My abbreviated adventure at sea comes to an end.
Scenic view of Gaulley Bridge, W. Va.
It only took four months and 13 days to complete my sea duty as a member of Uncle Sam’s Navy and ony five days of that was actually on the bounding main. The rest of the time the ice breaker was in drydock. With transfer orders in hand I also received my choice of an airline ticket to my new post in Virginia or to my home in Indiana for leave. I opted for leave because I wanted to drive to Norfolk. I had been without wheels in Boston while aboard ship and I didn’t like it although it gave this country boy an opportunity to ride on a streetcar for the first time.
When I arrived at the military entrance at Logan Airport I ran into a smart aleck Marine guard who eyeballed my fake I.D. and suggested I did not look to be 21. He wanted to see my service record which would prove my I.D. a bummer but it was sealed and I wouldn’t open the envelope. He summoned his commander who in turn called my former executive officer. The exec informed him that my orders were to remain unsealed as I was cleared as Cosmic Top Secret and paperwork within the envelope was for a Need-To-Know basis only. I headed for the boarding area having just learned about the security clearance.
The flight to Indianapolis, about 65 miles from my home, was uneventful but looking back on it I must smile. The craft was a Super Constellation, a four-engine prop job and the last commercial flight I would ever take. I have never flown in a jetliner. How old fashioned is that?
I had a fun-filled 30-day leave with friends (and bartenders) but had a lot of explaining to do to the 320 fine folks who lived in the little farming community who have known me since birth. They could not understand why two FBI agents swooped into their little burg asking questions about their Kenny. Did he ever read anything by Karl Marx? Does he have any friends who are communist sympathizers? Did he cry when Josef Stalin died? No one knew the answers…half didn’t know what a communist was. The other half didn’t know Mr. Stalin had been sick. If I hadn’t learned by accident that I had been checked out for a security clearance I would not have known what they were talking about.
You met Queenie? 
What a great story!! I thoroughly enjoy reading these posts!!
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