle to a pickup. (early Escalade)

The depression was causing the chicken business to be less than enough and we started cutting wood.

1937? Justin was born. Jay and I started High School.? Here is a picture of Justin outside the house on the Loop Road.

All day, Dad would cut long logs. We had the ?27? Cadillac made into a pickup. This is what Dad used to haul the big logs. Sometimes when we got home from school, we?d even help him finish a load and then we?d take it to the house where we cut it down to one-foot lengths.

This cutting was done with a rig constructed from a 31 Buick drivetrain. It ran a big sawblade on a special made rack.

?We also had a model A that was made into a pickup. We?d load the one-foot lengths into the Model A each evening and the next day take it to Clarkdale on the way to school. About half the time, we?d be late getting to school. We?d come home in the evening and do it all over again. This kept us in groceries all the time as the place where we sold the wood in Clarkdale was a food store and they sold the firewood we brought. There was even a little money from them to buy gas.

Jay and I went to or Freshman year of High School at Clemenceau and the other three years at Clarkdale High School.

There we were well known for more than academic achievements. It appears that someone (not sure who) brought a manure spreader and a good load of fresh manure and spread it on the lawn at the park in Clarkdale. Jay and I got busted for that. We were expelled from school till mom came in and begged for reinstatement. This probably included a guarantee of no repeat performances. It also included some repercussion for us at home.? Mom handled most of the school problems and was probably the only thing that kept us afloat there.? This is a picture of me in my senior year of high school, and also a picture of the high school in Clarkdale.

March, 1940

Before high school was even complete, Dad wanted to go to California and find work. I went with them and enrolled to finish high school. Decided that wasn?t going to work and quit after a few days. Mom was not impressed?..to say? the least. Went to work at a parking garage? (4^th and B Street) and Jay went to work at a drug store right across the street. We probably worked there about a year. We were living with Dad and Mom in Alpine. (east of SD). This is where the picture was taken on the hood of the Rockne (Studebaker) This was Cecils car. We really liked this car and enjoyed it. Cecil let his girlfriend drive it one night and she ran off the road with it. Some bushes stopped it from being a bad wreck and going down a steep hill. We were taking her home. Her dad came and helped us pull it out. She didn?t drive any more. We used to bum around together and we had some girlfriends there. Cecil married that same girlfriend.

Jay and I went in together on a 1931 Model A Roadster. We shared it as necessary and drove together to work. Sometimes I?d go with Cecil and it left the car open for Jay to use.

During this time in California, our home here in ARIZONA (The old homestead house) was left vacant and unlocked. It was not disturbed. People were welcome to stop by and make coffee etc?.and did.???????????????????????????????????????????????????

?March, 1941

After about a year of this, we all came back to ARIZONA together.

This was an interesting move?as many were. When Dad decided he?d had enough of a job or an area, it was time to go. There was not even time to pack or anything?..just get going!. He was pretty much the same way if a trip was happening. If we were going to CA or NM for a visit?..it was lets go now. Mom used to get upset with the hurry up thing.

Back in ARIZONA, there was a new ammo depot being built and we applied for work there.

1941

I was working in Bellemont. It was an ammo depot under construction, called Navajo Army Depot.. Dad, Jay and I all worked there. They had metal forms made that they used for pouring concrete. Dad was installing the forms. Jay and I worked on moving the forms. We would load them on trucks and move them to the next site. They built a lot of buildings there in a short time. There was a very large work force. We were already at war and this was a huge effort to build ammo bunkers and a support base. (Later Merry Carol worked there in the Purchasing Department when she moved to Arizona).

?During all this, I had the idea that I wanted to join the Marines. I was talking with my cousin Cecil and we decided together to go to California. Mom was impressed again.

February, 1942

?We drove an old 32 Plymouth that he had. Upon arrival to LA area, the Plymouth threw a rod bearing which we fixed on the spot before continuing to San Diego. We were in a parking lot. We tore it down, put in a new bearing and were on our way.? Once in SD, we applied for a job at the Naval Base at North Island. Probably worked there about a month and decided for sure to join the Marines. I had to wait on a birth certificate and that slowed down the process. Mom helped by signing some sort of delayed birth certificate and I did it. Cecil had talked about it and joined the Navy later.

November 10, 1942? Marine Corps Birthday

Went into boot camp at San Diego California. I was living in San Diego at the time. Just took a bus down there, walked in and it started. From the first day, there was a lot of publicity about the guys joining on the day of the Marine Corps birthday. There were a lot of camera people there from Hollywood and from that day, we were called the Hollywood Platoon?..not always in the best light? from our beloved and most sensitive DI?s.

The first week was serious training and non-stop exercise. Most of us thought we?d feel better if we were dead??.commonly being referred to a shitheads did not help any.

During the second and third week, we finally started getting used to the exercise (and abuse). We worked on the Marine Corps manual and learned about our rifles. We wore them out cleaning them over and over. We learned how to put a shine on our combat boots?..something of real value for combat purposes. Moved to the rifle range at Pendleton at the third week. There we learned about the M-1 rifle. Learned to fire it from every imaginable position and how to hold steady while aiming. We went out there day after day firing the rifle for about two weeks. On the sixth week, we went back to the base at San Diego and got going on hand-to-hand combat training. Took tests to see where we would end up. I wound up getting assigned to aviation mechanics school in Chicago. Then we waited about a month waiting to get shipped there. We stayed at what is now the San Diego Zoo, which the military had taken over during the war. It was daily physical exercise and guard duty for the month?..getting real old with nothing to do. Many of us were getting testy with each other.

During all of this training time, Mom and I wrote back and forth a lot. She was real good about writing a lot and I would try and do the same. Marine Corp leaders encouraged writing a lot.

This is a picture of Mom in a rare Sedona Snow about 1943.

