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Some of the married officers chose to drive down and join the Companies of 2/7 there at the loading dock. Lt. Jack Archer A close friend whom I had been with since OCS and Basic School also lived at the Pine Ave. apts. with his wife Vicki. He was driving down in the early dawn along with his Father who was visiting that week—Jack invited me to ride along and saved me having to make other arrangements to get there. Kay , Kimberly and I spent the evening talking and preparing for the moment when Jack would toot the horn. Finally, the toot came and it was time—the roughest night of my life—saying goodbye to Kay and our six week old Kimmie—maybe forever. We stood in the parking lot of the Pine Ave. Apts. next to Jack’s idling VW beetle and hugged one more time with tears all around. I held little Kimmie up close to my face and placed her little cheek next to mine and it was a feeling I knew would stay with me the rest of my life— the hardest thing I had to do that night was to leave my little family standing in that parking lot. I’m sure the same scene was being repeated elsewhere around Camp Pendleton. I got in the beetle and Jack’s Father drove us to San Diego— The USS Pickaway and to the Viet Nam War.
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