Most people don’t know that I have a twin brother, Billy. Mom took the picture of us above. We were with the 1941 Chevrolet that I had bought in San Francisco with brother-in-law, Bill Raney’s, help. We went to school’s in Live Oak and, when I decided to go to Yuba Junior College, he went to Shasta Junior College in Redding. He was more athletic than me and was on their football team. I was more of a tennis player which I was pretty good at.
When the Korean War broke, we were both drafted. I had basic training at Fort Ord while he was sent to Camp Roberts at San Luis Obispo. I was sent to Okinawa where I was put into the Military Police and later, into the Ryukyus Island Command Headquarters Company. There, I was sent to Japan to go to Supply Specialist School at the former Japanese Naval Academy on Eta Jima Island. Three times, while there, I took the ferry boat to Hiroshima. The building that was just under the atomic bomb blast was left as a memorial to the devastation it caused. I also had a chance, on the way back to Okinawa, to wander around Tokyo and take pictures of the Imperial Palace and other landmarks.
Billy was sent to Germany and was in an artillery unit in Bavaria. He got married to very pretty German girl and they had a boy and a girl. They lived near Munich for awhile before he got out of the Army and returned home.
They decided to live in Canada and seemed to like the area around Quebec. We would call each other once in awhile and later, send Christmas and birthday cards. I haven’t heard from him for awhile but heard that they had moved back to the U.S. in the Buffalo area. I hope that sometime, we will get back together.