January 1, 1943

On the first of January, 1943, we left by train headed for Chicago. Once there, we started the Aviation Mechanic School at Navy Pier near downtown Chicago. That was quite mixture. There was about 10,000 Sailors and about 1,000 Marines. They almost had us outnumbered.. It was especially interesting at the end of liberty nights coming back into base. With large quantities of liquid courage applied, it kept things interesting.

The training consisted of complete education on all of the airplane systems. The initial training covered radial type engines, hydraulic systems, electrical, and machine gun training. In addition to this, we spent three hours a day learning Judo. We would run from Navy Pier to Grant Park, get our Judo lessons there, and then run back.

During a run one day, one of the guys fell back and was having a hard time keeping up. The DI went back and started giving him a hard time, and reached up to hit the guy. As an automatic reaction, the guy pulled his gun upward in self-defense, and when the DI?s hand hit it, he fractured his wrist. The DI was upset, but pretty good about it. He made up some story about how he broke his wrist and never turned the guy in. We all had quite a bit of respect for that DI?.even just for that. I guess he figured we needed these guys in action?not in jail.

We spent six months there at Navy Pier doing this training. During the first part of May, Bill Edeus and I were hitchhiking back to the base when Mom and Sylvia picked us up?..along with 5 or 6 other Marines. When we got back to the base, Bill and I decided to stick with these ladies and they seemed agreeable. We talked quite some time and before we parted company, we set up dates with them for our next liberty night. Being typical Marines, and males, we both didn?t make it for the scheduled date. Later, the excuse used (which may be accurate) was that we got stuck on guard duty. They forgave us and we set up another date??.which obviously went better. We saw them 7 or 8 times before getting shipped out. One weekend, we had a nice long get-together at a hotel on Fox Lake, which belonged to Sylvia?s grandparents.? It was a nice weekend and probably the best time we had together and certainly the start of long-time relationships for both couples.

We all promised to stay in touch and both Bill and I were convinced that we were coming back for these ladies.

On June 15^th, we went to El Toro, CA, by train. It?s close to Santa Ana. It was a Marine Corps training base for all types of aircraft including dive-bombers, torpedo bombers, and fighters. The first thing I got was a month?s mess duty in the Officers mess?where I gained about twenty pounds. We?d come off liberty at two or three in the morning and we?d have full access to the mess hall. We?d fry up a few dozen eggs, bacon and drank half&half?..small wonder we gained weight. The training there was mostly maintenance of planes and for the pilots to get some experience in flight exercises.

Mostly what we did there was training for the pilots and more training for mechanical stuff. Something interesting happened while there that always made me feel that I had God on my side. It was typical for the crew chief (plane captain) to fly with the pilots in the rear seat on these training flights. If they got 4 flight hours in a month, they would get flight pay. On one particular day, the plane captain wasn?t there and the rear seat was empty. I was asked if I wanted to go for the flight, and said ?sure?. I had to go find an inflatable life jacket as it was a requirement to wear one. When I couldn?t find one, they finally had to take off without me and no one in the rear seat. I was very disappointed that I didn?t get to go. We got to do that occasionally, but it was fun to fly when you could. Most times, they flew in groups, but this time he was flying by himself. Some speculation suggested maybe a blackout during a practice dive.

?As fate would have it, that pilot crashed on that flight and was killed. They couldn?t figure out what had happened. This pilot had plenty of training and was just putting in required hours. I felt bad for the pilot, but pretty lucky to be alive.

?It wasn?t unusual for the pilots to be doing a little hot-dogging. During all of the flight hours needed and even later on Johnson Island, they found the long flight hours to be a little boring at times when there was no action. On Johnson Island one time, a pilot had our doctor out with him and they were skimming waves when they skimmed one real hard. They got out ok, but the doc ended up with a broken leg out of the deal. They had a much better story than the actual facts for the mishap.

July, 1943

Somewhere around July 15, 1943, about 60 of us Left San Diego bound for Ewa, Hawaii?.actually on the island of Oahu. Our purpose of going there was to get more training and to form up for the trip to Johnson Island. We left San Diego on a Seaplane Tender.? This was a rough-riding ship. In the mess halls, the trays could only be filled half way, as the rough seas would just cause everything to slop over. Some of the guys were really sick. It didn?t bother me too much.? The rest of the squadron (VSMB 133) came about a week later on a bigger ship. We spent two weeks there getting built up and ready for the next step, which happened about August1st. While there, we did get a few liberties, which we spent in Honolulu or Waikiki Beach. These were pretty uneventful other than some typical liberty stuff (drinking and dreaming).? Most of us were not really worried yet. We had confidence instilled in training and the combined efforts of that and our cocky youth kept us feeling pretty light about the whole thing. That changed later.

The squadron was split into two parts while here. Half went to Johnson Island and the other half to Palmyra Island.? Bill Edeus was in the group headed to Palmyra, and I went to Johnson Island.? Palmyra was about 300-400 miles southeast of us at Johnson Island. After 6 months we all regrouped in Hawaii.

August 1943,

Johnson Island

As a member of VSMB133, we were sent here in August of 1943.

An island a mile long by a half-mile wide?.all coral sand and rock. One landing strip, ability to land small to mid-size planes. These were SBD2 Dive Bombers and a fighter squadron of F6F planes. Some brave ones landed B29?s later in the war, but it took every inch of runway. These were transport planes and bombers.

The only life on the island was ?Gooney? birds. (like a crow?..they didn?t land in the water) Pilots had to insure they weren?t on the runway and sometimes had to run a jeep up and down to chase them off. They could get into props and be a real problem?.even worse if they got into the cowl intake and cause the engine to overheat.

