So the story continues. Decided a few years back to live the game of LIFE just a little different. Never retiring... but semi-retiring early and enjoy the ride along the way. Four years ago we went on “summer tour” one. Marking 10 years since - 2006 - we originally took “Sunshine” to Alaska and back.. with multiple service stops along the way. 2016 - We drove up to Alaska again. This time for a little longer and in a newer vehicle. Camping along the way. All the way to Prudhoe Bay... swam in the arctic. Then down the coast on a ferry. Then drove down highway 1 and took a left at San Fran and headed home...via Houston. 2017 - Year after we went back to Italy to visit Alessio and family... and then did a driving tour of 17 countries in Europe. 2018 - Then last year we did a drive up to (through) New England and on up to Saint John Newfoundland... then back up to the arctic ocean on Hudson Bay.
2019 - This year we originally had planned to complete state number 50 with a trip to Hawaii. And then it hit me me that it would coincide with 75 year anniversary of my dad (and Cheryl’s grandfather) WWII journey. So we started saving travel points and planned an epic journey to recreate Irvins war “adventure”.
He had joined the army in April 1941. And he told the story how he tore up his countdown calendar after the word about December 7 came through. He would tell a few stories from time to time. It was sort of like in the movie Dancing With Wolves. Kevin Costner’s character would sit in the tipi, smoking the peace pipe, with the old chief. Think the quote was “lets just sit and smoke and talk awhile”... Irv would do the same.... sit in his chair out in front of the garage... would say go get us a couple of beers... and would light up his pipe and tell some war tales. Memories of that and a little research into the history of his division formed the outline of our trip.
Irvin, and most of the US forces, spent 42 and 43 training and preparing for the major offensive moves in 1944. The D day landings in Normandy and island hopping in the Pacific. Irvin boarded a transport ship in New Orleans and started his journey on New Year’s Day 1944... 75 years ago. The ship headed down through the Panama Canal.
We did start in the same place where Irvin started — he enlisted in Indianapolis Camp Atterbury. But we flew to Atlanta and then on to Panama... versus a train to Hattiesburg, MS for 3 years basic trading and then down to New Orleans. Stop 1 will be a few days in Panama — boat travel through locks on Pacific side... and then next day train ride across the isthmus to the locks on Atlantic side. The full transit trips were all booked... so close enough.
We will return to Indy, drive back to Kyana for a the weekend...wedding, some Molly Hatchet, etc. Then back to Indy, over to watch Max defend his thesis as his final step in his journey to being “Dr. Max”, and then we fly to Oakland to a catch a plane later in day to Hawaii — Irvin’s first island... Oahu. He landed there in January 1944 and stayed through June. We will spend 10 days there , and other islands, 75 years after he did.
Our journey will take us back to San Fran to change airlines. Then to shanghai and then Manila.
Irvin left Hawaii for New Guinea... Cheryl vetoed that part of our trip... sort of hard to get to... and sort of risky she thought.
He spent late June through early December there... and then boarded another transport ship for beach invasion on Leyte in the Philippines. A few weeks after the famous Macathur returns beach landing... that will be our 2nd island. Then we will visit the Luzon island area to revisit Irvins battles there .. specifically ZigZag Pass where he was injured in February 1945.
We will then make our final island hop to Japan. Irvin was part of the 38th infantry and that division was queued up as part of the second wave to land near Tokyo. We will pay homage to Peace at Hiroshima and Nagasaki as well as tour Tokyo. And then head home...
Cheryl’s wisdom had us use travel agent for Panama and the Philippines. We will do our normal “wing it” summer tour methods for Hawaii and Japan.... stay tuned... Cheryl will tell the rest of their story one day at a time in her normal blog style...
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