Page 85 - Stand Down Vietnam

I enjoyed Hawaii. I remember the ocean waves were
higher than our house. Our first weekend there, I
wanted to drive through the pineapple fields and see
the ocean. Our seventeen-year-old wanted to go to an
event in a small village. We went to the ocean.

That night we learned that Elvis and his group of
people had been in that village signing autographs and

all that stuff.

As always, I got involved too. They found out that I
had been a Girl Scout Leader. I became the Service
Unit Coordinator for the three years we were there. I
also joined the Marine Corps Wives Club and was the
tour planner. One of the most memorable tours was when
went to the Palace and met the Governor of Hawaii.

I liked everything about the tour in Hawaii except for
the distance from home. My father died while we were
there, so that was the least fond memory. I returned
home and stayed for a month with my mother. It was the
hardest winter of my life. My father dies at age sixty
of a massive heart attack.

Many of our friends seemed to follow us wherever we
were stationed. Several from New Orleans also were
stationed in Hawaii with us.

Our oldest child, Teresa had a much harder time with
her dad being in Vietnam. She was a teenager at that
time. He went over to Vietnam as one person and came
back a totally different person. She never did learn
how to deal with that. Teresa had fond memories of New
Orleans. She graduated from high school there; she
still has friends that live there.