Our outfit was there to support the shipping lanes where convoys of US forces were being sent back and forth. We also served as a refueling station for US Submarines. Since there were no bars, the sub sailors didn?t stay long. Our planes would go out and protect the troop convoys in that area from Japanese subs.

Our supplies came in mostly by air and some by small ships. There was a small canal cut through the coral for the ships, somewhat limiting the size. Pilot boats were required to keep things from running aground while coming in.

Swimming was good there. Water was clear as crystal and the temperature was perfect. There was a lot of marine life like octopus and tropical fish.? There was a warrant officer that had a fish tank with a lot of different things in it. He would go diving and catch things with a net and put them in the tank. He would play with the octopus and it would wrap around his arm?.most of us didn?t even want to touch it.

Once in awhile, a plane transporting wounded back to Hawaii would stop for fuel. It was quite an event just to see females. The only ones that actually made contact with any of them were the officers. Some of the infantrymen there on the island had been there almost three years without seeing a female. You can imagine the attention this drew.

We spent about six months there.

Sometime near the end of January, they flew us back to Ewa. We got three days of liberty at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel. There are pictures around from this time showing the enlisted men?s beer garden. While there, I ran into a cousin, Nicky Kilpatrick, who was Navy and permanently stationed there?.(rough duty)?typical Navy!? He had control of food supply into the Royal Hawaiian Hotel, so naturally, the best of everything was available in the line of food.

While there, we did a few more days of flight training and then boarded an aircraft carrier (USS Nassau) for New Caledonia. This is in the Hebrides Islands.

An interesting thing happened while we were at sea on this trip. A few days out, a sailor who was hanging over the side chipping paint fell overboard. While they made a circle to lower a life boat for the sailor, a crowd had gathered on the deck to watch the excitement. I looked around the crowd and spotted a guy I had gone to high school with. He was a Navy guy stationed on that ship. His name was Kenneth Chambers, and we?d gone to Clarkdale High. He was living in Cottonwood at the time we went to school together. We had some time to share stories and what we?d done since school. I never saw him again.

After the sailor was picked up, the Captain came on the PA and announced that we were approaching an area more prone to enemy activity and that we would be doing a zig-zag pattern and would not be authorized to stop and pick anyone else up. Basically saying?.don?t fall over. He announced that if anyone did, they would radio to the next small ship in the area to try and find you. Needless to say, care was taken around the rails.

During that whole trip, and because the ship was so crowded, we slept on deck under the wings of our planes. The food on the carrier was excellent and the ride sure beat the old Seaplane tender. You could hardly tell you were at sea most of the time. We did cross the equator during that trip, and there were some initiation ceremonies. These were mild compared to some we had heard of, but because of the heavy activity of ships due to the war, this sort of thing was played down a little. The main thing seemed to be for everyone to have a card showing they?d made the crossing.

New Caledonia ? Hebrides Islands

?From there, we flew bombing flights to a group of islands to the Northeast.

The Japanese had grabbed several of these islands to try and get a foothold in an attempt to take Australia. The islands were small and inhabited typically by only a small number of natives, so they were easy picking for the Japanese on their trek down through the Philippines pressing for the takeover of Australia. Our purpose out there was to get these islands back and stop their progress into Australia. Among these islands are some of the famous ones such as Guadalcanal, Bougainville, and Rabaul, mostly famous only because of the enemy stronghold and the high loss of American lives. There were many other islands involved the same way.

Our job was to keep them from building up supplies and troops on any of these islands. We typically only bombed them to meet our objectives. It was not usually necessary to land troops on the smaller ones.

We were there for a short period?maybe until the first of April. From there, we flew to Guadalcanal, which had been mostly taken over and secured at this time. There were still occasional snipers that hadn?t been flushed out and some not even knowing they?d been beat.

We spent about a month here making bombing runs on other islands to the north that had not yet been taken. One of these was Bougainville. Other than this routine work, Guadalcanal was pretty much just a month of work and then we boarded a troop ship for Bougainville. It was at this time, we finally began to realize the trouble we were in.

Bougainville

When we landed here, we went over the side on landing nets into a LST for the landing. There had been quite a few waves of personnel that had gone in front of us, and we met minor resistance again due to the hard work of the first waves in.

I do remember that it was pouring rain and we were frozen. While in a foxhole there, one of the guys from the group produced a pint of Brandy (for medicinal purposes only). I knew then that this guy was a good friend. We thoroughly enjoyed that and it did make us feel a little warmer while we waited at that location. When we found that the landing strip had been taken, we were moved to that area to get ready for the arrival of our squadron planes. This happened right away. We did a lot of bombing runs on the Island helping ground troops clean up the island (anything that moved got shelled & bombed). Also a lot of islands in the Solomons?.. we had the job of bombing them, and were making every effort to get them all cleaned out as we were being readied to take the Philippines back ? We had a lot of guard duty protecting our planes and all of our equipment,,,. We had several groups of New Zealanders on the island with us & they were definitely the people you wanted, I always thought the Marines were a strong bunch, but we looked up to these guys? When you needed to kick some serious butt, these were the guys to work with.We had been very fortunate up until this time not losing anyone, if I remember right at this time we had only lost 2 pilots & 2 gunners. D Day happened while we were here. June 6, 1944.

We kept pretty busy with all the bombing runs & trying to keep all the planes in shape .it??????? finally got to the point that Bougainville was pretty well secured. From then on we were????????????????????????????????????

Bombing? islands towards the Philippines? & making & planning procedures for landing on the Philippines? ??

There were plans being made to move into the Philippines around the 15^th of December.

While these plans were being made, some of had some good luck. The ships were loaded, which included all of the equipment, sea bags, and personal gear. That was the last time most of saw any of that gear. The reason it was luck?..the first 60 guys who had been shipped overseas got their direction changed. Instead of shipping us to the Philippines, they gave us orders back to the states.? So?.we went to San Diego??..our gear went to the Philippines. Good trade!

