Hawaii 1955-Ben's travels

Our move to Hawaii began in early 1955. After negotiations and decisions and numerous exchanges of letters, Dad and Jean drove up to Milwaukee to pick Tom, Mike and me (Ben) up to return to Laurel, Maryland for a month long stay with Jean's folks. That was the first time I 'remember' wearing clothing light enough to withstand the heat and humidity of the southern summer. Driving back through Milwaukee to pick up and pack what we could take that would fit in the trunk of the 1954 Cadillac (with a 1955 engine) that my father owned at the time, we commenced our drive west. We passed the Chapel of the Transfiguration in Moose, Wyoming and Buffalo Bill's Museum in Cody, WY on the way to our ranch stay in Montana. The ranch in Montana was at the very end of a dirt road 100 miles from the nearest paved highway. Our bunk house was 10 or more miles beyond the main ranch complex of buildings. Another small bunkhouse housed the cowboy who supervised this terminus of the entire ranch - a man who was Jean's cousin. The first morning Tom, Mike and I rode up to view the Montana-Idaho border. Mike rode in the saddle with me on the horses rump on the return trek. As we neared the fence surrounding the ranch, I kicked the horse to begin a race with Tom - giving Mike the thrill of having to handle the racing horse at the same time. Our horse, Noodles, (Tom may have rode Buck), ran right up to stop on a dime at the fence. I'd also eaten a whole bunch of seedless grapes earlier in the day. From that night onward, my bowels wouldn't move and I began having severe stomach pains. It was an appendicitis attack. My dad wanted to give me some Alka-Seltzer and Tom said, no. Dad didn't think it was serious even though I couldn't sleep and was moaning and groaning until we reached the Pocatello, Idaho hospital 500 miles away - apparently passing some hospitals along the way. The surgeon at the hospital is supposed to have said that had we driven another 100 miles, I would have died. He had extensive experience removing bullets during the Korean War and was able to make a very small incision to remove my appendix - only 6 stitches being required. I was able to stand 24 hours after the operation and could walk by the second day. The third day saw me back in the motel with the others taking slow walks with Tom to build up my strength - walks where we discussed our disillusionment with the actions of our dad up to that point - not the least being his irritation at this extra expense and time due to my 'emergency'. Pocatello, Idaho was our next stop on the drive west - where more relatives of Jean's lived. Those relatives becoming very upset when we three 'Catholic' boys wouldn't eat the steaks they had prepared for us on a Friday night. Nobody had told them we didn't eat meat on Fridays. Ben in pre-Elvis shades • 12 year old Ben • 18 year old Tom The primary adventure taking place in Pocatello (other than my emergency) was a hike we took into the foothills near some small town, the name of which I can't remember. Tom wore his revolver in a holster strapped to his leg (just like the cowboys we'd watched on TV since 1950). We walked along a stream that had a bend with a pool where Tom and I stopped to take an al fresco swim. The pictures show ?Mike and/or me? climbing some sagebrush filled with the children of our hosts. Although Jean's parents had sent money to have me fly from Pocatello, dad used it to pay the hospital bill, instead, and continued the drive to San Francisco - we stopping, of course, along the way in Reno and other slot machined spots in Nevada where I got to exhibit my prowess with those machines. (I've always won at slots - primarily because I never play them very much and stop playing after winning a jackpot or big payout.) San Francisco was a delight. We stayed in dependent housing at Fort Mason, from which the infamous Alcatraz island prison could be seen in the bay. I also remember there being a 5 cent Coca Cola machine outside our rooms on a veranda-like common wooden porch. (It was a continuation of the 'cowboy' experience.) We did get to Fisherman's Wharf but not much else about our stay in Frisco in 1955 is jogging my memory. Dad, Tom, Mike and I flew over to Hawaii on a military transport (MATS) that took 8 or more hours. Jean flew over via commerical jet. Disillusionment with my dad and the nature of our stay motivated me to demand a return to Milwaukee within a matter of weeks of arrival in Hawaii. Mike and I came back via ship in January 1956. Such demand may have come immediately after a confrontation in which Tom punched dad and knocked him to the floor in the dining room of our house up at 1815 NaheNahe Pl, Wahiawa, Oahu, Hawaii. After that, Tom joined the Army and left the island. (I undoubtedly no longer wanted to stay around without his additional help.) Ruben's Jaguar sports car Barracks where 'From Here to Eternity' was filmed Hawaiian Sunset Wolfhounds HQ - 27th Infantry driveway past our neighbor's lanai Mike in our lanai (open garage) rear yard wall of our house rear yard of our home The army Captain who chaperoned us on the ship back to San Francisco from Hawaii may have been surnamed Carlson. I loved the six days on that ship - Mike didn't. Wahiawa Gulch Ben's playground I remember seeing a spider as big as my (12 year old) fist in a giant web guarding the steep pathway down into the Gulch on my first solitary visit. I didn't bother him and he didn't bother me. There still were wild boar in this and similar gulches throughout Oahu in 1955. 'Wild' wild fruit grew everywhere. There were berries that looked like cherries and tasted like strawberries. Hollow hanging fruit that looked like apples and smelled like roses. And, of course those strangest of all - but most familiar worldwide - the pineapples. On one of my jaunts, I met a couple of the sons of some of the pineapple plantation workers living directly across from us on the other side of the gulch. They were catching huge catfish by hand and keeping them in their watersoaked jeans - the jeans legs being tied in a knot, full of water and slung over a shoulder. We became instant friends and had several gully adventures together until their parents forbade them from playing with me. The sidewalks adjacent to the storefronts in the town of Waihawa were wooden - as were the stores and the sliding doors that closed them up after business hours. Many of our neighbors and most of the business people on main street were of Japanese ancestry - they were still self-conscious of the distrust felt for them in the aftermath of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Many were glad to see me, a haoli (non-islander - usually White), coming around at Halloween. That was the first time I encountered Japanese candy that had an inner clear wrapper that was also edible and melted in one's mouth. That was also the last time I encountered hard rubber soled shower shoes/clogs that were made to last forever. All in all, the 5 1/2 months spent in Hawaii at the end of 1955 and the first part 1956 were some of the most significant in my life. The song "Rock Around the Clock" (by Bill Hailley and the Comets) was an instant hit for us roller skaters on the cement slab at Schofield Barracks. I was evolving from a 'thumb sucking' 12 year old to a non-thumb sucking teenager - a decision made on my 13th birthday just before we left Hawaii for San Francisco - I just told myself, "Teenagers don't suck their thumbs", and stopped cold turkey. I discovered a lot about myself, my father, my brothers and my extended family during that hiatus in paradise. I recommend similar character building experiences to everyone.

