War and Separation, 1943-5

The War loomed large upon the people like Al and Winnie. Al knew he could be drafted eventually. When the war had started, the draft had excluded those who were married, but as the conflict wore on, the need for more troops caused the policy to change. Now even those men were subject to the call. Al realized he would have to go sometime.

As 1943 came around, his name came up and the Draft Board issued him his letter. He was to report. Winnie took it very hard. Notes and letters from the two of them show she was not bearing up to the pending separation well. The two of them had become inseparable. Al continued as always to maintain a public calm acceptance of what was to be. Privately, he was stressed over leaving his bride alone. They decided to have Winnie's sister, Jean, move in with her while he was gone to keep her company.

He wrote often, as often as allowed. She traveled to visit him while he was state-side, first in Virginia, then in New York. Once his training was done, he was shipped to the West Coast. Al had been trained as a code breaker in the Army. When he arrived in Los Angeles, he discovered he was to be made sergeant and given field command of a unit of code breakers. They were then assigned to a Navy ship sitting sail for the South Pacific.

They arrived in the Solomon Islands at the end of the lengthy Guadalcanal campaign (November 1942 - November 1943). From there, attached to the admiral's fleet, they began the island hopping toward Japan. During the campaign they were bombed, gunned, and, even once, had the ship hit by a kamikaze pilot. Fortunately in that case, the pilot struck just above the waterline and the ship's captain was able to direct the ship to port safely with a hole, and plane, in it.

At the close of the War, the fleet found itself in port, in Shanghai. The Navy had issued orders for it to stay as a force of temporary occupation. However, the Army unit was under no such orders. So Al and his men, lacking any orders, proceeded to sell and give away all Army issued goods they had to Nay officers to bribe their way onto a ship heading stateside. As they sailed toward California and away from the China docks, they watched Naval personnel carefully repainting Army jeeps, file cabinets, desks, and other goods from a dull green to a more appropriate blue.

Arriving in California at the San Diego base, they discovered chaos. Thousands of sailors and soldiers were there being decommissioned and sent home. The problems for this small unit was, in their haste and, perhaps improper departure, they overlooked the fact that they had no papers. The ranking authorities on base in San Diego were not inclined to overlook this. For several days they were detained. It looked like they might face a court-martial. After several days though, the deluge of men being processed was simply too much for the base to handle. The unit was given their discharge papers and told to leave. However, they were not given passage home. They each had to find their own way back to their homes.

Throughout the two years Al was in the Pacific serving in the Army, Winnie continued to work at Lufkin Rule. Winnie and Jean stayed in the apartment on 12th Street and Winnie wrote Al nearly every day. Virtually none of those letters survived the war. Though the two of them were always deeply in love, they were not sentimental people and the keeping of letters or mementos rarely occurred to them.

The separation did make Winnie a stronger individual and taught her independence. during this time she found she could support herself and was capable of good decision-making. The dominance of her mother and older sibling had, at last, been shook off.

The initial joy of being together again for this couple must have been incredible, as it should have been. Those who knew them, knew how much they meant to each other. any separation had to have been terrible for them. they quickly settled into life again on 12th Street. Jean continued to live with them. Al found work as an accountant. He hated it. Winnie lost her job with Lufkin Rule. It was given to a returning veteran.