It is so very good if you have had periods in your life that you can recall as times of great happiness.  A time never to be forgotten. One such time in my life was when I returned from Korea in 1954. 

I left Pusan, Korea, by ship on August 30, 1954, my birthday.  What a wonderful birthday gift!  I was going home!  The troopship made a brief stop at Sasebo harbor, Japan, and then we were on the broad Pacific.  Sixteen days later I debarked in Seattle, Washington, and early the following morning I was on a chartered military flight bound for Fort Jackson, South Carolina.

The Troopship Arrives in Seattle

The plane made a refueling stop at Grand Island, Nebraska, and there I had the best breakfast that I had in two years.  Fresh eggs!  It was delicious.

I was discharged from the army on September 17^th and boarded a bus for Wilmington, North Carolina.  There my wife and father met me at the bus station.  What incredible joy it was to see them again.  I had left them in February, 2003, nineteen months before.  Now I had a ten month old son whom I had never seen.  We drove to the beach, and there I was reunited with my mother and met my little boy.  He was absolutely beautiful – just like his mother.  Can you imagine my happiness?

And those memorable days were only just beginning.  I will continue the story in a future post.

The Girl I Left Behind

Our Baby Boy