It was one of the saddest days of my life, and I can still visualize that moment 68 years ago. My plea for a leave had been rejected again. "You can't make it there and back in six days, and I can't let you have a 12-day leave," :Lt. Patchel, the division officer said. I said let me have six days and worry about making it home and back.
The USS Pickens was in San Francisco taking on the Blackhawk Division and preparing to invade Japan.
I wasn't worried about the danger although we expected 50 per cent navy casualties. I had never had a leave since entering the navy -- no leave after boot camp; no leave after radar school, and of course no leave was possible during our 11 months in the South Pacific
Japan surrounded a few days after this. Though I served for several months more, my record is clean; I never got a leave.
The USS Pickens was in San Francisco taking on the Blackhawk Division and preparing to invade Japan.
I wasn't worried about the danger although we expected 50 per cent navy casualties. I had never had a leave since entering the navy -- no leave after boot camp; no leave after radar school, and of course no leave was possible during our 11 months in the South Pacific
Japan surrounded a few days after this. Though I served for several months more, my record is clean; I never got a leave.
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