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Show CORA LEE JOHNSON MARCH 6, 2002 (laughs)." So that was his little funny thing. I thought about that and he'd probably been a seaman since he was a young boy. When I left the base, we went up to San Pedro to be mustered out. I had to go to each one of the departments and they signed me out and Mr. Cannon said, Lieutenant Cannon said, "Cora Lee, I wish we gave medals; I'd give you one." But you didn't get really-but I had quite a thing happen, it was quite a thing. There was a girl, her name was Kathy Anderson. She was back in the Midwest someplace. And she worked, she got acquainted-oh, by the way, Rudy Vallee later became attached to this base in San Diego because he was doing a lot of work around like that and he had his crew there and he asked Kathy Anderson if she'd like to go out and be with them that evening. She told him that she couldn't go because she didn't have liberty. He said, "They won't catch you." She left. But she had done several little things that they were watching her. And that's the thing in the service-! don't know whether you realize this or not-they can't say anything like this to you: "If you do that again, I'll tell you again not to do that again." If you do that you're punished right on the spot because they don't have time. You set that mattress on fire and you were told not to smoke in bed. You could destroy a barracks. They are punished then. They don't say, "Oh, I'll watch after you." And I know Frank's told me that himself. In the service-Frank told me this- he said in the service, one Coast Guardsman was never allowed to sit on another Coast Guardsman bunk, even to have a conversation. They were that strict. Now I'm not saying all branches are the same, but I know we were under strict regulations. I tell you, I was really na!ve. My post office opened right down below a sick bay. Now our sick bay officers were officers that had been pharmacists at home, but they were the doctors there because- and I used to on Monday morning a lot of times, I'd walk down there, goll, 43 |
