Page 72 - Stand Down Vietnam

After New Orleans, I was sent to Hawaii. I was nearing
retirement eligibility. I had job offers for civilian
work in Texas. Jean did not want to go to Texas, so we
went to Hawaii and I did not retire.

My job in Hawaii was very much like all my other jobs.
I became the Operations Chief for the Station. It was
nice because Hawaii was a state, I got to take my wife

and family with me. Normally, the Marine Corps does
not allow the family to go on an overseas tour with
you.

When we first arrived in Hawaii, we stayed at the Hale
Koa Hotel, which means House of the Warrior in
Hawaiian. It is an Armed Forces Recreation Center
(AFRC) resort hotel located on Waikiki Beach and owned
by the United States Department of Defense. I got to
watch the hula dancers and starting liking Hawaii
pretty good. I learned to Hula dance and six months
later I was an E9!

I worked with kids while in Hawaii. Our General had a
Boy Scout Troop; he was the Troop Leader. He was
fixin’ to leave and knew I had experience with the
Scouts and wanted me to take over his Troop.

I did a lot of camping with the scouts in Hawaii. We
had to build our fires above ground; grass is a premium

over there, so fires are dangerous. We also had a lot
of ants all over the place. I worked with that Boy
Scout Troop for the entire three-year tour in Hawaii.
I also started a baseball team in Japan. I also did
baseball while stationed in Washington, D.C., too. The
first adults to show up with their kids were used as
assistant coaches. The team in Japan took the
International Championship for all overseas teams.