R & R IN BEAUTIFUL HAWAII

Hey, all you ladies who also did the R&R bit, remember what it was like?

I was nearly down to my fighting weight a month after giving birth, due in part to the fact that the baby would only allow me time to scarf down an occasional banana. There had been a small complication just after she was born which caused me to lose a lot of blood, I was slightly anemic and a little weak, but so excited. Though I was a guilty wreck about leaving our little baby, I bought a new dress and set off for the the airport wearing that and, idiotically, a brand new pair of shoes with two and a half inch heels! The short hop from Grand Rapids to Chicago went fine, but I'd never been in O'Hare Airport before and had to walk a mile in a short time to make my direct flight to Honolulu. Omigosh, childbirth was easier than that walk, and I wore jeans and moccasins on the trip back! Eight hours after boarding my United flight (getting the big R&R discount we always heard about, which was a whole $16), I was in Hawaii, thrilled at having seen the Mississippi River, the magical and wondrous Rocky Mts., and being surrounded by the Pacific Ocean. Then I and all the other wives and sweethearts were transferred right away to the mercy of the U.S. Army. They herded us to Fort DeRussey, which is right in the middle of downtown Honolulu, where we were given dire warnings concerning our purses, getting lost, and being sold into slavery and/or harems. We were to stay in groups at all times until our particular batch of hubbies arrived the following day, and had to sign in and out to leave and return. The sergeant responsible for the group in which I was a part was taking no chances! (When one thinks what might have happened to him had he lost one of us, who can blame him?)

The gals in my group had made hotel reservations beginning the next day and were planning on spending that night in the guest house in the fort. Sarge wanted us to stay put, but I'd received orders from Garry that were different. I was in a heck of a quandary, not wanting to get him in trouble because whatever I did would directly affect him, but I decided to do as he had told me. He and his best buddy Danny Bridges had set their R&Rs  to overlap by two days, meaning that Danny's last two days would coincide with Garry's first two. I signed out and took a taxi to the Marine Surf (which turned out to be a block and a half away), confirmed our reservations, then called Danny's room, as ordered.

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He and his wife were supposed to take care of me, as I understood it. That seems so funny in retrospect, but you understand these guys had had plenty of time to scheme things out. I tried for two hours in the lobby, but no one was home. So much for that! I returned to the fort and went to my room, not having eaten anything since leaving Michigan. That getting kidnapped stuff kinda got to me the more I thought about it, so I decided to stay put and explore with Garry later. There I was in beautiful Hawaii in a dingy Army guest room, which was full of cockroaches. The only time I'd ever seen those things before was at Fort Polk, and I was (and am) scared silly of them. I spent the entire night fully clothed, sitting on the middle of the bed, holding a shoe, and keeping guard. (Garry thought he had it so hard. Ha!) I knew my hubby had been on the plane for a long time, though, and was getting closer and closer...at least, I hoped. His orders still had not been confirmed by the time I left home, which was rather scary. I think others ran into that same little problem.

The next morning, in retrospect, was like a Three Stooges movie. They had us herded like cattle in the fort cafeteria. The planes were due at 9 A.M. I still had not eaten, was rather lightheaded but too excited to do so. The planes were delayed, so they took this opportunity to give us some advice and warnings about what our husbands were going to be like. They were not going to be the same guys we had known; they had been in a hostile environment for a long time, likely to be jumpy and withdrawn. We shouldn't be surprised it if took a few days for them to calm down and warm up. All of this went on for a long time as Sarge desperately tried to fill time and keep very antsy women at bay. Finally, around 10:30 the planes (two of them) were close, and he started in with a microphone, doing a play by play just like a horserace. Oh gosh, it was funny! "The planes have rounded the tip of Maui. They're making their approach on Honolulu Airport. They've lowered their landing gear! Your men are now disembarking and proceeding directly onto the two waiting green Army buses. Bus number one is filled up and pulling out. Now bus number two is doing the same. They've left the airport grounds! Here comes number one...." And so on!! He lined we women up in two lines, facing each other, on either side of the wide open double doors, leaving about four feet of space in the center of the lines. I was way the heck and gone down toward the end of one line. Bus One pulled up directly in front of the door, and guys started streaming off, walking the gauntlet. As a wife would spot her husband, there would be a shriek and a break in the line as she took off running to grab him and things got held up while they hugged and kissed. Everyone was in a combination of hysterics and anticipation. And a little fear! They all looked alike from a distance...exact same khaki uniforms and caps, exact same green duffel bags over shoulders...what if I didn't recognize my own husband??? He was on the second bus, of course, but I spotted him the second he appeared in the doorway of the bus; even though I had decided to be more cool than the others, I wasn't and took off like a shot. He had a smile from ear to ear, along with the rather confused look that each had held when faced by the two lines, and was the most handsome thing I'd ever seen in my life.

The Army kept us all for about five more minutes, trying to tell us things, but no one was paying a bit of attention, so they, with surprising good nature, set us loose. We already had our R&R books (remember those? We're including a picture of the front as we still have ours).

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Garry seemed just like Garry to me! We took off for the hotel and proceeded to...well, partake of the main activity of all R&Rs, delighted to discover that we hadn't forgotten how. After sleeping awhile, a repeat performance, sleeping again, we took off for Burger King down the street. Most people in Hawaii are there on vacation, spending money like crazy. Not so for the military couples back then, who were mostly poor as church mice. I'll bet most vacationers don't even know there are grocery stores anywhere in the Hawaiian Islands, but we went to Safeway to shop for food, and I cooked most of our meals in the cute kitchenette in our room. We never once went to a luau or even the beach, never heard Don Ho sing, but we did walk down to the Honolulu Zoo at least four times and wandered around the huge outdoor International Market Place, discovering one place there had the best stew we'd ever tasted...cheap, too! We rented a Toyota on two occasions, once just riding around and once going out to Pearl Harbor to see the Arizona Memorial. My dad had been in the Navy for eight years, beginning in 1943, was in and out of Pearl many times, and had asked me to visit it and take a lot of pictures. We did so and were deeply touched by what we saw.

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Well, Garry had been without a lot of the amenities we take so for granted, and, just like the TV shows and movies, spent a lot of time initially flushing the toilet , for the sheer novelty of it. He'd turn on the television, not to watch it, just because it was there, flipping from channel to channel and turning it off, only to do it again awhile later. Funny how ever since the remote control became available they have reverted to doing the same thing! For two days Garry and Danny called each other on the phone constantly, though we were only two floors apart,  just because they could. They'd only spent  24 hours a day, seven days a week together for eight months, but they were very close buddies. I was thrilled to meet Danny and happier yet that Garry had such a good friend while he was so far from home.

My only problem the whole week was intense guilt and worry about the baby, which I tried to keep hidden. Garry knew he was a father but it was difficult for it to sink in. That hurt me, but I did realize that though he loved her, she was a rather abstract thing to him. He'd never seen her except in pictures, never held her, never heard her great lungs, hadn't even seen me "looking" pregnant before he'd had to leave.

The week flew by. I felt better at the thought of so much time behind and only four months to go. Garry didn't want to go back, understandably, but he didn't tell me until later how bad the area they were in was. This time my plane left four hours before his, and I begged him not to go to the airport with me. Neither of us could handle another goodbye scene like before. So, once again, but for the last time, we took off to different sides of the world.

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