Join the Navy!
or
Permission, permission!

At one point during the war, Dad looked around and noticed that he was working much longer and harder than the Navy SeaBee officers who were doing about the same things. Well, this can be solved, just join the Navy! Easier said than done. As told to me (WGI) by my father (WOI) on 13 January 1996. I have done some editing and rearranging, to improve the readability and keep things in sequence. - WGI 
WGI:  Tell me about why [at one time] you decided you might
      want to join the Navy.

WOI:  Oh!  that was again old Admiral Calhoun!  I said to him
      that I like to see if I could join the Navy [the SeaBees,
      specifically -WGI] and not have to go back to the sates
      for Officer Training.  There was no Officer Training in
      Pearl Harbor.

      Admiral Calhoun decided that he would recommend that I
      be commissioned in the Navy as a Lieutenant JG but I would
      have to go back to San Francisco to Officer Training
      School.

      I don't know what happened.  Somehow it fell through.  I
      decided not to do it.

WGI:  Did they have to give you permission, or something like
      that?

WOI:  Yeah!  The Navy wouldn't give me a release to join the
      Navy!

Both: <laughter>

WOI:  That was the reason...

WGI:  [You were a] critical employee, or something like that?

WOI:  Yeah, yeah!  The Navy just wouldn't give me a release to
      join the Navy.

Both: <laughter>

WOI:  Crazy, crazy!
Copyright © 1996 by William G. Innanen. All rights reserved.
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