Leaving Japan

At 1 a.m. on August 4, 1964, Dottie and I left Japan—me to college; Dottie to stay with our grandmother.  I was accepted to The College of Ozarks (C of O) in Arkansas.  I wanted to get a degree so I could teach elementary school.  We flew to Tokyo with a stopover at Osaka.  We had a long taxi ride to Tachikawa AFB.  I remember the sun beginning to come up while we were in the taxi.  We arrived at the airport terminal around 5 a.m.  We were on standby for a flight to Travis AFB.  There was a flight soon after we arrived, but all the seats were filled.  We spent that night in transit quarters.  On the morning of August 6, we finally got a flight out with a stopover at Haneda Tokyo International Airport and Anchorage, Alaska.  From Travis AFB, we took a bus to San Francisco to Riverside, where we stay with our friend Mary from when we lived in California less than a year earlier.  We stayed there several days, and then took another bus to our grandmother’s place in Texas.

On September 4, I again took a bus, this time to C of O.  I was about to embark on the most carefree time of my life.  For the first time in my life, I could go out whenever and wherever I wanted without asking permission.  Of course, there were dorm rules and I didn’t have very much money, but I was free!  Oh, I did have to study.