A Flawed Legacy - 7

Itazuke Air Force Base is located on the Southern most island of Japan, Kyushu, just outside of the city of Fukuoka, and that was to become my home base for the rest of my stay in the Far East.

It was there I would meet M/Sgt. Max Miller, who would become my mentor and dear friend for the next year and a half.  He was taking care of the assignment of the dozen other "recruits" who were with me in the flight to the South.  The first thing I noticed were the six stripes o his sleeve. He was a force to be reckoned with - advice I first heard the day I started training at Lackland.  He asked me what I had done so far in my "career".  I told him about backing trailers and the advice the General had offered so he asked me if I knew the alphabet.  "Yes, sir" and with that he led me over to some file cabinets in his office and opened the drawer containing the enlisted personnel on the base.  "Another guy told me he knew the alphabet, but it should be obvious to you that he was wrong as soon as you look at these files."  He was right, they were a mess, but it did not take me long to get them back in order.  Miller did a double check and turned to me and offered me a job in his office,

He also told me that promotions would come along if I kept doing what I had done and he was right.  He left eighteen months later and left me in charge.   I did not have his six stripes but I did have four on my sleeve and an earned reputation in the headquarters.  One of my proudest moments in that span came when the Base Commander came to me and and asked if I would help him as we integrated the first black airmen to serve on our base.  I was about to meet seven of the finest men I would ever meet and three of us became life long friends.  With that effort I was awarded other honors and the most exciting came when they asked me to re-enlist so that I might return to the States - to Lowry AFB in Colorado to undergo training, that changed the old Army definition of skills and qualifications to the new system being installed worldwide for the new, United States Air Force  It was a good move for me as they gave me an opportunity to re-enlist for an indefinite period of time, an opportunity that I would take advantage of in the years to come.

There were six of us from all over Japan and the Philippines who were headed for Colorado and we met at the airdrome outside of Tokyo.  As we were talking about our experiences, an Army Colonel approached us and told us we had one more duty to perform before we left.  With that we were escorted to waiting Army vehicles and wound up at GHQ headquarters.  Then we were taken upstairs and entered an office that was dark, except for a light at the opposite end.  We were seated at this huge conference table and the order to come to stand at Attention.  As we stood, a figure came in from the other side of the room and to our amazement, it was the "Man" as he came closer. As he shock our hands, we realized we were meeting the Supreme Commander, General MacArthur.  He was very formal in his remarks, but he was commending each of us for our service in the Air Force and how important it was for each of us to seriously study the materials we would receive.  He seemed to be saying, the future of the "new" USAF depended on our ability to follow through and execute our responsibilities.  When he left , he shook our hands again and disappeared beyond that light on the other side of the room.  We stood there, confused at first, but amazed that we had come close to meeting such a powerful person!

Lowry AFB was quite a bit different from the bases we had left behind us.  We had really intense instructors and they were committed to the task at hand.  Most of us noted the difference between this effort and the daily activities in our offices back in Japan.  After six weeks of study, we were released for a furlough we could enjoy before returning to Japan.

I was headed for Michigan to see my grandparents and my mother who had quite a surprise for me.  She wan.ted the four of us to drive down to Baxter, TN, to see my sister, Shirlee, who was enrolled at Baxter seminary.  There was a long story about that, but I enjoyed the trip as I was seeing parts of our country I had never seen before.  The joy came in watching my grandparents on their first trip into the Southland.  I still chuckle when I recall my grandfather's remarks at finding what he thought was Cream of Wheat cereal on his plate with his eggs and toast.  "Welcome South, Grandpa, to the joy of having grits with your breakfast!"

I still regret almost ignoring my sister, but the fact was, we hardly knew one another as she had stayed with our parents for the most part, while I lived on the farm.  We seldom had seen one another.

A Flawed Legacy - 6

Six of us were assigned to JAMA, Japan Air Material Area, and we were assigned to a group that was concentrated on recovering government material from the islands that we had abandoned as the war ended.  Each of us were interviewed and sent to the areas where they assumed we would be utilized. They asked me about my work experience and I said that I had grown up on the farm so the only thing I could really do was milk cows and drive horses and tractors.  Since they did not have cows and horses, I was sent to the Motor Pool and came face to face with the "tractors" that pull trailers and the Sergeant who headed the section to which I was assigned, M/Sgt Simonetti from Philadelphia.  I will never forget him.

