We're off to Hawaii

Jul 7, 2019, 5:28 PM

My last post re leaving for Korea had about 25 of us "selectees" arriving at Travis AFB near San Francisco. As promised, we had a super breakfast. I suppose we felt like the "about to be hanged man" who had a one pound prime steak before saying "bye bye". Anyway, we were bussed to our Army Troop Transport flight and climbed aboard. Entering the door it was easy to see the configuration of the seats and the type of seats did in no way resemble a commercial airplane. The seats were along the side of the cabin and they did not recline. At each seat was a parachute and a flotation cushion, neither one of which I hoped would be needed.

Looking around the cabin it looked like we were going to have a tailgate party during our flight. The mess hall had prepared box lunches, a cooler with soft drinks and all sorts of snacks. The flight crew came aboard and gave the usual pre-flight instructions. The first leg of our non-stop flight was to Honolulu, a distance of about 2,400 miles and it would take about ten hours. I'm glad they said our flight was non-stop because there is absolutely nothing between San Francisco and Honolulu except water.

We were asked if this was our first airplane trip and all except three of us said yes. Two of us had hopped AF plane rides in Europe after the war was over and one had flown a commercial flight. We taxied out to the runway and we received clearance to takeoff. They reved up those four prop jobs, the plane shook like a hula dancer, the noise was a deafening roar and away we went. Surprisingly, there was no fog and we had a great view of San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge as we soared toward the sky.

Our flight was uneventful. The noise and the seats were not conducive to sleeping even though we had no sleep the night before. As best as I can remember, our flight was fairly smooth. This was the first time for us to really become acquainted and much of the talk was about "why Us". We soon learned all of us were in the inactive reserve, supposedly the last ones to be recalled to active duty should the need arise. But such was not the case. Three of us had served in WW2 and the remainder had joined the Army after WW2 and assigned to the Inactive Reserve when they completed their short term enlistment. We concluded we were recalled because of our specialized training or, in the case of those who had a college degree, our specific degree, most in engineering fields.

The mess hall prepared a hearty meal and like good soldiers, we didn't leave any scraps for any roaches that may have boarded our flight. But the roar of those prop jobs and those hard seats made those hours in the air pass very slow. We had reached the stage when we looked at our watches constantly as if that would hasten our arrival in Honolulu. Sometime later, the flight crew told us a few at a time could come forward and have a far-off view of the island of Oahu during our approach. That was the best news we had heard during the entire flight.

We landed at Hickam Field and it was pure delight to get back on the ground and not having to listen to those four prop engines. We were told to take those items we would need and leave everything else on the plane. We were also informed we would spend the night at Hickam and would not leave until the next evening. We needed a rest and the same crew would be taking us from Honolulu to Wake Island and then Tokyo, Japan. Our stop in Wake would be for breakfast and refuel and then on to Tokyo just a mere 4,300 miles more on those two legs of our trip.

We were bussed to our quarters and we happened to notice the PX was just a stone's throw from our barrack. Now, there is something about a PX that can make one forget about getting a nap first, We dropped our gear and off we went. There was a nice little beer garden surrounded by lush tropical plants and some lovely wahines serving the beer. Heavy eyelids soon prevailed and we returned to our barrack for a good night's sleep.

The next day we returned to the PX and bought all sorts of goodies for our trip because we were told
there would be no box meals on our flight to Wake. This is a good place to stop because I can still hear those prop engines roaring.

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GThanks for the interesting story. My route to Korea was out of Fort Lewis in Seattle. We had the same canvas seat arrangement along the sides of the plane. But on our flight there were large crates stacked through the center so we couldn’t see the guys on the other side without standing. We stood and played cards with those on the other side to kill the time.
We left Seattle in late evening and landed in Anchorage early morning and were bussed through the January cold to have breakfast and then back to the plane for immediate departure. Next stop for fuel and food was at the tip of the Aleutian Islands. Then on to Tokyo. There was no opportunity for any bunk sleeping along the way. We were a grungy group of guys when we got to Tokyo. One interesting officer in our group was General George Patton’s son. Also a couple of Clemson graduates were with us,
.By the way, I celebrated my 90th birthday on July 4th. With a big family get together in the Asheville area. More than 50 immediate and extended family and some special friends honored me with their presence and love. I am one lucky guy.

We're off to Hawaii

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