Leroy Nielson

LEROY NIELSON

LeRoy Nielson was born in Cedarview, Duchesne County, Utah on March 24, 1918 to Niels and Ella Gilbert Nielson. He lived on the north side of the Duchesne River on a farm until he was 18 that had canyons on both sides of it.

SCHOOLING

He attended 1st to 5th grades in Cedarview. It was a one-room building used for the Relief Society meetings of the ward. He was promoted from 1st to 3rd grades, skipping the 2nd grade. In 3rd grade he moved to a school that had 2 rooms (for grades 3rd-8th) with 2 teachers. He was retained in the 5th grade, which was the same grade his brother John was in. They sat together and played, making the teacher mad at them. They would poke the guys in front of them. Needless to say, they were both held back a year. John never returned to school, Leroy did.

When LeRoy attended 5th grade for the second time, it was in Roosevelt, 5 miles away. A bus drove the high school and grade school children. The junior and high schools were in a 2-story building (grades 7-12). Junior high consisted of grades 7-9 and high school from grades 10-12. He was held back in the 7th grade and refused to go back to school again that year. In 8th grade through the rest of high school he earned passable grades.

CHILDHOOD

As a young boy, LeRoy, John, Glen and their neighbors, Burn and Wheeland Barr would hang out together. They were the same ages. They lived on a farm. The boys went camping every Easter on a big campout without their parents. They would build a campfire and sit around and talk. They would play hide-n-seek in the forest. They usually went up on Saturday and spent the day in the mountains then came home. Once in a while the stayed overnight on Friday as well. This became a long lasting yearly tradition.

LeRoy also herded cows in the summer. He would take them into the hills. His father taught him to hold his hand out to the western mountain with the sunlight going down until the sun reached a certain level. This was a good way to help him determine the time he should start bringing the cows home. LeRoy has always been proud of his father for teaching him this way to tell what time it was. He was about 6 when he began to herd the cows.

He had to milk a cow morning and night in addition to other farm work. On the farm they had horses, cows, turkeys, pigs and chickens. They didn’t require much care other than feeding and watering them. LeRoy also helped butcher them. His dad would take a turkey and tie it up so it would choke. They would cut the throat until it died then they would take off all the feathers and clean out the insides. His mom would can it unless they were eating it right away. They would also hunt rabbits and eat them. They became quite experienced in catching skunks. The skunks would get into the chicken coop. LeRoy set up a trap and caught one. It stunk up the chicken coop so bad his dad made him take it away from there.

Hitchhiking was fairly common and safe. LeRoy wouid cross over the Duschene River to hitch a ride into Roosevelt or Duschene. It took a lot of waiting to finally get a ride.

His dad was a good mechanic and would always fix things around the home and the farm machinery. LeRoy loved to watch him fix things to see how everything went together and help out if he could. He thought it was an important skill to learn. He enjoyed fixing things much more than his brothers did. They never became mechanics. Roy would help his dad work on the family car, a Studebaker. It was a sedan turned into a pickup truck. His dad bought it after it had been in an accident and a man had been killed in it. They fixed it up together. A man gave LeRoy a car to fix up when he was about 13. LeRoy could fix the engine, but he couldn’t afford to buy tires. He never was able to drive it because he was too young to drive and had no license. In the summers he slept in the back of the car. The first time he started the car, his mom was close by and was very pleased. He doesn’t remember what eventually happened to the car.

HIGH SCHOOL

LeRoy took shop all 6 years learning carpentry. He made a shop toolbench and a bookcase. He also took auto shop every year whether or not he needed it. He increased his knowledge of mechanics here. In 10th grade, he became involved in the Future Farmer’s of America Club (FFA) where he learned to raise pigs. He also began to attend seminary classes in a separate building from the school. In the gym Roy and some of his friends would play basketball and sometimes box each other for fun.

LeRoy went to school with Lorriane Day, the movie actress. She was a year older than him in school. He didn’t know much about her. Once she became a famous actress before the war, LeRoy would tell people that he knew her. He saw her in one movie.

LeRoy was the MIA Dance Director in Bridgeland and a Sunday School counselor while in his teens.

