Grandpa Bill and Black Beauty Travel: Oct. 15, 2012, Update From Baldwin, N. Y.

While at Baldwin, Long Island, New York Joyce ( my daughter ) took me around the area to see a few places and see how much they have changed. Wow, nearly all of them have changed so much I did not recognize them. When we lived here we lived in government quarters which were controlled by the U. S. Navy. These quarters are located in Garden City, New York a beautiful town and a very well off financially. When we came back from Japan the second time we flew into San Fransisco in the late spring or early summer and picked up our car. I placed Jan and the girls in a motel while I flew to New York City to sign for the quarters. The housing authority had a 4 bedroom house on permanent allocation for the Commander of the local Air Force Office of Investigation ( Detachment 205 ) regardless of what his bedroom requirement was. This was my new command. The catch was that you had to be physically present to sign for the quarters. This meant I had to sign into my unit, sign for the quarters then sign back out on leave. My commander was not pleased with that. I signed for the quarters, went through them and made a rough sketch of the floor plan to show Jan. I flew back to California got Jan and the girls and headed to our home in Arkansas for leave. The sad point of this trip was that we left our oldest daughter, Janice, at the University of Arkansas to enroll as a freshman. That was a traumatic experience for all of us. Then on to New York.

These quarters were old brick houses that dated back many, many years and built by the U. S. Army when this was known as Mitchel Field an Army Air Corp facility. These were one of the most pleasant places we ever lived. One interesting thing was that some of the quarters had very old dish washing machines in them. If they worked fine if not the Navy would not replace them but would take them out for you. Ours worked. I was always on the watch for old machines that had been put out by the curb. I would go by and take all the parts off them and use them to keep our machine running. I can't prove it but I bet we had the only working machine left in the housing area at the time we transferred to Kansas City. In fact at this time the grind stone I have in my basement workshop is powered by one of those motors. There are many more stories about this time I will comment on at a later time.
That's it for this time. I love you.

Grandpa Bill