He tossed me some keys, pointed to a tractor and said, "Let's see how good you are."  Ha!  I had never driven one of these, but it was worth a try.  I took my time arranging the seat and searching for something that would tell me how the gears were arranged.  There was no "arranging" the gears on the farm tractors I had driven, but I found a plate that gave me the info I needed.  I started it up, pulling the gear shift into the first gear and Simonetti waved me on.  Slowly, I inched it ahead, got it into second gear by "double clutching" as I had heard others explain and that worked also.  I drove around the circle of equipment in the middle of the yard and when I got back to Simonetti, he told me to turn it off.  "You really haven't had much experience, have you?" he asked and before I could answer, he went on, "You did good, kid.  Are you any good at backing trailers?"   Aha, when Grandpa or Blake were gone and our tractor was sitting there, I had had fun backing our one trailer into places that had always troubled Blake.  "Yes sir," I replied.   Pointing to the trailers that were parked nearby, I added, "Those are bigger than the ones I have backed before, but I know how to do it."  "Good, son.  You have got your first job in the Air Force."

He would teach me how to connect the tractor to the trailers and with that, I was in "business".  He also took me to our Captain and introduced m as "our new yard master".  So that was my job for the first six months of my Air Force career.

Back at the barracks, I soon learned why guys would leave the barracks in the evening and come back bragging about what they were doing.  Not wanting to reveal how naive I was, I followed a couple of them one evening and they came to the edge of the base and a hole in the fence which they would walk through - and break the law, and on they went to a nearby house and disappeared.  It wasn't long before they came out and headed back to the barracks.  I knew one of them well enough to ask what they were doing and the guy laughed.  "You really do not know?"  "We were just doing what every 'red blooded' guy has to do, regularly."  I wasn't that naive.  I had heard about "houses of ill repute" but that was the first one I had ever known about.

My job parking 18 wheelers took me no more than 2-3 hours and afterwards, I got busy cleaning up the messes that were everywhere.  The Captain noticed me one day and took me aside, explaining hat was "gook" work and suggested I come into the office and be available to drive other trucks as needed.  It was an interesting assignment as my "regular" job had caused quite a stir about me.  Some referred to me as Simonetti's "boy" but I didn't worry about that.   I knew the Captain liked me as well.

Then, came my break.  The base General's driver did not show up, so they sent for me to go to the barracks and get dressed in my "Class A's" - the uniforms we wore for inspections or parades.  As I headed back to the Motor Pool, the car was sent for me and I headed for the General's office.  He was a nice guy, asked where his regular driver was and I had to explain that I did not know.  We left for Tokyo with him pointing the way.  I had been to Tokyo, but always on a train.  We drove to the GHQ headquarters and before he left, he left me with two passes, one for lunch and the other for dinner and was on his way.  I spent the afternoon walking around downtown Tokyo, checking in with GHQ every other hour on the hour to be sure the General was still involved.  As it turned out, he was "involved" all day and into the night.  As we got underway, he asked me if I would like a beer and I was scared to answer.  "That's OK, one beer won't hurt your driving and I've got a few in my bag." 

We were halfway back to the base when he asked, "Do you know what happened to my regular driver?"  "No, sir."   "Well, it's my opinion that white boys are not what we want chauffeuring brass," but you have done a good job and you need to be doing something better with your life.  I plan on transferring some of our excess people off of our base and I'll be sure you name is on it.  Make sure you get a better job when you get there.  Do you understand?"  "Yes, sir."

The following Monday, I was on my way.

A Flawed Legacy - 5

As we neared  Hawaii, it was raining - a Hawaiian mist as I have heard it called, and everyone was excited as we learned that we were going to be able to go ashore.  As a youngster, I had memorized the harbor and all I could recall was the sinking ships.  Now, we could see the hulks of some, but it was nothing like the scenes you see now.  If you are ever there, do not miss the Arizona memorial.

I went ashore with three other guys and followed them to the "trinket" stores and "hoochy-koochy bars and wished I hadn't.  We were too young to go in, but the doorman let us go in anyway.  The other guys were excited, but after seeing the girls in Margie Hart's group,  I was not impressed.  Of course, the weather was magnificent; that was the first of five visit and it has always been as nice as that first day. There have been many years when I dreamed of retiring there.

