By Don
I did pick up one girl and one dog in BDA. First the girl. One night Fred Easter said let's hit the Elbow Beach Hotel and see what the crop is. We arrive and go to the Patio Bar to talk to the social director Bill who once a night tells everyone to turn to their right and say “hi” as an ice breaker. We finally got to talk to Bill.
Don, 1957
But Bill Allan told us they were all dogs. I told you this was a dog story. Then he introduced us to two girls. After some conversation, they said they were going to eat upstairs. Fred and I went upstairs after a while and drank a few until they came out of the dining room. We invited them to go with us to a restaurant. They seemed good with that and we departed in my VW. Half a block away, I slid on some sand and my right rear fender hit a wall, pushing the fender in and it acted like a tire iron. The tire came loose from the rim and went flat. My date was to have been June who was in the front seat with me. No seat belts, so June’s head nearly went through the windshield. She had recently had a nose job and was disturbed.
Fred was in the back seat and had his own collision. It was his hip bone against the lady’s hip bone and pelvis. No seat belts. Fred hailed a cab and we abandoned the VW and went to Our Lady of Whatever Hospital. Yes, his date was Doris who after getting in the taxi, then said she could not walk into the hospital. To which Fred said something like “Oh come on now.” Doris was hospitalized while June, Fred and I made like a vaudeville show and laughed everything off. We dropped June off at the hotel and went back to the base.
The following morning, I marched into the CO’s office and said that I had an accident last night, a girl is in the hospital and I’m going to take her home to New Jersey and I need some leave papers. He reached into his pocket, pulled out his wallet and said ”Do you need any money?” I went to my BDA insurance agent who arranged for a friend at the Bank of Bermuda to meet us at the bank (not a working day) and change pounds into dollars and gave me $600, no questions asked.
So that’s how Doris Karg flew home on a scheduled Pan Am (C-97) Clipper as a stretcher patient with a dislocated hip and a cracked pelvis. As the safety lecture showed how to don a life vest. I asked Doris “How long can you tread water?” She laughed and has been laughing ever since.
The plane was met by an ambulance and I rode with her to her home, got out and said something like “Mr Karg, here is your daughter.” I still do not remember how I got home from her house that day. But I learned how to get back there many times before going back to BDA. At the squadron, the talk was that Lidke is so cheap, he will probably marry her to avoid a lawsuit.
Her friend’s father was a lawyer. She did sue. We used the money for our honeymoon at Caneel Bay in the...wait for it...Virgin islands.
Thanks again Butch Voris, the Norfolk Commander that sent me to BDA, Fred Easter for his Friday night suggestion and the sand on the road. Without them I honestly don’t know to this day what would have happened to me. I regret not even knowing her in high school. What a wasted puberty. What a wasted six years. Were the stars aligned that night? I do not know but they sure have been aligned for the last 59 years.
……..Grandpaw P.S. The dog story will be next