Construction on the Pentagon commenced on Sept 11, 1941. An average of 4,000 men labored on the building in 3 shifts round the clock. One section was completed by the end of April 1942 and the first tenants moved in. The building was completed on Jan 15, 1943. The Pentagon was the largest office building in the country at that time, covering 29 acres and housing 17 miles of corridors. Design and construction of such a building would normally have taken four years, but the Army Corps of Engineers took only 16 months. Carl worked in the same area of the Pentagon that was struck 50 years later in the Sept 11 terrorist attacks.
After saving money for years, in Feb 1951, Carl & Lorraine finally bought their first home; a row house on Mt Vernon Ave in Alexandria, VA. Unfortunately, they had to immediately sell it, because Carl was ordered to rotate out of the office. Carl went to his friends in Personnel to see if they could help him. They had 2 possibilities: an assignment in Alaska or re-commission the battleship Iowa out of San Francisco. Since California would be easier on the family, Carl took the Iowa assignment.
Carl took the train out to San Francisco and reported for duty. Lorraine and Jim stayed in St. Paul until Carl got situated with an apartment in San Bruno. Carl was the Chief of Staff for the Captain on the Iowa. It was quite a job because he was responsible for welding a disparate group of men into a well-honed team.
Eventually the ship was reassigned from San Francisco to Long Beach. Carl moved the family down to Long Beach and eventually bought a house in the 3600 block of Gardenia. In Feb 1952, the orders came through for Carl to sail to Korea.
After Korea's liberation from Japanese occupation at the end of WWII, the US and Soviet Union each sought post-war influence in Korea. To administer the surrender of Japanese troops in Korea, American and Soviet negotiators hastily agreed, in August 1945, to an administrative division of Korea at the 38th parallel. As tensions between the two superpowers intensified, this hardened into a political division of the peninsula. In June 1950, North Korea invaded the South. The UN voted to denounce the hostilities and demanded a withdrawal. In July, President Truman ordered US air and sea forces to give the South Korean troops cover and support.
The Iowa’s mission was to man the bomb-line along the Korean coast between Inchon and North Korea. Carl spent many hours on the bridge, with the temperature near zero and the windows wide-open (in case an explosion shattered them). Carl describes this time as one of the worst periods of his life. He was away from his new family and since it was wartime, he wasn’t sure when he would see them again. But soon a stroke of luck occurred.
While patrolling the Korean coast, Carl saw an admiral’s vessel approaching. He instructed the yeoman to render the proper honors. The visitor was Admiral Dyer, visiting the Iowa’s Capt Smedburg. After boarding, Dyer recognized Carl and came over to talk to him. It was a fortuitous meeting, because Dyer needed a flag secretary back in San Diego.
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