Now, we're headed West and there was good news for most of us, or "bad" news depending on one's point of view.  I was in the larger group and we were NOT going to the Philippines; we would debark at Yokohama in Japan.  That was pretty scary for most of us, but not nearly as scary as the typhoon that was headed our way.  Leaving Hawaii, we discovered a sister troop ship nearby, but the clouds that we were sailing into were far more threatening.  We were ordered below and as the ship began to be tossed by the winds and stormy seas, some guys learned that if you jumped up on one side of the latrine area, you could literally float to the other side.  Just be careful of the sudden stop.  For the first time in my life, I decided to try something scary and was thrilled that I was not hurt when I hit the other wall. It was great fun and we kept at it until we were exhausted.  I was lucky.  Some of the other would end up broken arms and legs.

As it happened, we would sail across the International Date Line and have two of the days involved, but no date.  It so happened that date was the one on which we typically  celebrate "Ground Hog's Day" and it was also the date I was assigned to KP duty.  Lucky me - April 2, 1947.

Back to the storm, I could not sleep until it seemed to subside.  When we went up top, the seas were calm and our sister ship was far behind.  Then we learned from one of the guys with binoculars that it was damaged and as it drew closer, there was a lot of damage.  We heard later that there were guys who stayed up top and were washed away.  No one ever heard of this again until I was interviewing men for job assignments on our base, months later, and if anyone was ever lost, they had not heard of it.

Now, Japan was looming ahead and many of us - me included, began to get nervous about serving in what had been an enemy nation.  I thought more and more about it as we were on a train headed for the Fourth Replacement Depot.  It seemed a though we we climbing an incline as the train slowed and you could look into the houses as we passed by.  Apparently, it was dinner time as most of the people were at a table or seated on mats, eating.  They looked like typical American families, but I started to wonder, are they the families of the murderers I had seen on our news reels?

It was snowing as we got off the train.  We were told that this had been the Japanese West Point, but we were going to sleep in tents.  When it was "chow" time, we acted as though we were starved and some of us were.  Our rations had been cut back severally after the storm.  Now, we were being served what I have described as "huge" turkey legs, mounds of mashed potatoes and all the vegetables you could get on your tray.  Need less to say, most of us "pigged" out - and, would pay the price.

It was really snowing when I realized I had to go to the bathroom, now!  Ha!  As I got to the end of our row of tents, I looked towards the line up outside of the latrines - the bathroom if you have never been in the Army, and there were a hundred guys, all squirming like I was beginning to.  It seemed like hours before we got to the door and looked in.  We still had a ways to go.  Then, came the riot.  In  the middle of the area, there was a guy sitting on a pail, doing what came naturally.  Then, a guy from our line headed for that guy and kicked it out from under him.  Obviously, others had used it and as the pail flew the air, the you-know-what went everywhere.  Fortunately for some of us, guys who had been occupying a stool jumped up and got into the melee.  That provided us with an opportunity to sit down, so while the fight kept on, I was relieved - you know what I mean?

Now, it was snowing harder outside, so I will never know how it turned out, except you could see lots of black eyes, patches, a few arms in slings and a couple of guys on crutches.  All of us sat at attention while a Colonel explained our mission.  First, we were to do the jobs that we would be assigned to do and second, we would treat the Japanese populace, wherever we met them, with the utmost courtesy and respect and if that meant we might meet them while at our work, the second rule would automatically become the first.  He reminded us that the ships that brought us sail both ways and if we did not behave as Americans are taught to behave, our trip home would not be nearly as comfortable. With that, he was on his way.  I came away believing this might be a better assignment than I had imagined.

A Flawed Legacy - 4

Basic training was a breeze and we were all excited to go home.  My plans had me reporting to Camp Kilmer NJ, after the first of the year.  I was disappointed at home as no one seemed to understand my excitement on going to the Philippines and worse, my girl friend understood we would be apart for 2-3 years and wanted me to say it was OK for her to see other guys.  Of course, it had to be OK, I was going to be a long ways away and for longer  than I had planned.

