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STORIES Kenneth Anderson
| Charles W. Hackett, Spring 1944. Place North Island, San Diego, Cal. The USS Franklin, Aircraft Carrier on its maiden voyage was being loaded with planes and passengers. Two hundred airplanes and 2,000 passengers. Many of us were waiting to board, sitting or lying in the grass or along the pier area. Typical Navy, early 5:00 a.m., dress whites, now near noon. A young naval officer arrives on a grey Cushman Motor Scooter opposite side of the street and enters the administration building. A young sailor quickly crosses the street and returns with the scooter and lifted into the back radio compartment of a torpedo bomber, TBF/M Avenger. The crane operator quickly places the plane upon the flight deck. Time, less than two minutes. The young naval officer exits the building and not seeing his motor scooter asked a number of those nearby if they saw who took his Cushman. No one had. The whereabouts of the scooter remain a mystery today. |