Navy Life After the War

In summer 1953 Carl was assigned to Admiral Dyer as his Flag Secretary and reported to San Diego. Carl assisted Dyer in running the 11^th Naval District, which encompassed the San Diego area. Carl’s administrative assistant during this time was William Buhler. Buhler says that Carl was unflappable on the job and never lost his cool, even though their boss Capt Williams was quite demanding and temperamental. To relax, Carl and Bill often went to lunch in San Diego’s Old Town or at the landmark Anthony’s restaurant.

Carl and Lorraine bought a new home with a beautiful view of Point Loma. But when they found out the lot next door would soon have a house built that would block their view, they sold the house and rented a house at 3529 Jewell near Crown Point.

Mark was born in July 1954 and Carl’s assignment ended, because of a mandatory 2-year rotation. He was transferred to the shipyard in Bremerton as Superintendent of Personnel. Carl loaded up the 1953 Buick with their belongings and a crib in back for Mark and moved to Bremerton. The family spent 2 years Washington and visited a lot of the local sights.

In 1956, Carl was ordered to duty in Guam, where he oversaw personnel for Ship Repair, Navy Station and Supply Depot. On Nov 1, 1957, Carl was notified by the Secretary of the Navy that he had attained the rank of Commander, the highest rank attainable for an enlisted man.

Guam was still quite a wild place, where natives rode water buffalo on the side of the road. Lorraine enjoyed living in Guam. She loved that fact that she could play Hawaiian music on the record-player and with the view from the house, it seemed like Hawaii. The next day, she would put on Greek music and it seemed like Greece; then Italian music for the Italian Riviera.

The family home on Nimitz Hill overlooked a large wild valley that was famous at the time for occasional brush fires that would explode buried Japanese ordinance. It was also the same valley where Shoichi Yokoi, a “holdout” WWII Japanese soldier, who had been living in the wild for 26 years, was discovered in 1972. Jim actually saw Shoichi sometime in 1957. Jim was playing with some friends in the valley when they spotted Shoichi nearby; but the soldier quickly cut across a ridge and disappeared. Most of the neighborhood kids knew a Japanese holdout was out there somewhere, but no one worried about him being dangerous.

Jim attended grades 9 and 10 at the all-boys Catholic Seminary on the island. When the boys misbehaved, the priests had them cut “boonies” in the field with a machete for a couple hours. This punishment usually had the desired effect on the miscreants. Jim liked Guam except for the lack of pop music on the radio.

Like a lot of teen boys on the base, Jim tried out for the local baseball league. Carl went to the opening meeting with Jim, and since he was the senior officer present, Carl was appointed League Commissioner. Unfortunately, Jim’s baseball abilities were lacking, so he soon quit playing… but Carl was stuck with being Commissioner for the rest of the season!

In early 1958 Carl requested a transfer to San Diego. HQ was reluctant to transfer him, because he had less than a year before his retirement; but when Carl insisted, they relented. This was important to Carl, because he wanted to be settled in California – with a house, a car and Jim in school – when he retired. He knew that finding a job would be hard enough, without having to worry about getting settled.