WORLD’S FAIR IN CHICHAGO, ILLINOIS

The FFA planned a trip to attend the World’s Fair in Chicago in 1933 under the leadership of Walter Atwood, a teacher. He wrote letters back and forth to Chicago to make arrangements. LeRoy was involved in a fundraiser for it. The FFA put on a dance with a boxing tournament. Mr. Atwood asked LeRoy to box in the tournament in Vernal so he did. He had no training, just a few tips from an athletics teacher. None of his brothers or father boxed, just LeRoy. LeRoy boxed 3 times, lost 2, won 1. He put on a good show. Mr. Atwood was talking about what each boy did to earn money to attend the World’s Fair. He said of LeRoy, “He boxed and got boxed.” The FFA got the money. All Roy got was a bloody nose. The Inst. Members of the American Legion was their sponsor for this trip providing eating and sleeping accommodations.

At age 16, LeRoy left Duchesne County for the first time to go on the trip to the World’s Fair. He wore a big hat and Levis and took a bedroll and extra clothing for the trip. It cost $24 to go, $12 for clothing and $12 for food. His father, Niels, paid for the expenses. There was a total of 75 people who made the trip: 8 adults, a nurse, board members, instructors and their partners. They traveled in 2 school buses and 1 truck covered with canvas which served as a kitchen. Two Indian boys, dressed in their traditional dress, were asked to lead the group to Chicago.

They drove to Wyoming the first day on Highway 30. The first night the group camped between the Highway and some railroad tracks. It was a noisy night with heavy traffic. Leroy didn’t get much sleep and he saw a train for the first time. During the night an Indian left and was hitchhiking when Walter Atwood found him, took him to the bus depot and sent him home.

They spent their trip marching through all the big cities. The remaining Indian led, followed by a drummer and a bugler (which sounded the “wake up” and “go to bed” calls for the group).

In Chicago, they went to the Quaker Oats Factory and the Jolley ET???/prison. They camped in a park and spent 2 days going to the fair. They saw displays from all over the world showing plants and new inventions. LeRoy was able to buy a large Mr. Goodbar candybar for just 5 cents. This was his favorite candybar.

On the way home they went a different route to do some sightseeing. They went south on Highway 40 to Springfield, Illinois to see Abraham Lincoln’s tomb monument. In St. Louis, Missouri, they went to a Holy Rollers church and watched them go into spasms in a park. In Independence, Missouri, they saw all the LDS Church History sites.

LEROY’S FATHER

LeRoy’s dad died in 1935 before he graduated. They had the funeral a couple of days before high school graduation. Niels had been bitten by a tick and contracted Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. One month before his death, he went to the hospital for a couple of days. He felt really good and came home. He was crossing the irrigation ditch to get some cows. He slipped and fell in to the water. He became very sick, went back to the hospital (a small old house), then died.

JOBS AFTER HIGH SCHOOL

LeRoy graduated from high school in 1936. That fall he went to Idaho to work on the potato and beet harvest with Marlin Murphy and Robert Houtz. He was 18 years old. Marlin had a car to get them there. In the fall of 1937, he went up there again to work in the harvest. He stayed at his Aunt Jenny’s (his dad’s sister) house. A dump truck loaded with potatoes brought them to a building. LeRoy worked on a spud sorter which in that building was down 4-feet in a spud cellar. It was very cool. All winter he sorted the potatoes using a chain which moved across a table. The bad ones were tossed and the good ones were shipped.

DEPRESSION

Meanwhile back at home, the Depression hit hard. Because of the dry spells, crops didn’t grow and were burnt in the heat. The family had to sell their cows and home and move to Bridgeland for a couple of years. LeRoy went back home to live with his mother after the year’s work in Idaho. He got a job with a fellow working in a canyon a little bit from Duschene in Strawberry Canyon. He mined laterite. He would climb in a hole straight down with a pick and bucket. He would fill a bucket of waste, dirt and dust, then have to climb out and dump it. It was used to help make rubber. He did this for about 1 year. This helped his mom a little bit financially. Then he went to Midvale to work at the processing plant that processed the ore he had mined. He had to put the material in the hot fire then take it out. He would dump the waste. He rented a room at a boarding house with another guy who had been working there for a while. It was at this time that he received a letter and had to go sign up for the draft in June of 1940 in Midvale. He was about 19 years old. Those who were eligible at the time, being at least 18 years old without dependants, received a letter that told them to go sign up for the draft. John, his older brother, was married and Glen was too young to sign up. Later as the war progressed, the requirements changed and they began to draft those with dependents, like John, Leroy’s brother.