.?? (?? insert ship info??? )

The ship was a brand new troop ship. There were a lot of people on it and it really moved.???? We landed in San Diego December 26^th, 1945.

Upon arrival, they forgot to send out the bands etc?.It was late in the evening. They put us on cattle trucks, drove to Miramar and fed us fried egg sandwiches. I remember those clearly.

They gave us some time off immediately and we properly celebrated our first day back on American soil. We showed off our brand new uniforms.

?We spent the next few days getting the rest of our new gear and orders started coming in (maybe a total of ten days there) for a 30 day furlough and our next base, Cherry Point, North Carolina.???????????????????????????

Headed straight for Chicago by train on the time off to see Toni & spent some wonderful time together. On the trip there, we applied several layers of alcohol regularly (only to stay warm)? It was cold!

Enjoyed ten days of visiting there and enjoyed every minute. Being out of the country gave you a new appreciation just to be ?home??.and alive?..that included anywhere in the states. Many of our friends couldn?t say as much.

Got back on the train and headed to see the family in Sedona, Arizona. Arrived in Flagstaff where Mom, Dad, and brother Justin picked me up. They were driving a 40 Nash. It was a white, four door sedan with a six cylinder and a standard transmission (column shift)?..as most cars were.

Drove to Sedona and started a busy schedule of visiting friends and relatives here in the Valley. Mom had to take me to Justin?s school to show the uniform and share a few experiences. People around here were completely impressed with the uniform, the war stories, and the overall view of the war. I was not as comfortable talking about it,? showing the uniform and telling the stories. People asked a lot of questions and I tried to talk and satisfy their curiosity about the whole issue. My family seemed proud and wanted me to talk with friends, so I tried to oblige everyone.

Don?t take this wrong. I had an extreme sense of pride (and still do today) about what we did over there and how many lost their lives in that process. I was just not one to brag(still not) about accomplishments and didn?t feel that I had done more than those I served with. WE had all gone, done our duty, some got lucky, some didn?t. I was feeling good about being home and alive?.once again.

After ten great days with family, I went back to Chicago again for the remainder of my time off. Toni and I spent another great ten days together. We spent time with Bill (Edeus) and Sylvia.? I visited Rock Falls Illinois, where Bill lived with his parents. It was about a hundred miles from Chicago. The four of us did a lot of things together, and all got to know each other even better. We had a good time.

Cherry Point, North Carolina

This was about February of 1945. At this point, Bill and I went different directions. He got stationed in California. I caught a train from Chicago to Washington DC. There I transferred to another train that took me to Newbern NC and caught a bus to Cherry Point Marine Air base. We spent about ten days there?.mostly just waiting for orders while personnel got thing straightened out. and then got transferred to Oak Grove.

Oak Grove, North Carolina

This was another Air Base just a short distance from Cherry Point. It was mainly a training base. Here we continued training for other new pilots going to overseas duty. Most of us that were already there had our training and just assisted with the others. I got lucky at this point. After applying for an Advanced Aviation Mechanics School, I got selected to go. The nice part about this is that it was in Chicago. (What a coincidence).

Advanced Aviation Mechanics School? Chicago

The school was conveniently located at the present location of Chicago Vocational School??87^th and Anthony. This was a very helpful situation for my extra-curricular activities while there. This was about April, 1945.

It was a great school. I learned a lot. In addition to this, we had all civilian cooks and for a change, got some decent food. The best benefit at this school was that we had liberty every night. I got to spend every night with Toni. We did a lot of nigh club exploration during those 3 weeks and spent some good times together. We made a lot of future plans.

?Those three weeks were over too soon and were probably the best three weeks I spent in the Marine Corp. I took the same familiar train back to DC, to Newbern and then to Oak Grove.

Oak Grove, NC

After getting back here, it was the same old stuff. Mostly training on a daily basis. Any liberty from here was done at Ashville or Newbern. Ashville had a USO and was best for weekend activities. ?It was May of 1945. While here, I got orders to go back overseas. As was typical, we got a short furlough before going over. Of course, I took this opportunity to get back to Chicago, picked up Toni, and headed to Arizona on the train. My parents had left for California, so we stayed with Jay and Dorothy. We visited the Grand Canyon with Jay and Dorothy. We rode up there in Jay?s 36 Plymouth Coupe. It was a business coupe with no rear seat, so it was a little cozy. We took turns sitting on each others laps ( no problem)? and the baby (Jay Edward) spent most of the time on the package shelf in back of the seat.? Of course we all had seat belts on?..right. This was the first time Toni or I had ever seen the Grand Canyon (Typical Arizonan) We enjoyed our time together and it was at the end of this trip that we had our picture taken at the Flagstaff train station. This picture brings back a lot of good memories and is prominently displayed in most of our family?s homes today. From there we went to Chicago, dropped Toni off, and continued to DC.? While I was on this trip, I got word that VJ day had been declared where Japan signed an unconditional surrender.? This was? September 2^nd, 1945. Since the train was full of serviceman heading back to be shipped out, it was clear that celebration was in order. In true Military fashion, celebration was started with every available refreshment and continued through the trip. There was some big heads when we arrived at Newbern, but the feeling was one of delight knowing that the end was near. We were all anticipating plans to head back home. Guys with enough points would get orders home. This point system compared time in service, time in combat, time overseas, and set up an order for release. The ones with low points were still shipped out from there, as it was not over yet.

We spent about thirty days (in the normal government fashion) before getting orders to get out. We were shipped to Cherry Point to be discharged. This was about mid-October. Again, in normal Government fashion, papers were lost, and they didn?t even know I existed and could have vanished without anyone knowing it. I took it on myself to get back to Oak Grove, find my papers (which were still there)? and get things moving again. With papers in hand, I returned to Cherry Point and got myself back into the discharge process. Finally, on the 10^th of November, 1945, I got my official discharge papers. I headed immediately for Chicago. This period was really a good time. Knowing that I was getting out and back to my family instead of dealing with a year of overseas duty made it a great time.