Turns out that one of my mother's friend had a son reporting to Camp Kilmer at the same time, so we decided to go together.  That was interesting as I was about to discover that his mother's sister was a well known stripper by the stage name of Margie Hart.  She was in a chorus and playing in New York city while we would be nearby, so we made plans to see her.  Camp Kilmer was a good place for us as it we could get into the city easily.  One of the guys I knew from basic training and I "buddied" up and we went into NYC regularly, especially New Year's Eve, 1946.  That was quite an experience and as we were walking around I heard some guys singing, "Boola Boola, Boola Boola" and I knew that the Yale University' "fight"" song so we joined in.  When they heard I was from Yale, MI, not the university, they began to laugh and share their drinks with us.  I had two and said that was enough, but my buddy kept drinking and passed out.  So, I found a place where he could sit down out of the way and stood by him until he woke up.  Then we discovered the trains had stopped running, so we spent the rest of the morning waiting in the train station.

A couple of days later, I went into NYC to see Margie Hart and we went back stage where half of the girls were naked from the waist up.  Guess what.  I was so embarrassed.  That was the first time I had ever seen naked women, so they really began to tease me.  About that time, Margie came out and met us and gave us tickets for her show.  Writing this, it is hard for me to believe how really embarrassed I was, but her nephew really enjoyed the show.

We were set to sail on January 10.  It was the General Pope and there were 1,700 of us and as we were boarding, I looked over and saw others debarking from another ship.  They were coming home from Europe and our fresh faces made quite a contrast with theirs.   We could stay on deck until we had passed the Statue of Liberty and the lights along the shoreline of Long Island until we plunging into the darkness that was the Atlantis Ocean.

The next morning I was awake at 6AM and realized that half of the others were already up and out on deck and when I got out there I realized it was cold.  The waters were black and most of the guys had climbed up away from the deck, just watching the huge waves.  I found a place along the railing and it was exhilarating, feeling the spray hit your face, until I put my hand up to wipe it off and suddenly realized, it was not the water, but the vomit from the guys up front.  I was soaked in it.  I went down below and discovered I wasn't the only one with that problem.  They had taken their shoes off and took a shower in their clothes.  There is always a first time for everything, so I joined them and later on - after we had warmed ourselves next to the big heaters in the middle of the bay, we headed back up on deck.  By this time, it was time for breakfast.

It got warmer and warmer as we traveled Southward.  Lots of the guys were on deck and playing cards and when I found some of my buddies from basic training, we sat around and told stories of our adventures in NYC.  We would eat twice more before it was time for bed.  At least we were being fed well.  The next morning I was up earlier than usual and went up on deck to discover we were passing the island of Jamaica.  By evening, we were just outside of Colon, waiting for passage through the Canal.  Now, It was really warm.

Going through the Panama Canal is an exciting experience.  There were all sorts of animals, birds and colorful foliage.  The further we went, the more we attracted young native boys running alongside, begging for coins.  When we cleared the last dock, we were at Panama City and the ship was pulling into a dock.  We would learn that we would stay there for a couple or more days while they were making repairs to the screws that propel the ship.  This was an older ship with plenty of trips across both the Atlantic and the Pacific carrying troops to and from the war zones.

The next morning we awoke to the sound of music being played on the dock.  When we got up there, they had quite a lay out, bands, singers and an MC who kept repeating, "You can't go into Panama City, so we bring Panama City to you."  They kept playing and singing for two days and when we were still there on the third day, we discovered they were taking many of us for bus tour around the "old" city.  I was one of the lucky ones to be chosen and it was a fascinating tour,

Finally, we were on our way and as we moved away from the shoreline, we discovered hundreds of dolphins and sail fish escorting us along our way.  Next stop - Hawaii

A Flawed Legacy - 3

I really do not remember much from my last year in school at Yale,  I suppose I was preparing for my senior year and as seemed to be appropriate, staying tuned to the news as it was possible I might be called to serve as so many of the older guys I had known; now, they were in the service around the world.  Then, came the news that would change my life.  Actually answer my prayers about the future. Where would I be?  What would I do?  I realized I was not going on to college as there was no money in our family to support me.

The Congress had approved what became known as the "G.I. Bill of Rights" available to all service members serving in World War II.   Eventually, I would understand that the end of World War II had been designated as December 31, 1946.  That meant that since I would be celebrating my 17th birthday on August 28th of that year, I would be eligible.

