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which we did. I discovered Mai Tais and had more than my share the couple of nights we were there.
Everybody spread out — but we would run into each other here and there , often ending up with six or seven of us at the
same table in one of the restaurants. Our troops did the same thing—hung out in groups but mostly returned to the ship in the late evening. The two and a half day R & R ended and we were back aboard
Kozak
the USS Pickaway minus a couple of troops that didn’t make it back in time for sailing—they would be brought along soon to join up again with their unit—minus a stripe or two! The USS Pickaway got underway again and this time—as we were leaving Pearl Harbor, Col. Utter ordered all troops to the fantail of the ship and spoke to us via a loud speaker. He talked about our mission and complimented everyone for their readiness to defend our Country and then took a moment to point out the Island of Hawaii and he made a sobering comment when he said—“ take a good look—for many of you this will be the last time you see the United States of America”! Looking back—of course his words were prophetic—many of our Marines did not come back —and the first two in that category happened to be two of my Marines who died approximately one month later by friendly fire. As far as we knew at this time we were simply headed to
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