Our move to Hawaii began in early 1955. After negotiations and decisions and numerous exchanges of letters, Dad and Jean drove up to Milwaukee to pick Tom, Mike and me (Ben) up to return to Laurel, Maryland for a month long stay with Jean's folks. That was the first time I 'remember' wearing clothing light enough to withstand the heat and humidity of the southern summer.

Driving back through Milwaukee to pick up and pack what we could take that would fit in the trunk of the 1954 Cadillac (with a 1955 engine) that my father owned at the time, we commenced our drive west. We passed the Chapel of the Transfiguration in Moose, Wyoming and Buffalo Bill's Museum in Cody, WY on the way to our ranch stay in Montana.

The ranch in Montana was at the very end of a dirt road 100 miles from the nearest paved highway. Our bunk house was 10 or more miles beyond the main ranch complex of buildings. Another small bunkhouse housed the cowboy who supervised this terminus of the entire ranch - a man who was Jean's cousin.

The first morning Tom, Mike and I rode up to view the Montana-Idaho border. Mike rode in the saddle with me on the horses rump on the return trek. As we neared the fence surrounding the ranch, I kicked the horse to begin a race with Tom - giving Mike the thrill of having to handle the racing horse at the same time. Our horse, Noodles, (Tom may have rode Buck), ran right up to stop on a dime at the fence. I'd also eaten a whole bunch of seedless grapes earlier in the day. From that night onward, my bowels wouldn't move and I began having severe stomach pains.

It was an appendicitis attack. My dad wanted to give me some Alka-Seltzer and Tom said, no. Dad didn't think it was serious even though I couldn't sleep and was moaning and groaning until we reached the Pocatello, Idaho hospital 500 miles away - apparently passing some hospitals along the way.

The surgeon at the hospital is supposed to have said that had we driven another 100 miles, I would have died. He had extensive experience removing bullets during the Korean War and was able to make a very small incision to remove my appendix - only 6 stitches being required. I was able to stand 24 hours after the operation and could walk by the second day. The third day saw me back in the motel with the others taking slow walks with Tom to build up my strength - walks where we discussed our disillusionment with the actions of our dad up to that point - not the least being his irritation at this extra expense and time due to my 'emergency'.

