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Mary,
Mary, Once of Perry
by Toney Urban
Unbelievable,
but true stories connected to Perry, Texas (Falls County)
Previous
Page
Story
Three: Mary and the Typhoon |
When I passed my 17th birthday, I decided to join the Navy. My folks had to sign
for me as I was not yet 18. For me to be in the military and so far away from
home was a very big thing, especially for my Mother who always wrote me more than
once a week. After several months I wrote my Mother one letter telling her about
my getting ready to go overseas (to Hawaii). This was an extremely big event,
especially as my Mother saw it.
The farthest any of us had traveled before
was always within a 30 or 40 mile radius around Tokio. (Other than one trip to
Galveston for my 'ear cure, which is another "unbelievable" story for another
time.) After my Mother told my Dad about my upcoming overseas orders, my Dad spoke
to 'Mary' on his next visit. She told him, "no, he will not go to Hawaii that
day, a storm will prevent this and he will go sometime later". Mother's next letter
related this to me. I mentioned this to several of my bunkmates (Elton Earl Tipton
of Houston, Frank Petty and Bud Fuller who were also from Texas, I believe.) But
rather than let them know about 'Mary' I told them I knew some 'high brass' that
had told me we would not go to Hawaii on that day.
They laughed. And they
laughed a lot more the morning we were packing up to go to Hawaii at about 4:00
AM. And they laughed again as our squadron was boarding the 12 planes. As we were
approaching the 'point of no return', (that is the halfway distance between the
mainland and Hawaii), I (as a Radioman) received the urgent message to abort our
trip and return immediately. I notified the Pilot, who had me reconfirm the message
because no other Radioman had received the same message. After confirmation, he
reluctantly gave the order to the other planes and we all returned to base in
Alameda, California.
You can not imagine the expression on those 5 or
6 buddies of mine as we arrived back in Alameda. None of us knew why we had returned,
and they all suspected that I had made up the radio message, especially since
I was the only Radioman who had received it.
It wasn't until later that
day we were told a huge storm near Hawaii caused the return. We finally made the
trip about 6 weeks later.
I will not bore you further with more 'Mary'
stories at this time, but I assure you there are many more. I wrote these in an
attempt to find others that may have known Mary. If you too had a 'Mary' exposure,
please send
me a note and tell me yours.
© Toney Urban from Tokio, Texas
(Wiggins, Texas now) | | |
