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Life aboard ship
The ‘cruise’ to Hawaii lasted approx. three weeks ( mid June ) and we gathered on deck as the Capt. announced that we were entering Pearl Harbor. You could hear a pin drop as we sailed slowly past the USS Arizona Memorial. Our Marines knew the history of Pearl Harbor and the horrific scenes that occurred there in 1942. With each passing day—as we sailed further and further away from home the realization of where we were going loomed larger and larger in our thoughts—seeing first hand where so many of our brothers had died in defense of our Country only added to those thoughts. The command of BLT 2/7 announced that we would have a 36 hour leave to go ashore in Hawaii—our troops were excited of course and we spent the next couple of days sampling good food and drink—beautiful sites and enjoying relaxation on the beaches and beside the pools. We basically wore our khaki ‘class C’ uniforms with the garrison cap and short sleeve shirts because we didn’t have access to our civilian clothes and the uniforms drew a lot of welcome attention from the folks in Hawaii. Three of us rented a car and went on site seeing tours of the Island—ending up at our new favorite bar and restaurant. The Hotel where we checked in treated us very well—they gave us the Bridal Suite for the regular price of a two bedroom suite— It was wonderful—plenty of space and really thick towels! We didn’t spend much time in the suite however, we wanted to eat, drink and be merry—in that order—
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