We continued past Shirley’s apartment house and I thought we would debark in Fort Hamilton about 3 miles north of her. That’s where we boarded the ship that transported our Engineering outfit to North Africa, 3 yrs ago. I imagined that I would leave camp and surprise her. But to my dismay, the ship passed the Fort and continued it’s upward journey.
As I recall the day, we had come on deck after having breakfast and the fleet of ships was splitting apart. Some went towards New Jersey and others to Camp Kilmer and Staten Island Our deck was jammed with GIs, all excited as we were being tug-boated through the entrance to the New York Ports.
Although several other GI returnees lived in and around New York City, the majority never visited it. So,as I was loudly pointing out the sites a large group formed around to hear me exclaim ” There’s the bike path we , Shirley and I rode on” “,there’s the Belt Parkway” ,” we are now passing the 69th St. Ferry pier that goes to Staten Island”. We then approached Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. This created a mob scene of GIs crowding towards the left side of the ship. It was a great sight to see and even I got a thrill at the sight of it.
As we contimued up river , I thought we would debark on the N.Y. Piers in the 50’s, but this did not happen. I wondered “Where are we going?”. I surmised to my audience. By this time, we settled down to a slow cruise up river towards the Bronx and further North. We also passed Washington Heights, where my brother and family lived. After we sailed under the G.W. Bridge, I ran out of sights and shut down my sight-seeing dialogue.
We sailed slowly upstream. The Hudson River and the surrounding mountains on both sides were really beautiful to see. But we were all weary from the long voyage and anxious to set foot on firm ground. Finally we stopped and prepared to land. I learned that it was in Camp Shanks, a newly built facility for the purpose of handling troop movements to Europe and for our return. ( If you are interested, Google Camp Shanks). We arrived in time to settle in barracks, shower and have dinner. I got off and inquired about making a phone call and how to travel to New York City from Orangeburg, this town we docked in.
Just recalling it now, the entire scene is making my heart flutter. I dialed Long distance and recalled the phone number ESplanade 2 2604. I called collect and Shirley accepted the call. So I knew we were okay. She was expecting a call. She had read about my arrival in the newspaper. We made a date for the next day, to meet in Manhattan at Penn Station.
