i went with my sergeant mckay and sergeant matson. and we left -- sergeant matson had a car, so we drove back here, we had a delay en route, so we drove back here. we had, i think it was, like ten days before we had to report to camp stoneman, that's in california, so we came back. and we were here as long as we could. i remember my first plane ride was from that. we flew out of minneapolis to san francisco, all three of us. and we got into camp stillman just about -- we weren't late but pretty close. so we were there for -- i had an aunt and uncle out there in oakland, so they came and got us a couple times and took us. we were there maybe a week or ten days, i suppose. and then we started getting orders that -- when we were shipping out. and we had to check the bulletin board every morning, of course, see when. and joel and marlin matson, they went on one ship and i went on another. i was u.s.s. pope and they were on -- i think it was the minks. they left a day or two before i did, but the pope was a little bit faster so i got to ja