MCCLARY, WASHINGTON AND BOXING

One month later, July 1940, he moved to McClary, Washington with his two brothers, Glen and John. They got jobs making plywood in a Vineer plant. John was married and lived in the town next to McClary. Glen and LeRoy lived in a rental house and had separate rooms. Meals and showers were available. LeRoy’s job was to place heavy steel H-beams on top and under glued panels of plywood with a partner. A press would then apply a great deal of pressure on the boards using clamps, tightened by hand, for 24 hours. Then he would release it by picking up a heavy iron and releasing the clamps. Someone else would saw the plywood into 4′ x 8′ sized boards. Then the plywood would be loaded onto boats. In Washington LeRoy began boxing. Boxing was done the same as it is now. In 1941, he fought for the State Heavy Weight Boxing Title in Aberdeen and won it. Some people were unhappy that the former champion lost. They demanded a rematch. LeRoy planned to do the fight, but was drafted before the rematch could be arranged, so he forfeited the title. He didn’t care about the title.

While in McClary, a draft office called him to tell him to report to the service. Leroy requested that he return to Midvale to see his family. They granted his request. He was called by the Midvale office right away so he returned to Utah. The war for the United States had not started yet, but they were preparing to help the war going on in Europe.

MEETS THE GIRL OF HIS DREAMS

On June 3, 1941 LeRoy went to the Coconut Grove in Salt Lake City, a popular public dance hall. LeRoy came by himself and stood for a while watching everyone dance. He was not in his uniform yet. He noticed Beth and decided that he would let her have a chance to dance before he asked her. She was there with her friends Ena Wood and Swede Whitney. After a while she didn’t go out and dance so he asked this beautiful young lady to dance. She accepted that dance and danced the rest of the evening. This lady turned out to be Elizabeth Lazenby, his future sweetheart and wife. After the dance, Roy and Beth went to the Town Club. Ena and Beth both worked there at the time. They sat around, goofed off and danced. It became pretty late so LeRoy walked her home. It took until 4 am for Beth to talk LeRoy into kissing her that night (according to LeRoy). After LeRoy left Beth’s presence he then walked to 4500 South 500 E. where his mother lived and arrived at just about daylight.

DRAFTED

From Midvale he rode the bus to Fort Douglas to be drafted into the army aircorp on June 4, 1941. They put the draftees all together and took them into Salt Lake. There they accepted them in and told them what they could expect. LeRoy was one of the first to be drafted into the United States Air Force. At the time you could either choose to be drafted into the army Air Corp for one year or join the Air Force for three years. He chose the former. To be processed for the draft he needed to fill out paperwork, have his blood drawn, vaccinated and weight calculated. They would ask about any medical problems the draftees had. LeRoy had none. That night, June 4, 1941, in the dark he went back to Fort Douglas. Beth came to visit him. There he waited to be shipped out for one week. They would get them up in the morning and tell them some things. On July 7th, he came down with a friend named Albert, from Idaho. We went to a show and then went back to the Town Club. He went on two more dates with Beth before he left for Moffitt Field in California.

MOFFITT FIELD

He was sent to Moffitt Field, California on Monday to be in the Air Force for one year. The Air Force had leased Moffitt Field from the Navy for one year. There LeRoy was busy doing drills and carpentry work. He helped to do carpentry work by building the base for tents. On weekends James Stewart (the actor) would fly to Los Angeles sometimes. Jimmy Stewart was the drill sergeant for the base. LeRoy saw him from a distance but never spoke to him. There wasn’t much to do so they would play volleyball and other things. At the end of the summer, football season began. They never had a football program at LeRoy’s high school so he had never played before. He practiced with the team and played their entire first game. His position was tackle in offense and defense. There were only enough players for 1 team who did it all – offense and defense. He was hardly ever taken out for a rest. When football season was over, they started a boxing program and asked for those who were interested in participating. Leroy went for it. He only boxed one guy. LeRoy felt he had won, but the referee gave the win to the other guy and LeRoy graciously lost. There was a room with boxing equipment for them to use when practicing.

THANKSGIVING BREAK 1941

Meanwhile Beth and LeRoy had kept in touch through letters. She left her job at the Town Club and became a salad girl at Beau Brummells Cafe. For Thanksgiving break, Leroy hitchhiked back to Utah. It took him 19 rides to get there. He arrived about the 24th of November and stayed for a two-week furlough. Beth was with him every night, but two all the time he was there. They went to the six dances during the two weeks. They danced every dance together and really enjoyed it. Beth had a hard time standing up on the slick floor but Roy never let her fall. Their main song was “Tonight We Love”. They still hold this song dear to their hearts. Beth met his Mother and family during these two weeks.