Of course, my Mother would have to sign for me and she agreed.  So, a few days after I had entered high school for my senior year, I left Yale, my school, my friends, the only family I had ever known until then and my life began to change.  The actual enlistment lasted a few minutes and then I was put on a bus headed for the train station.  That took me to Chicago where I learned I would be transferring to another train headed for the Great Lakes Naval Station, north of the city.  Now, I was alone, really alone, for the first time in my life.  Apparently, it was obvious as two other guys, my age, asked if I was also going to Great Lakes and learned they were from Indiana.  Now, the three of us wondered what we could do for the six hours we had to wait.  A couple standing nearby overheard us and the gentleman asked if we were headed for service in the Navy.  "No sir, we're going the Army Air Corps."  That's even better, my son is in the Air Corps in Europe and I know he would want you to have these tickets. He gave us four suggesting we might find another guy to go with us.  Looking at the tickets, we discovered we were heading for what turned out to be, the greatest fight most people will ever see - Zale vs. Graziano,  "Oh, how my Grand Dad would love to be here," I thought.  He loved boxing.  And what a fight it was.

Sitting behind us were two Naval officers and they overheard our concerns about getting back on the right train and leaned forward to tell us, they were headed in the same direction.  We could ride in their car.  Wow!  Life was good!

Or so I thought at the time.  We found the way to the enlisted barracks and finally got to bed a little after One in the morning.  At 4 AM, we were suddenly awakened by a loud speaker telling us that we needed to "Fall out, roll call in ten minutes."  Then, came the shocker.  When they came to my name, they called out, "McRae, S.B." and before I could answer, someone in the back shouted, "He sure ... is!"  I could not believe it,  I had never heard of a S.B. until I realized he was saying, "son of a b....".   Then, the others were yelling at me telling me to answer roll call.

Later, we were assigned to our barracks and told that we would be shipping out the next day.  They were almost right.  All of the others were going.  I did not.  I went to the office and was told it was a common mistake, that I would be leaving in a couple of days.  A couple of days came and went and I got the same answer.  By this time, I was getting scared.  I wanted to go home.  I wanted a hug from my "Nan."  Leaving the Mess hall after lunch the next day, I noticed a Chapel and so I went in and found my way to the altar.  "Please, God, help me.  Tell me what to do," I pleaded.  Then I heard words that will echo in my ears forever, "I will never leave you, nor forsake you,:"  I was no Bible student.  I had no idea those words were in the Bible.

But the next day it seemed to me that God had answered my prayers.  I was called to join in with guys headed for Fort Lewis in the State of Washington.  Those guys had joined the Engineering Corps. What?  I was supposed to be in the Air Corps!  Another screw up, but two days later, there was another new bunch in "my" barracks and WE were all headed for San Antonio.

We made it and after learning what barracks I would be assigned to, I headed for the office where they administered GED tests.  I had to pass it or they would cancel my enlistment and send me home - at my expense.  That wasn't true, but it sure scared me.  I took the text and I was no sooner back to my barracks when I heard the loud speaker, "McRae, report to the office immediately."  There I learned that I had passed the test and I needed to get back to  my barracks, immediately.  I was beginning to get used to how the military operated, daily.  Go here, go there, do this, do that, NOW!

I would soon learn that IF I passed the recruit training, I would be reporting the Radar school in Boca Raton, FL.  I liked the sound of that.  Basic training was a breeze.  I was in good shape and had no problem with all of the marching, running, jumping, climbing regimens and even was recorded as an Expert rifleman.  I was ready for Radar school.  Only, I wsan't going.   World War II was over and they no longer needed more Radar technicians.  What they really needed were more raw recruits in the Philippines.

A Flawed Legacy 2

I think I got ahead of myself.   I'm still on the farm.   Not ready for the Air Corps

The thing that used to bug me was that I seldom heard from my Mother except for the times she would bring her boy friends up to the farm.   You need to understand my Mother was a beautiful woman, but a boy needs hugs and not just from their Grandma.  Looking back Nan was good at hugging and wiping away an occasional tear. Most of the time I had a particular rock out behind the tool shed where I shed my tears. 

I had good play mates.  The Meharg boys, but young Lee was too small to be a friend.  I can still picture him coming down the road to our place with a diaper hanging down and it was often obvious that he had filled it shortly after leaving home.   Hobart was not quite my age, but he was smart and I liked to listen to him.  Jack's father was a bonafide drunk and there were two older brothers that my Grandad told me to stay away from.  But Jack and I were the same age and we traded secrets so that I would get to hear what his older brothers were telling him.  Don was a year older and one of the best baseball players I would ever know.  He was not into playing except for the contests we used to have seeing who could throw and break the glass insulators on the telephone lines.  Further down the road, we had Ernie and Jean.  Ernie was older and a great HS football player.  I was in love with Jean from the moment I first saw her and we used to walk to school together - reciting the scripts from the radio programs we had heard the previous evening.  Jack and Jean were my 8th grade classmates along with Donna who came from the other side of the school house.

