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pg. 7

It began to get rather chilly standing there in the open truck and we suggested to the driver he get us to where we were supposed to report.

We arrived at Hamilton Field late that afternoon and bedded down there for the night. Never saw so many C-54's in one field in all my life.

The next day we learned that the procedure for leaving the states had been changed and Hamilton Field was not longer a point of exit.

We were driven to Fairfield-Suisan air base halfway between Sacremento and San Francisco and learned that our destination was Ricken Field, Oahu, Territory of the Hawaiian Islands. We couldn't understand why we were going THERE. Fred Clarke, who had served a hitch at Hickman Field during peacetime said the weather there is seldom very bad and added that the nights are usually so clear that planes could land without benefit of lights. That was Jan. 4th. 

In spite of no. 2 priority we had to await our turn at getting a ride to Hickam Field. Many flights were held up because of bad weather at Fairfield. Every morning and afternoon there would be a meeting at the operations building at which the list of people leaving that day would be announced. Among those present were several war correspondents and a whole bagful of high Brass.

Finally on the afternoon of Jan. 6th we took of in a C-87, a converted B-24 Liberator bomber. As each men boarded the plane he was handled a sealed envelope