I went to the 11th Naval District guard station (you could not go to the waterfront during the war) and asked if his outfit had been aboard that ship. All the guard would tell me was that some marines got off the ship and were loaded onto trucks -- security was still very tight in San Diego, even though the war had been over for months.

I took a bus back home and called Georgia Duff, my next-door neighbor in Oceanside. I told her I just knew Basil was on that ship! She told me to dress the babies and she would be down to pick us up. In the meantime, she called her husband, Gordon, an MP, and he confirmed that Basil's outfit had indeed come in that day!

Gordon and Georgia Duff '45

Georgia picked us up and it was dark by the time we got to Oceanside. Gordon got in the car with us and took us out to where Basil was quarantined. He went in the barracks and brought Basil out. We were together again.... Only an MP could have done what Gordon did.

The next day, Basil was given leave until after Christmas. On January 1, 1946, he was discharged with the words, "Remember -- once a Marine, always a Marine!"

Our war was over.

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