Speaking of the school house, in the winters during my 7th and 8th years, I got up early and started the fire in the furnace that kept the school warm.  I loved the job as that gave me an opportunity to chat with our teacher - Mina Mosher Armstrong.  She inspired me by the way she could quote me whenever I had to talk before the class and - as a matter of fact, the whole school.  What I did not like about her was the ledge in front of the room where you were required to stand on the balls of your feet, your heels dangling and after 10 seconds you believed your legs would break.  That is, if you broke any of her rules.  Once was enough for me.

We had a bus to take us to school in the morning, but we got home when our parents or neighbors were there to take us.  It was 3 and 1/2 miles, so I liked to see how far I could run along the way.  I remember running the distance a couple of times.  I was not an athlete, but I was a good listener and it paid off in the service where I became a regular second baseman.  I hit a home run in high school once. It was the day FDR died and when we went up town for malts, every body was talking about him, no mention of my home run.  I was a good student except for advanced math and science courses, but we had the sorriest chemistry teacher ever.  Three of us got suspended for putting a stink bomb in the ventilation system, only because we were bored to tears listening to the same lecture we had heard a half dozen times.  Oh yes, I got an "A" in the Commercial class where we were supposed to learn how to type.  My girlfriend at the time got an "A" in history - both scores as the result of our trading places when the tests were scheduled.

Actually, I loved school, mainly because of our Latin teacher who was our Junior class adviser and she chose the class play - The Nutt Family, I was Wall Nut, so that I could star in it.  Only because I had made two A+'s in her classes.  After that play, she took me aside and told me that the world could be my "oyster" if only I kept doing what I had been doing in her classes.  She was so excited when I told her I was leaving school to go into the service.  She gave me two classic books she had recommended as I left on my last day.

I was not, however, always a happy camper.  I had just got to the point where I could do most of the jobs on the farm and was looking forward to proving myself in the summer.  My grand ad was tough on me at times and I always thought that was because of the the arguments over the cost of my care that he had with my Mother.  On the day we finished our sophomore year, she had a friend drive up from Detroit to get me and let me know, I would be working for another farmer that summer,  If I had had the courage that day, I was ready to run away.  That would have been a mistake.  The people I farmed with that summer treated me like a real hired hand and knowing that I would not be getting any money from home, Ron paid me extra for certain chores and took me to town and bought me some real "farmer" clothes.  On VJ Day I was dragging some logs we had cut to a place where we would pile them out of the weather when I saw him coming across the field in his Jeep.  "Here," he said, "take the Jeep and you and Ronnie (a neighbor my same age), go live it up some place.  Here is some money for you, the Jeep is full of gas.  Just be careful."  I was dumb founded.  No one had ever placed such confidence in me that happened with that deal.  We headed South, thinking of going to Detroit for some White House burgers and Coke, but as we drove into Mount Clemons, we got stuck in traffic.  Selfridge AFB was nearby and apparently they had sent the whole base into town to celebrate.  We just sat there for a couple of hours and a guy came along carrying a tray of White House burgers he had just bought.  We 

asked, where?  So, we followed instructions and sure enough, we found it.  Treated ourselves to four burgers apiece and malts and drove home.  When I was ready to leave after working all summer, they drove me home to Yale and gave Nan $100 to give to me - when I "really" needed it.

When I found my girlfriend and learned that she was still my girlfriend, she marveled at my change and we almost went too far with our celebrating.

My grandfather noticed, too.  "You have really grown up," he told me and put his gnarled old hands to my head ad said, "C'mon we've got work to do."  I was home at last.  And later that evening, I went out to favorite old rock and bawled my eyes out.

A Flawed Legacy - 1

To start with, we have to go back to the turn of the century, the last century,  We are going to the State of Michigan, in particular, Brockway Township, in St. Clair county and to the farm country West of Yale, MI.  There were two farms, about a mile a half apart from each other.  On one was the widow lady, Mrs. Cheeseman - excuse me, I can never remember her first name and her two children, William, the son and a younger daughter, Cora.  On the other farm, we find the Ensley Brown family with their seven girls and one son, the runt of the litter as Bill used to call himself.   In between those girls was Lillian.