On December 7, 1941 Beth heard on the radio in a restaurant in Salt Lake that the war for the United States had begun. Pearl Harbor had been attacked by the Japanese. When Leroy finally arrived in Salt Lake, Beth told him the news. All servicemen were told to report back to base immediately. LeRoy stayed in Salt Lake two days and asked Beth at her apartment (after going to a show) if she would marry him sometime. Her reply was “I think so.”

BETH VISITS MOFFITT FIELD

The next morning Roy left for camp. On LeRoy’s return back to base, football ended and guard duty began until the spring of 1942. Guard duty consisted of holding a gun in a foxhole dug in the ground in case of any bombing. Men would sign up to do anything (Officer’s Training, building a new base, etc.) to get out of guard duty. On February 27th, Beth rode the bus and went to Moffett Field to visit LeRoy for a week. She stayed in a hotel in a small town, Mt. View. It was 5-8 miles from camp. Roy had to go on guard duty every day at four so Beth would walk out there about noon and stay until four. Beth would go back to the hotel room and read.

LeRoy got a 24-hour pass on the second of March. Beth went out and met him and then they went into town and got him a hotel room and then took the bus to San Jose. They went to a show and had something to eat afterwards. Then they got on the bus and went to Mt. View. They got up early on the third and went into San Francisco. Roy bought Beth her rings and then he bought her a dress and a pair of sandals. Beth bought a few things for her folks and then they got on a bus and went to the ocean. They walked along the beach for awhile. They had lunch at a little cafe there along the beach. They walked down in the park and matched pennies. They started saving their pennies and later she bought three dollars in defense stamps with them. They made their packages into smaller ones and then took a bus into town then on to Mt. View. Two days later Beth went out to Mill Valley on a bus and spent the night with her brother, Arthur, and his family who was a Captain at the Persidio, the Pentagon in San Francisco, and who served in Africa.

Beth returned to Utah two days later and resumed her work at the Beau Brummell Cafe. She left there in April and went out to the Small Arms Plant. LeRoy and Beth kept corresponding and enjoyed it. She met Glen and Stanley during this time.

CHICO

They took a group of soldiers and sent them up to Chico in July 1942. LeRoy was a part of this group. On the fourteenth he received a 5-day pass and hitchhiked back to Salt Lake to see Beth.

MARRIAGE

They went to a dance the night he arrived, on Tuesday. On the fifteenth, Wednesday, while Beth was at work she thought about what they had said the night before. Her friend, Lila Packer said that if she let him go now she might be sorry. With all this thinking on her mind, she went home, out to Midvale. She had decided to marry Roy and didn’t want to lose him. She was about ready when he got there that night. They didn’t have time to get the blood tests and they both just had a test recently so they knew it was all right. Beth called up at the Small Arms Plant and made arrangements to have someone work in her place the next morning. They caught a bus and went into Evanston, Wyoming. They couldn’t get a license that night because it was midnight by the time they got there. They got hotel rooms and the next morning Roy came pounding on her door. He told here to hurry because the county Clerk, Matthews, was on his way down to fix the license. After Roy had an examination, they went up to the Justice of the Peace’s place. Judge Reul Walton married them and his wife was one of the witnesses. They were married at 8:15 am on July 16, 1942. After they were married they went to the hotel and got their things and had breakfast in one of the cafes.

HONEYMOON

Then Roy bought her a wedding present. She picked it out. It was a table fountain pen and a set of yellow lamb flower vases. They caught a bus at nine and came back to Utah. They rushed out to Midvale. Beth changed her clothes and put a few things into a bag. They got back in town and she gave her things to Roy and took a taxi out to the Small Arms Plant to work. All of her friends were so glad for her and wished her a lot of luck. That night it thundered and lightning just terrible while she was at work. They had a regular cloudburst out there. She worked from three to eleven and then met Roy up town. He had a room at the New House Hotel. Beth got up the next morning at six and went back to work. She left at eleven and went to their room. Roy was out at his mother’s place so she bathed and cleaned up. She called Ena and told her she was married. Ena about fainted. After Roy came home they went to the Rotisserei for dinner and then we went out to his mother’s for a little while. Then they came back into town and went to a show. Saturday morning, Beth got up and went to work at six. Roy took a bus and went back to Chico so the short honeymoon was over. All of Beth’s friends at the Small Arms Plant went in together and bought her a lovely white satin nightie. Her friends were: Lila (Smokey) Packer, Amy Webster, Dorothy Schoal, Beth Lenord, Cleo Taggart, June Draper, Myrl Fox, Vanda Axtell and Orson Johnson, Paul, Russell and Lee.