Chicago

Took the train to Chicago and had another great reunion with Toni. We spent a few days celebrating, buying new civilian clothes (civies). and just enjoying life.

Toni?s mom had a room available, and I rented the room from her. We started making plans for a wedding and I got a job at Container Corporation of America. I worked in the part where they made the paper. They made new paper out of raw materials and recycled paper. I worked there until after we were married.

We were married in Chicago on January 19, 1946. The wedding was at St George?s Church at 33^rd & Lituanica. The ceremony was held in the office area rather than the church as I was a non-Catholic and they had strict rules at the time about that. The reception was held close by in a big hall (a very Lithuanian place) at 31^st& Halsted. We borrowed Annie?s car for the wedding. It was a 38 Buick Sedan. Annie owned the tavern under Grandma Russell?s place.? A few months later, we took a trip with Bill and Sylvia on their honeymoon (and our delayed one). We came to Arizona. My folks were still in California, so we continued out there. Sylvia got real sick while in a motel in San Diego. We still think it was CO poisoning from a bad wall heater. The weather was crummy, so we headed back to Phoenix and spent the rest of the week there. From there, we headed back to Chicago and worked it down to the last penny that all of us had. We were really skimping on the way back. We made it to Rock Falls where Bills parents lived with only gas vapors in the tank. There we got a good meal and a few bucks to continue the trip.

In the next two or three weeks, we decided to change our direction.

At this time, we decided to try and make a go of it in Arizona. Toni liked it there and had the side benefit of not having sinus and allergy problems there in the dry climate. She noticed that when she was in Arizona, her regular headaches seemed to go away. We started making plans to move. In the meantime, life and daily jobs had to continue for another month or so.

I continued working for Container Corporation of America while there in Chicago. I worked in the plant where paper was made. I started driving a fork lift just moving scrap paper in to be recycled. Later, I moved to a? different job where the finished paper was rolled up. There were big rollers where the fresh and wet paper was dried. The paper went from one roll to another and after a series of these very large rollers, the dried paper would then be cut off and started onto a fresh roll. I had to make the cuts and often had problems where paper would continue rolling after a mistake. It would waste quite a bit of paper and then had to be cleaned up. This was quite tricky getting the cuts made without making the mistakes. I know that the wage at that time was less than $1.00 per hour. I worked there until we moved to Arizona.

We attended St Georges Catholic Church on 33^rd and Lithuanica.

Occasionally we would get together with Bill and Sylvia. We went to a night club at At 87^th and Halsted. There was another one we would go to once in awhile on the north side.

We would visit Toni?s sister and her husband (Stelle and Louie). They lived around 47^th and Ashland.? This is a picture of us with Stelle and Louie.

We visited with some good friends, Jim and Lil DeKoker. Lil was a friend of Toni?s and they worked together at Walgreen?s. Toni often joked about being a soda ?jerk?. The kids always enjoyed that. She was later transferred to the main office and worked there at 47^th and Cottage Grove until the move to Arizona.

Again, all of this was done mostly on streetcars except when we went with Bill and Sylvia. Sylvia?s car was the 41 Chrysler New Yorker 4 door sedan. This was the same car that she had when we met and the one we used for the honeymoon trip to Arizona.

We lived at 836 W. 33^rd. St. between Lithuanica and Halsted. We lived in the attic of a 3 flat. We had two rooms and a bath. We didn?t have a car at the time. We got around on the streetcar most of the time. Mary Russell, Toni?s mom lived at 34^th Place (3436 S. Lithuanica) and Lithuanica. She rented from the owners of the tavern on the first floor and lived on the second floor. They continued living there until they bought a 3 flat (with attic) on 3328 South Emerald in about 1954.

ARIZONA 1946

We stayed there in Illinois until about April of 46. At that time, we moved to Arizona.

We bought a white 40 Pontiac 2 dr. coupe? here in ARIZONA, as you couldn?t go anywhere here without a car. Here is a picture of Toni with our very first car.The picture was taken on Dayton?s Ranch.

We came to Flagstaff on the train where mom and dad picked us up, then to Sedona. We moved down to Dayton?s Ranch where we lived in a small shack and worked for them.? We were living there when Jimmy was born. August 23, 1946.

We worked there through the summer. When we first got here, we started picking fruit and hauling it to Winslow, Flagstaff, and even Kingman. This was done in a 34 Chevy 1 ? ton truck. When we got to the town, we had to actually go around and sell it. We established a sort of customer base and then had repeat visits. When we couldn?t sell it to the regular stores, we would bag small amounts and sell it right off the truck. This was often more successful in the Mexican parts of the larger towns. We would sell apples for less than they could be bought in the stores, so it was quite popular. We stuck to the Mexican community to avoid the area where the stores were?..as they would not appreciate selling for less than the store could. We had a lot of trouble with the old truck. It was usually engine trouble. We ended up overhauling the engine, and that helped.

Jay William and Jim got a job with a well driller sometime around October or November as there wasn?t any work at the ranch in the winter. We did continue to live in the same place at Dayton?s. The well driller was an alcoholic and we always had trouble collecting our money. He would drop us off on the job in the morning and we wouldn?t typically see him again till night. You could usually tell he?d been drinking all day.

Arizona? 1947

While working there with the well driller, Jim developed ulcers and had trouble with them bleeding. He went to the VA hospital in Prescott. They kept him there a month and wanted him to stay longer. He signed a waiver to be released against their judgment, as we had no choice but to get back to work.? At this time, summer was coming and Dayton put us both back to work. There was ditch work to do for the irrigation. We stayed there through September.