This is all about those two, William and Lillian and the fact they were married on the "longest night of the year" in 1903 or 1904 and would have the first of their three girls on April 11, 1906, one week before the infamous earthquake that almost destroyed San Francisco, CA.  There would be two more girls, Bernice and Noreen, and two sons, Blake and Keith.  Sadly, Keith was still born.  Somewhere in the years to follow, they would leave the farm while William tried his hand at gas and oil marketing in Yale.  It didn't last long.  The children either went to school in Yale or to the one room country school house, a mile and half down the road from the farm - where I would also attend while on the farm.  We all attended and graduated from Yale High School.

Blanche immediately went to Port Huron, MI, to attend a business school.  Bernice would go to Detroit and eventually married Frank Bowden, an investment banker from Arkansas.  Noreen chose to go to Flint, MI, where she graduated from Hurley Nursing school as a registered nurse and would later marry Hayward Welch, who worked with his father at Welch Sash and Door Company in Port Huron.

It gets a little vague here as Blanche, my mother - unknown to us for several years, married a young man named Harvey Klemmer, who she described as a sailor on the Great Lakes ore ships and "given to drink."  The marriage was annulled.    As children, we never knew about this Harvey Klemmer, but he was obviously more  than a sailor.  We now know of him as the Harvey Klemmer who would eventually write a book (Harbor Lights) talking about his experiences as an aide to Joseph Kennedy while he was the Ambassador appointed by FDR to the British government at the outset of World War II.  Yes, the Joseph Kennedy who was father to John F. Kennedy, the 42nd President of the U.S.

Mother would move i=on to St. Claire Shores, MI, where she began working for a sales executive with the Diamond Crystal Salt Company.  His name was William J. MacRae, known either as "Bill" or "Mac".   He was divorced and had two sons, Donald and Edward.

Straight out of a Hollywood movie script, the young beautiful secretary married the handsome, older man and they lived happily ever after - well, not quite.  There was a stop at the Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit where their son was born on August 28, 1929.  He was supposed to have been a girl as they had already named "her" - Shirley Lou.  And so it was the boy's name became Sherwood.  For a middle name, they chose Brown, my grand mother's maiden name - which you already knew if you are following this.  Jobs seemed to be plentiful so having left Diamond Crystal, they headed Southward to Ohio and a sales territory assigned to "Mac" by a friend, the President of the Ohio Blue Tip Match Company.   Apparently, they had chosen Toledo, OH for a home base, but then tragedy struck.  Their furniture had been shipped by the Ivory Truck Lines and stored in a warehouse in Toledo which was destroyed by fire causing them the loss of all the beautiful furniture "Mac" had bought for his bride.

Next stop, Cleveland, OH, more accurately, Lakewood.   It was now 1932 and mother was pregnant. Lillian - who I will start referring to her as "Nan" as that was what I would call her for the rest of my life, came down to be with Mother for the birth and then, suggested she take me home to the farm with her after Shirley Lou was finally here and everyone, apparently, was happy.  I will always believe that Nan thought of Sherwood would become the other son (Keith) who did not survive his birth.  I was apparently happy as I heard that I stood up all the way to Michigan.  One thing for sure, I sure did like the farm better than the city.

Now, it gets rather vague.  I was not keeping account nor do I recall ever seeing my father and mother until sometime in 1936 when they moved back to Detroit and somehow, I joined them.  I recall attending school there and it seems as though I made a couple of trips with my Father as he was calling on customers.  What I do vividly recall is the fact Mother would make fried eggs and I hated  the yolks, so I would eat the white and my Dad would eat the yolks.   Then my sister and I went to live with a lady who lived off of a canal in East Detroit and I used to love sitting on their dock, pretending I was fishing.  I remember it being 1936 as I saw all of the Landon for President signs in the school yard, apparently it was the latter part of 1936.   Somewhere in this time span, my Father lost his memory caused by a car accident he was involved in a couple of years earlier.  I did not know it until years later, but he was placed in a State hospital in Pontiac where his death certificate said that he died.

What I do know is that I was back on the farm and would stay there until I was 17 and immediately joined what was then, the U.S. Army Air Corps. 

And I plan to be back, tomorrow.