XI. A FREE MAN
News came that I had been looking for for months and months. My number of points made me eligible for discharge. I, along with a group of other men, received orders 11-4-45 to pack up and that the following day we would be going to Boston to be discharged. You can bet that I was at the head of the line. We spent that night in Boston and were discharged from the United States Navy, in the Fargo Building the next morning (11-6-45) and given train fare back to Tampa. (I was proud to say that I weighed the same - 181 pounds - as I did when I enlisted).
I stopped in Arlington, Virginia to see my sister, Marion, arriving there about 10:00 P. M. I removed my "P" coat and started to hang it in the closet, and to my surprise, there was an Army topcoat hanging there. It belonged to my brother Wayne, who had also just been discharged, unbeknown to me. He was tired and had gone to bed. We had not seen one-another since some time before the war started. I decided to awaken him and the two of us stayed up and talked for most of the night. He had served in both the African and the European Theaters as crew chief on the famous old C-47 cargo planes. (My youngest brother - Pete - was still serving in the Army of Occupation of Europe) .
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Spending a few days at home in Virginia, and taking my 1941 Dodge out of storage, I headed back to Tampa and returned to work at Continental Can on 11-20-45.
I was glad to be back at work, but I felt that I didn't fit in at the plant as well as I did when I had left. So many changes had taken place, mostly in personnel. I had gone through some very unusual experiences in the last three years and that, no doubt, had alot to do with it.
Guess I can't complain as I went through three years of service without a scratch. The only serious problem I had was having fungus in one ear while stationed on Bougainville. Our battalion doctor sent me to the Naval Base on the island. The name of the doctor that treated me sounded familiar, Colhoun (Lt. Commander). Having learned that we were both from the Roanoke, Virginia area, he invited me to a back room where we had a very neighborly chat.