Estelle?s son Bobbie died at that time and they headed to Chicago

The work there in ARIZONA was not enough to get by and they felt that they could do better.

We had no idea what we would do in Chicago, but felt that we needed to go for Estelle anyway, so this was a good opportunity to make the break.

We were still driving the ?40 Pontiac at the time.???? We stopped in New Mexico to get a few hours sleep and then it didn?t want to start. We were parked on a hill and was able to roll it along and get it started.? They drove it to Amarillo without stopping where we pulled into a Pontiac garage. They checked it out and the car had no compression?bad news. They did get it started for us and we drove it to Chicago without shutting it off. Needless to say, when we got there, Jim overhauled the motor. It worked good after that.

After Arizona??Back to Chicago..

There was some tough times there with Stelle losing her son, but everyone worked through it.

We stayed with Toni?s mom until Jim got work. Louie Labash knew of work available at the Grand Trunk Railroad where he worked at the time, and this worked out well. Louie had been working there about a year since he got out of the service (Coast Guard). He helped get the job. Here is a picture of a Grand Trunk Engine, The Spirit of ?76 .

After starting work there, we got a basement flat back in the same place on 33^rd,? (between Halsted and Lithuanica). . This was the same place we lived in the attic before moving to Arizona. ?We lived there for about two years. While living there, Terry and Merry Carol were born. (Terry May 20, 1948)? (Merry Carol? December 25, 1949) At that time, we? bought the home in Mt. Greenwood. We had saved up some money and borrowed some from Toni?s mom for the down payment on the home. We were able to get a VA loan which helped a lot.

Ron was born shortly after moving there on Feb. 27 1951

Kathy was born December 15, 1947.

Karen and Sharon were born September 7, 1959.

There were 7 kids all together.

Jimmy started a kintergarten class at Mt. Greeenwood school in Sept of 1951.

Jimmy started 1^st grade at the public school portable buildings in September of 52. On one of the first days of class, Terry walked with Merry and Ron (still in diaper) to visit Jim at school. Kids and Jim thought it was great?.teachers and mom not impressed.

Jim started an evening class on body work. It was on 35^th and State Street. Midwest Trade School was the name. The class was every night of the week for 6 months.

After finishing this class, Jim started doing some part time work doing side jobs in a friends garage. This friend was someone Jim worked with at the railroad (Carl Meitner) Jim described him as a good guy always willing to help someone. He let Jim use the garage and a lot of tools that he had. Carl lived close to Harlem Ave around 52^nd. St. Jim would often go right out there from work and get in a few more hours. While in the school, Jim painted the Pontiac a gray color at school. As a part of this project, he removed the running boards and added a rocker panel.

Carl had one of the meanest dogs Jim had ever seen. In time, he finally got to where he could take care of the dog for Carl.

The dog was kept on a long chain where it could reach everything in the in yard and the garage (early crime prevention)

This went on for some time helping supplement income and savings to get the new house.

When they moved into the new house in Mt. Greenwood,? They still had the 40 Pontiac, but it got a new Maroon paint job sometime right after the move to Mt. Greenwood. Jim immediately set up his own side business in the garage that came the property. It was a two-car garage and served as a garage and body shop for all the years they lived there. Jim did body work for most everyone in the neighborhood at one time or another. This probably helped in relations and lack of complaints about painting etc around the neighborhood.

Jim can?t remember ever having a complaint about the work going on there. It became very popular for the neighbors, and if he wanted to get any work done, it was necessary to keep the door closed. There was a constant flow of people wanting work done well and reasonable by him

A year or so after being in this home, Jim remembers that someone wanted the Pontiac real bad, so he sold it to him and bought a 46 Ford 2 dr. Sedan. (Maroon) This was the family car for awhile but later was traded in on a 48 Pontiac station wagon. This car had wood sides and a straight 8 engine.

Toni went to work and they bought another Pontiac. It was a 49 2dr. fastback sedan. (Dark Brown Metallic) Both Pontiacs were 3 speed on the column.

Later, the 48 wood wagon was traded in on a 50 Pontiac station wagon. This was one of the new style with metal sides that looked like wood. It had a straight 6 cylinder and a 3 speed on the column.? Jim painted it a light green color with white inserts on the wood detail.

Jim Jr.?s memories of shopping for these Pontiacs was in the? prism on the dash (of the ones with sun visors)and the lighted Pontiac Indian on the hood. These seemed like reason enough to have these cars.

Here is a picture of our house in Chicago at 3556 W. 115^th Place.

School in Chicago

After the first year where Jimmy went to 1^st grade in the public school, everyone went to the Catholic school. This was St. Christina?s on 110^th and Christiana. All? of the kids except Kathy did all of the years and graduated from this school. Kathy went to Mt. Greenwood public school at 109^th on Homan. She would often stop and visit Marcy at Haaker?s home (10935 S. Homan) as she walked home from school there.

Kids were all active in many things while in school including:

Sea Scouts at St Christinas

Altar Servers at St. Christinas

Girl Scouts

Baseball at Mt. Greenwood program

Swimming at the Y MCA on? 111^th and Michigan in Roseland

Boy Scouts at a small church in Alsip

Working at the Mt. Greenwood news agency

? (remember those really COLD Chicago mornings, delivering newspapers?)

Police Cadet program in Alsip

At the Mt. Greenwood Park:

Art Classes

Bike parades

Airplane flying

Babe Ruth baseball

Junior Citizen

Acting Classes

Ice Skating

At the home on Central Park, Jim, Toni, and kids (big help I?m sure) would often make a snow border, freeze it, and then flood the yard for an ice rink. It wasn?t unusual to have the whole neighborhood over there for skating during the coldest part of the winter. We can all remember many a cold evening out there watering the rink. Jim and Toni welcomed people to the home, the rink, baseball on the corner, or whatever we could come up with?..even messing up dad?s garage, or setting up a band in the basement. (Ron) . It always seemed like all were welcome, and the more the better? There were a lot of good memories from this time. The big corner lot had a nice big back yard, room for baseball lessons, skating, playing with dogs, chasing brothers, sisters, etc.

