When George and I arrived in San Francisco we had to spend the night there and wait for transportation to Vallejo where the Mare Island Naval Shipyard was located. We decide to spend the night at the Fairmont Hotel in downtown on the square.
 
We were shocked to learn that our room was $95 a night, and that was about half of our monthly pay. No more staying at the Fairmont or any place else in downtown San Francisco. We went to a nice restaurant on fisherman’s wharf and had dinner. We were offered a bottle of wine with our meal. We had never had wine before with a meal, so we asked the waiter for a recommendation and suggested a local Rose that I thought was delicious. We asked the price of everything in there in advance after the Fairmont experience, and they usually gave discounts to military personnel.  Read More

Gerald "Dutch Harms TM1, wrote this for his family to be as events happened in 1945. A diary is a collection of personal thoughts and observations for future reference. The reader needs to suspend all thoughts about spelling, punctuation and grammar and focus on the events and isolation reported by one man as his ship closes toward ultimate conflict with the Japanese.
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