my dad was one of those liberated by the ghost soldiers-————he said that the entire city of San Francisco opened their hearts to the returning POW’s -—— free cab rides, dinners, and countless people just coming up and thanking them for their service and sacrifice...........
I hope our county never forgets the patriotism San Francisco had once shown in the past.
Bless your father.
My dad had a similar experience. Right near the end of the war, after so much heavy combat and seeing so many of his company die in battle, ironically he contracted Malaria in the Philippines and then had a near fatal allergic reaction to the drugs he was given and was sent home on a hospital ship. Halfway across the Pacific an announcement was made that we had dropped “Atomic” bombs on Japan. While nobody on board knew what an atomic bomb was, they were told the war would soon be over and it was; the Japanese surrendered and VJ day was declared while they were still at sea.
Just outside of San Francisco, still pretty sick and weak, he decided he wanted to go up on deck to see the Golden Gate. A Navy medical corpsman told him absolutely no! But my father, always a stubborn man, insisted saying he watched the Golden Gate when he left and made a promise to himself, that God willing, he’d see it one more time.
The corpsman relented, gave him a pea coat and blanket and let him go. My dad said it was very cold and extremely foggy and he couldn’t see a thing but he could hear the fog horns getting ever closer.
Then in dramatic fashion, suddenly the fog bank lifted and the sun shone brightly and there it was in front of him; the Golden Gate Bridge. As the ship got closer he noticed that all traffic had stopped and all the people were standing on the bridge waving flags, throwing down flowers and confetti and cheering. He told me he dropped to his knees and cried as it was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen – that was of course until the day he met my beautiful mother.
He was at Letterman General Hospital in SF and when he was well enough, he was given some liberty. He told me that the people of SF wouldn’t let him or any one in uniform pay a dime for anything. He was so impressed by the city, its beauty and the warmth of the people.