Other great memories from that time were trips to McLaury Springs for a birthday party. Jim and Toni would drive two vehicles to haul everyone in the neighborhood there for a good time.

In 1958, we got? the first new car ever. It was a 58 Chevrolet Brookwood Station Wagon. It was silver-blue. It was a 6 cylinder with a 3-speed on the column. Both of the Pontiacs were gone at this time.

In about 1960, we bought a good 1957 ford truck. It had a 6 cylinder with a 3 speed on the column. It ran fine, but was used around a steel mill, where it rusted even more than a typical vehicle would have around the Chicago area. I fixed it up, patched all the rust and painted it black and white. I cleaned up some of the lines and it looked real good. The radiator had some problems with corrosion. I went to a wrecking yard near the railroad where I worked there and got a bigger radiator out of a Pontiac. It worked into the space well and never overheated through all the years we owned it. This truck made several trips to Arizona with the family in different sorts of ?campers?. The first one was a rough wood frame with some canvas pulled over it. It was challenging during rainstorms, so it got revised after a few trips. I built another version with the help of my friend Jim Conroy. It had a pull-up top and canvas walls? again. This one was pretty good and served us well for quite awhile. Right after building this rig, we took the family on a trip around Lake Michigan. Memorable things on that trip were:

1. Stopped at Jane Kohl?s moms place in Twin Lakes Wisconsin. It was a resort on a nice small lake. It had great fishing and nice cabins.

2. Stopped in Green Bay and saw Jack and Emily Harkins. Jack was in the Marines with me and was Terry?s Godfather. (Lundy Diogardi was Terrys Godmother)

3. Trip over the Straights of Macinaw to Macinac Island. This was a long impressive span.

A few other trips in that same rig were:

1. Several trips up to Devils Lake in Wisconsin. (One trip with the Conroy family)

2. One trip to Arizona

3. A trip to Wisconsin Dells

I sold the truck and the camper in about 63. We made do with the 58 wagon for a short time until we got a 1963 Ford pickup?.probably about 1964. This was an interesting vehicle. It was the one year that Ford made the cab and bed as a single unit. It was the same time that uni-body construction was being attempted. I painted it black and white, but only kept it for a short time.

In 1965, we bought a new 65 Chevy wagon. It was? Bel-Air. It had a 283 motor with a 3-speed on the column. It was light metallic green color. We made a trip to Arizona when this was pretty new. This was the trip when we? brought Kay and Gay back with us. On the return tip, we went through Montana, Teton National Park, Yellowstone, (we stayed in a small cabin here) through South Dakota Badlands to the Presidents Monument. They stayed about two weeks with us in Chicago and they returned on the train. At that time, the Grand Trunk still would help out with passes.

In March of 1966, Jim Jr. went into Navy boot camp at Great Lakes. While he was in there, about April, I bought a 1965 Chevy pickup. It only had about 3000 miles on it and was just like a new truck. It was ? ton.(C20) It had a 283 motor and a 4 speed manual transmission. This truck made a lot of family trips. One of the first was a trip to Maine to take Jim to his first duty station after sub-school in Kittery Maine. We didn?t make a lot of stops on the way as Jim had to be back. On the way back, we stopped at a lot of places:

1. New York City?.Statue of Liberty, Downtown, Harlem, etc?..Tried to stop and see an Aunt of Toni?s there, but never did catch up with her. She was not at home and in true city fashion, the cops were called because we were hanging around (obviously a shady looking bunch). Made a deal with the cops?.they told us the best way out of town and we gladly took it.

2. Washington DC. Visited most of the sights there. Smithsonian, Pentagon, Lincoln Memorial, just drove by the white house (when drive-bys were ok)

3. Drove to a nice campground in West Virginia and camped for the night.

4. From there, straight through to Chicago with me in trouble for not wanting to stop??since no one could decide or agree on what they wanted??.made it easy. No one starved as mom had good stuff for everyone as always.

Not long after this trip, we bought a nice larger camper for this truck. We made a lot of trips with this configuration.

One of the first trips with the new camper and all (summer 1967)was to the Hemisfair (Worlds fair) in San Antonio. Texas. On the way, we stopped at Agnes Kilpatricks house in Texarkana Texas. From San Antonio, we went to the Dallas area to visit Jim and Lil Dekoker. Lil was a good friend of Moms from Chicago. Jim played in a ?Big Band? and was very good. We used to go the some of the ballrooms in the Chicago area when he played. Aragon and Treanon were two of them. These were probably two of the largest ballrooms in the Chicago area. Aragon was on the North side of Chicago and the Treanon was on the South Side around 63^rd and Cottage Grove.

From Dallas, we went to El Paso Texas and thought we?d never get across the state. We visited Juarez from there. We left the truck in the US and walked over. Had a gun in the truck and didn?t want to risk taking it over there. We took a cab around there (daring) The cab drivers there are certifiably nuts.???

From there, we went to White Sands National Monument in New Mexico. There we spent several hours rolling around in the sand and having a good time.

We went to Albuquerque and from there to Sedona. We were glad to arrive as the trip was long. Ron was relieved to get out of the camper where he had been trapped with his dear loving sisters for too-long of a period.

We stayed in Sedona for a few more days and then back pretty much non-stop to Chicago.

Next trip was again to Sedona (1968????) and we remember that we were in Missouri? on Route 44 when the first person landed on the moon. We had Richie Labash with us.

