Agana, Guam
If ever there was a paradise for five year old boys, Guam in the 1950s was it! My dad was an Aviation Electrician's Mate flying in a squadron of P2V patrol aircraft out of the Naval Base in Agana and we lived in housing provided by the Navy (initially a quonset hut, but we moved to a 'real' house after a time).
The main duty of the P2V was, as so many others, to keep an eye on our once-allies, now enemies the Soviet Union. Dad would leave each morning for the drive to flight line and I was always in awe of him taking off to hunt for Soviet submarines little realizing that one day I would be part to the folks keeping an eye on them.
The main duty of the P2V was, as so many others, to keep an eye on our once-allies, now enemies the Soviet Union. Dad would leave each morning for the drive to flight line and I was always in awe of him taking off to hunt for Soviet submarines little realizing that one day I would be part to the folks keeping an eye on them.
For my brothers and I Guam was as good as it gets! We spent many hours wandering the jungle adjoining the base without a care in the world, often pilfering the sugar cane and pineapple that was so plentiful there to keep our batteries charged until we had to return home for supper. The only real threat to us was our own dare-devil antics; one time we discovered a hole in a fence that separated the housing area from a cliff with a rather precipitous drop into the Pacific Ocean. We played the "I double dare you" nonsense until we would up hanging from the roots of a tree screaming for help. Thankfully some passerby heard us and called the Marines (the Military Police on the navy bases) who were able to rescue us.
Another time we came close to having Mom commit justifiable homicide when we decided to play Whitey Ford with all of the eggs our parents had just received from the commissary. A bit of history on that; the refrigerator ship arrived once a month and all the perishable items (such as eggs) that you wanted would be picked up then. So, we all wanting to out pitch the others (as Whitey Ford did in our opinion over such dastardly dudes as Sandy Koufax), and we took all of the eggs outside our adobe walled house and proceeded to throw them until we ran out of eggs. Later the M.P.s came along and seeing this fried egg staining the wall of our house, notified Mom that she would have to get that mess cleaned up. Yeah, it was a memorable occasion and a measure of mercy and grace that we survived that episode as well.
Another time we came close to having Mom commit justifiable homicide when we decided to play Whitey Ford with all of the eggs our parents had just received from the commissary. A bit of history on that; the refrigerator ship arrived once a month and all the perishable items (such as eggs) that you wanted would be picked up then. So, we all wanting to out pitch the others (as Whitey Ford did in our opinion over such dastardly dudes as Sandy Koufax), and we took all of the eggs outside our adobe walled house and proceeded to throw them until we ran out of eggs. Later the M.P.s came along and seeing this fried egg staining the wall of our house, notified Mom that she would have to get that mess cleaned up. Yeah, it was a memorable occasion and a measure of mercy and grace that we survived that episode as well.
One last mention of the boy's paradise that was Guam; we had met this neat little man who lived in a cave overlooking the navy base and used to visit with him during our daily travels. He would regale us with tales of his village in Japan and let us look (but not touch!) his rusty rifle. We would sneak food to him from our home and share our pilfered goodies from the local sugar cane and pineapple plantations (he cut the pineapples open for us with a very sharp sword that, unlike the rifle, was not rusty!). It wasn't until years later that I realized that he was probably a holdout from the Japanese army and had never surrendered, perhaps hoping someone would find hi and capture him to enable him to save face by not surrendering. I never knew if he ever got home to his village; I hope he did.
Such was Guam; Dad now received orders to Great Lakes, Illinois to be the company commander helping teach recruits what it meant to be a part of the Navy.
Such was Guam; Dad now received orders to Great Lakes, Illinois to be the company commander helping teach recruits what it meant to be a part of the Navy.