Carl Hughes and the 581st Signal Radio Relay Company - Page 2

On the Train

We left Gordon on a troop train. For a nineteen year old wet-behind-the ears, it was exciting. The post band played for us as the train left for California. Another memorable event was the train stopping late at night in Lima, Ohio and the Methodist Church ladies serving coffee at the train stop. I always wanted to go back and thank them, but it's too late now. Another revelation for me was how big America is. Imagine traveling all day in Texas going to sleep and waking up the next day and you were still in Texas! The immensity of the salt flats in Utah, was impressive and there stops in the middle of nowhere for water because this was a steam powered locomotive. Maybe you would see a sod house in the middle of no where and wonder who used it.

The Train Trip

The isolation seemed more intense because there was no town before or after the water stop. When we got to the Feather River area in the Sierra Nevada Mountains you could see trees that were perfectly straight and unbelievably tall. If that wasn't enough there would be perfectly straight stone channels carved in the side of the mountain. Another soldier from the area explained how water escaping from the top of the mountain had carved the channels.His name was Dumas.I was impressed by it all. I wrote my parents and told them that they should go just for the train ride and the scenery. That was another time.

My parents never did get to enjoy a trip like this. What a thrill this was for a city boy who had never seen trees that tall or mountains that high! Until then, I thought that going South was traveling, and now the Rockies and the Sierra Nevada, Mountains! Wow!

Off to Korea

We finally arrived at Camp Stoneman, California and were only there for a day or two and then put on a ferry and taken to Oakland Army Pier where we boarded the General Mann, a four stacker for our trip to Yokohama, Japan. It was an uneventful four or five day journey. All of the GI'S, upon meeting a Japanese person, would immediately assume that if you put an "e" on the end of every word they would immediately understand English. An example is "youee speakee melican." Oh brother, then they learned "how muchee."