In 1970, Jim got out of the Navy. Marcy and he moved from the east coast back to the Chicago area. Jim was working at International Harvester and Dad was still with the Railroad. (Grand Trunk Western). Somewhere around the end of 70, we noticed that a Texaco service station in the Mount Greenwood area was available and we checked on it. After some consideration, Jim left the job at Harvester and working together, the station was opened. It was on 115^th and Pulaski (Crawford). Dad worked nights at the railroad and then would spend long days at the station too. Jim pretty much lived at the station. Mom and Marcy came by for visits and always brought good food. This went well for about a year, but we drove the Texaco reps crazy with all the work we did. They were interested in pumping gas and we did everything we could to make a buck?.body work, engines, transmissions?.whatever?.and we did good. The rep would show up and we?d be in a cloud of paint dust. It didn?t fit the image. After realizing it was all about the oil company, we decided to just not do this any more. A very sad thing happened at that time to clinch getting out. Right down the street, a good friend, Randy Steger was working in a Clark gas station. He was held up one night, and because they used a drop safe system for the money, he couldn?t give the dirtbags what they wanted. They shot him five or six times trying to get him to open the safe.? As it was, we had several sidearms on us while working every day and decided not to continue with this way of life.

Jim and Marcy moved to Sedona and I went back to just the full time job at the railroad.

November 10, 2002

Sitting here with Dad talking about the Marine Corps and thought that it was 60 years ago he went in. Time flies when you?re having fun.

Today is June 6, 2004. Sitting here with Dad filling in more details. Sure glad to be doing this as he has a close call in a recent hospital visit. In March, he went in to Verde Valley Medical with pnemonia. Only in the last few weeks, he finally got home and we?re getting back to some normal life.

6/1/06....Just recently (in 2006), Paul Thompson talked to me at a local "old timers" get-together. Paul was in first grade with my brother Justin and was in class when my proud mom took me there in uniform for a sort of show and tell. Only today after all these years do I truly understand what that sort of visit meant to those children. Paul told me that he still has memories of that visit, of the the pride for country instilled in them at that time by the returning servicemen, teachers, and family. It was good to talk to Paul about that. Paul's family, (father Albert, brother Sam,) lived across the creek from Indian Gardens. Paul met his wife at the roller rink there at that time. He remembered wearing out several sets of skate wheels while enjoying that facility over the years.

The following paragraphs were added during a short sitting on?

6/12/06 with Dad, Alyssa, and I. Alyssa (great grandaughter) did the typing.

.....to water garden or flowers........

?Up behind the house a few hundred feet, on "Mockingbird hill,"(a hill behind the homestead named by grandma)? there was a series of dams. The upper dam made of concrete and rock held cleaner water. We kept this covered and when we needed drinking water we would carry it down to the house in buckets. Below that, the second dam was made of mud and rocks. This water was used for all livestock and gardens. Again, this was bucket powered delivery. The water in the lower dam was usually loaded with algae and had plenty of tadpoles and various other creatures. During the rainy season these dams provided a good supply of water for all of our needs, but when things started to dry out, we had to rely on other means of transporting water. The old Ford Model-A truck was set up with six water barrels on the back and would be driven to the creek at Cross-Creek ranch, about once a week, where we used a bucket brigade to fill it. We'd use this water carefully throughout the week, and as the water got old, we would dump it into the gardens and watering troughs before taking it down to refill. In later years, the Model-A truck was replaced with a newer and larger truck (possibly a 1941 Ford) with a large tank on the back. Jay and I did a large portion of this water hauling chore for the family and would usually enjoy a swim while we were down there. I find it amazing today, as I think back, that we used to drink this water straight out of the creek and never suffered any effects from it at all. Today, this would be a hazardous practice. One of the drawbacks of fetching water from the creek was that during rainy season, the water would be extremely muddy. Any attempt to use this water for washing clothes, would permanently turn them red. Sometimes, when the creek was muddy, we would drive into Sedona where an irrigation ditch just upstrem of Tlaquepaque was available for use and usually not as muddy. In addition, there was a hose set up there where we could siphon water from the ditch into the truck, avoiding the bucket brigade work. The fact that we raised cattle caused many more trips for water,?????? as they used a major portion of our water. I could remember, in those days we raised pinto beans without water which doesn't seem like that would be possible today. I guess the reason for this is that during that decade, there seemed to be more regular rain.

Our food in those days consisted of pinto beans, chickens, cattle and pigs and a few fresh vegetables, all of which were raised on our own place and we got our own milk from our milk cow. We always had a few dogs and they pretty much ate our scraps or what they could catch on their own. We occasionally had to go to the store to buy sugar, salt potatoes and once a week, a candy bar. The closest store was located in Sedona but more commonly, we had to make trips to cottonwood and Flagstaff to sell chicken and eggs so we often bought our groceries there. Trips to Prescott and Phoenix were an extremely rare occasion and to get to either place meant traveling over Mingus mountain, through Jerome.

--FLIGHT EXCERCISES--

These new pilots were pretty good and very conscicientious. With all of the flight hours logged there we only had one mishap that I can recall. This one mishap stands out in my mind because I lost a good friend who was flying in the gunner's seat at that time. In general, we trained very good pilots who went out and did their jobs for us. We worked with the same bunch of pilots all the way through the war and we all had a lot of respect for what they did.

--ANNIE'S BAR--

It was located on the southeast corner of 34th place and Lithuanica. Grandma Russell lived on the second floor above the bar. We later moved into a place on the east side of 33rd just off of halsted street. First we moved into an attic flat and later into a basement flat at the same location. This neighborhood is known as Bridgeport, is very ethnic Lithuanian, and to this day is still under the control of the Mayor Daley family. It is also in the area of Comiskey Park, home of the White Sox.