California Dreaming Part 3: Midway and Oceanside
Seams Like a Story is taking a break from sewing to go on some summer adventures. My “California Dreaming” series features three posts from a recent trip to Southern California. Post one featured the Pacific Ocean.http://seamslikeastory.com/the-pacific-ocean/ Our second stop was Balboa Park in San Diego. http://seamslikeastory.com/balboa-park/
In the final “California Dreaming” post, we visit the Midway Battleship Museum in San Diego, and Oceanside, California.
Battleships in the “Peaceful Sea”
San Diego is the site of an active Naval Base. We saw several ships docked in the bay and sailors in crisp white dress uniforms enjoying time with friends and family members while on leave in town. San Diego is also home to the Midway Battle Ship Museum where we spent an interesting morning.
The navy commissioned this massive aircraft carrier in 1945, eight days after WWII ended, and named it for the climactic battle of Midway. Though it was not part of that mission, it saw action in the Vietnam War, Persian Gulf, and Desert Storm. Decommissioned in 1992, it now serves as a museum.
The ocean Magellan named Mar Pacifico (Peaceful Sea) has wartime ties. Just up the coast in Oceanside is a Marine base that has personal significance for my husband.
Oceanside: In Search of a Birthplace
According to Ed’s birth certificate, he was born in Oceanside, California, in the Naval hospital at Camp Pendleton. He has no memories of Oceanside as he only lived there a few months, but it has always been a source of pride for him, something that sets him apart from the rest of his Indiana family. He’d always wanted to visit Oceanside. How he arrived into the world in this place is an interesting story…
A Wartime Love Story
The year was 1952. Ed’s dad, Warren, had recently graduated from high school and was contemplating attending college when he received his draft notice for the Korean War. Off he went to boot camp in San Diego, leaving his family and his high school sweetheart Norma Jean behind. She’d wait for him, she said. But as basic training ended and the possibility of deployment loomed, the couple decided they wanted to be together. Back in Indiana for a short leave, Warren proposed and the young couple went to see Norma’s parents. Norma was 17, a senior in high school. They would need a parent’s signature. They were certain her parents would not approve.
In a recent conversation with my mother-in-law, she related the scene: Her parents had just retired for the night when they heard Warren’s car pull up in front of their farmhouse.
“Now, here they come…you know what they’re coming for and I’m not going to do the talking,” her mother said.
In the end, her parents agreed, but made Norma promise to complete her high school education. She kept her promise by taking correspondence courses to obtain her GED.
The couple was married in a simple ceremony at the home of Norma’s sister. Warren dressed in his Marine uniform, Norma in a new turquoise dress. A few days later, they headed to California and lived on base at Camp Pendleton. The young couple had never been outside of their small community in southern Indiana. When Warren wasn’t on duty, they enjoyed visits to the big city of San Diego. They relied on each other and learned to do things on their own. Norma did laundry for the soldiers to make extra money. Her ironing skills were legendary. The uniforms Norma laundered and pressed to perfection always passed inspection with flying colors.
Baby on the way
When Norma became pregnant, they moved off base to a small apartment, sharing a bathroom and laundry facilities with another military couple who were also expecting. Nineteen years old and far from her family, Norma shared her pregnancy experience with her next-door neighbor. When her labor pains started, Warren drove his wife to the hospital, then went home to sleep. Seeing nothing wrong with his behavior, it surprised him to find an angry wife and eight-hour-old son at the hospital the next morning. Though not funny at the time, it was a story Norma loved to tell at family gatherings.
A Love that stood the test of time
The Marines sent Warren to San Diego three times for deployment to Korea. Each time they called his unit back. When he finished his two-year tenure with the Marines at Camp Pendleton, the young family moved back to Indiana where a daughter was born three years later. Their marriage, hastened by war, lasted a lifetime. Warren and Norma celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary before Warren’s death in 2013.
Birthplace
I’m not sure what Ed was expecting to experience when we visited Oceanside. It was a beautiful drive up the coast from San Diego. The city of Oceanside was nothing remarkable. We came close to the gates Camp Pendleton, the Naval hospital just out of sight, but we couldn’t get in. The “visual storyteller” in me had hoped for a picture of Ed by the sign, but the best we could do was a couple of blurry snapshots from the car window as we drove by. Ed rarely shares emotions. He was quiet on the way back to San Diego. Perhaps he was thinking of his parents as a young couple and the experiences they must have had far from home. Maybe he felt a connection to his birthplace, the beginnings of his personal story. The visit doesn’t change anything, really.
But then again, maybe it does.
California Dreaming
It had been a wonderful five days in San Diego, our first excursion since the world opened up again. The ocean, Balboa Park, Midway, Oceanside and a birthplace visitation. Cherishing old friends. Creating new memories.
Threads of thought:
Have you ventured back out into the world yet? If so where have you been?
Where were you born? Is there a story ?