Pocatello, Idaho was our next stop on the drive west - where more relatives of Jean's lived. Those relatives becoming very upset when we three 'Catholic' boys wouldn't eat the steaks they had prepared for us on a Friday night. Nobody had told them we didn't eat meat on Fridays. Ben in pre-Elvis shades • 12 year old Ben • 18 year old Tom

The primary adventure taking place in Pocatello (other than my emergency) was a hike we took into the foothills near some small town, the name of which I can't remember. Tom wore his revolver in a holster strapped to his leg (just like the cowboys we'd watched on TV since 1950). We walked along a stream that had a bend with a pool where Tom and I stopped to take an al fresco swim. The pictures show ?Mike and/or me? climbing some sagebrush filled with the children of our hosts.

Although Jean's parents had sent money to have me fly from Pocatello, dad used it to pay the hospital bill, instead, and continued the drive to San Francisco - we stopping, of course, along the way in Reno and other slot machined spots in Nevada where I got to exhibit my prowess with those machines. (I've always won at slots - primarily because I never play them very much and stop playing after winning a jackpot or big payout.)

San Francisco was a delight. We stayed in dependent housing at Fort Mason, from which the infamous Alcatraz island prison could be seen in the bay. I also remember there being a 5 cent Coca Cola machine outside our rooms on a veranda-like common wooden porch. (It was a continuation of the 'cowboy' experience.)

We did get to Fisherman's Wharf but not much else about our stay in Frisco in 1955 is jogging my memory. Dad, Tom, Mike and I flew over to Hawaii on a military transport (MATS) that took 8 or more hours. Jean flew over via commerical jet.

Disillusionment with my dad and the nature of our stay motivated me to demand a return to Milwaukee within a matter of weeks of arrival in Hawaii. Mike and I came back via ship in January 1956. Such demand may have come immediately after a confrontation in which Tom punched dad and knocked him to the floor in the dining room of our house up at 1815 NaheNahe Pl, Wahiawa, Oahu, Hawaii. After that, Tom joined the Army and left the island. (I undoubtedly no longer wanted to stay around without his additional help.)
Ruben's Jaguar sports car
Barracks where 'From Here to Eternity' was filmed
Hawaiian Sunset
Wolfhounds HQ - 27th Infantry
driveway past our neighbor's lanai
Mike in our lanai (open garage)
rear yard wall of our house
rear yard of our home

The army Captain who chaperoned us on the ship back to San Francisco from Hawaii may have been surnamed Carlson. I loved the six days on that ship - Mike didn't.

Wahiawa Gulch
Ben's playground I remember seeing a spider as big as my (12 year old) fist in a giant web guarding the steep pathway down into the Gulch on my first solitary visit. I didn't bother him and he didn't bother me. There still were wild boar in this and similar gulches throughout Oahu in 1955. 'Wild' wild fruit grew everywhere. There were berries that looked like cherries and tasted like strawberries. Hollow hanging fruit that looked like apples and smelled like roses. And, of course those strangest of all - but most familiar worldwide - the pineapples.

On one of my jaunts, I met a couple of the sons of some of the pineapple plantation workers living directly across from us on the other side of the gulch. They were catching huge catfish by hand and keeping them in their watersoaked jeans - the jeans legs being tied in a knot, full of water and slung over a shoulder. We became instant friends and had several gully adventures together until their parents forbade them from playing with me.

The sidewalks adjacent to the storefronts in the town of Waihawa were wooden - as were the stores and the sliding doors that closed them up after business hours. Many of our neighbors and most of the business people on main street were of Japanese ancestry - they were still self-conscious of the distrust felt for them in the aftermath of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Many were glad to see me, a haoli (non-islander - usually White), coming around at Halloween. That was the first time I encountered Japanese candy that had an inner clear wrapper that was also edible and melted in one's mouth. That was also the last time I encountered hard rubber soled shower shoes/clogs that were made to last forever.

All in all, the 5 1/2 months spent in Hawaii at the end of 1955 and the first part 1956 were some of the most significant in my life. The song "Rock Around the Clock" (by Bill Hailley and the Comets) was an instant hit for us roller skaters on the cement slab at Schofield Barracks. I was evolving from a 'thumb sucking' 12 year old to a non-thumb sucking teenager - a decision made on my 13th birthday just before we left Hawaii for San Francisco - I just told myself, "Teenagers don't suck their thumbs", and stopped cold turkey. I discovered a lot about myself, my father, my brothers and my extended family during that hiatus in paradise. I recommend similar character building experiences to everyone.