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Instead of coming home right away, though, Basil was sent to Kyushu Island of Japan for occupation duty. He had more than enough points to come home, but they said they needed his expertise.
Roy Mack shipped out a couple of weeks after Basil left. He wound up in Sasebo, Japan, and he and Basil got together there. (He and Crystal are still very dear friends of ours -- we visit back and forth frequently.) Crystal prepared to go home to Ft. Worth. I wanted her to stay, but her baby girl, Judy, was in Ft. Worth with her folks, and there was no holding Crystal any longer.
(Postscript....Our very dear friend, Roy Mack passed away December, 2000 and left a big hole in our lives.)
The Marine Corps moved the twins and me from Oceanside to
Frontier Homes in San Diego. -- Marine Corps housing was only for
families of marines stationed there. The housing officer made
all the arrangements and, even though they were not supposed to
move anyone with a lower rate than sergeant, he sent three
marines with a truck to move the boys and me to San Diego in
August.
In September, Dorine's husband, R.D., was discharged from the Navy. They came down and stayed a while with me -- bound and determined to go back to Texas. I didn't believe they would be happy there, and urged them to stay in San Diego -- to no avail. They went back and Dorine got pregnant. In order to save the baby, she had to spend the whole nine months in bed. Mickey was less than three months old when they came back to San Diego -- to stay.
Somewhere in there, the housing people found a 2-bedroom unit for me and moved us. The grocery was across the street. When Ronnie and Donnie went down for their afternoon nap, I would lock them in and go buy our groceries. I had no choice -- I couldn't take the two of them with me. I bought 120 jars of baby food per month, and Pet milk by the case. Our entire income was $100 per month--the allotment for a wife was $50, $30 for the first child and $20 for each additional child. Making ends meet was a problem.
I decided to get a job. Beulah Summers, my neighbor across the hall, offered to keep the twins for me, so I went looking for work. I found a job as a photographer at one of the amusement centers on Broadway. It seemed ideal. I would work evening hours--when servicemen were likely to be in town--and would be home with the babies during the day. The pay was not that great but it, plus our allotment, was enough to keep our bills paid. An older couple owned the place and were nice to work for. The people I worked with were all nice, too,mostly service wives. I felt so sorry for one girl,her last name was Smith and we called her Smitty. Her husband was a submariner and his sub just disappeared. Smitty never knew what happened to her husband.
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