Amy Webster became very ill so Smokey, Dot, Dot’s sister-in-law and brother and Beth went to Idaho to see her. It was just a little ways from Preston. They sure had a lot of fun both coming and going. Amy’s mother fixed them a big chicken dinner. Boy was that good. They got back in Utah at four in the morning and went to work at three in the afternoon.

Two weeks after they were married, Beth quit her job to move to Chico to be with Roy. She sure hated to leave her friends but she wanted to be with her husband. Her friend Jean Allen gave her a shower in Salt Lake. She got some very nice things. Then she went home to Manti, Mother and Barbara gave her another one. She got a lot of nice things there too.

REUNION IN CHICO

Beth left Tuesday morning for Chico and let her dear mother put away all her gifts. Beth arrived at eight o’clock on Thursday night. Roy couldn’t get a pass for the night so she talked to him on the phone and then took a bath and went to bed. She was very tired after that ride. He came down the next day at two in the afternoon. They lived in the Park Hotel for a week. Beth met his cousins down there and went to church with them one Sunday when Roy couldn’t get a pass until later.

Beth found an apartment up at 1019 Normal Street in Chico, California. They had a nice apartment and were happy there. They met some very nice people, which later became some of their best friends. They liked our landlady and her husband very much, Alfred and Delia Evans. They were so much fun and very nice. They also met Mrs. Marie Goebel, Mr. and Mrs. Grinnell (Herbert), and Mrs. Katherine Nau. Beth worked in the almond orchard for Mrs. Nau. She had just lost her husband three months before and felt very bad. Beth did a little housework for Mrs. Grinnell. While there, Roy and Beth walked out to the famous Hooker Oak, three and a half miles from town. It’s said to be the largest oak tree in the world. 8,000 people can stand under its branches. Roy was called on a four day alert so Beth spent the next four days very lonesome. Beth went to a show one night with Mrs. Wright, a neighbor.

BOISE, IDAHO

Shortly after the alert, they moved to Boise, Idaho where Roy trained on airplanes and Beth worked at a drive-in. Pendleton, Oregon was their next home. Roy was in a store when he heard his first air raid siren. He stood in the doorway. It only lasted a short time. Roy’s name was on the shipping out to a new station list then the next day was off the list. Beth had already left on the bus. Roy got on a train to California. When he arrived, they had no papers on him. They sent for his papers and he stayed there. They also lived in Stockton, California. Beth got a job at a motel. The manager was hesitant to hire her because the hotel was located beside two army bases. One half-hour later, Roy called to say they were being transferred.

Roy was accepted to Officer’s School in North Carolina. They rode a train to Salt Lake. They sat together most of the time. Roy slept in a bed and Beth slept in the seats. A large black man asked Beth to have breakfast with him. Once in Salt Lake, Beth got off to stay a while and Roy continued on to school. In class they learned how to be good leaders and studied strategic moves. Roy completed his training and was called in before a board of review. They asked if he could do trigonometry or if he had any further math experience. He said that he had never heard of trigonometry. They suggested that he stop the program because of not having any more math experience. He was sent back into the Air Force in St. Louis, Missouri with Beth accompanying him. She worked at Woolworth’s drug store for one month while Roy ran over hills and boxed a little.

After they had been married 9 months, Roy was sent overseas to Hawaii in 1943. Beth went home to Salt Lake and worked there for a short time. Then she worked at a dress shop in Manti for the two years three months he was gone. She also served a six-month stake mission in the South Sanpete Stake. They corresponded through letters that were censored. Their code names were Isabel and Gilbert. Beth knew Roy was restationed when he wrote, “I hear Gilbert is moving.

OVERSEAS

Roy spent 10 months in Hawaii. He rode a boat for 4 days to get there. On board, they had a boxing tournament. Roy didn’t box because they had a bad floor. One guy took off his shoes to box. It was a hot day and it peeled the skin off his foot. He was able to attend LDS services in Hawaii. He didn’t have time to sightsee the Hawaii Temple or Polynesian Culture Center. They were kept busy. He spent time on Funi Funi (1 month), Ellis Island (2 months), Wake Island and Guam.

FUNIFUNI

On Funi Funi LeRoy dug his own foxhole and lived in it. The white waves crested and showed the outline of the small island at night for their enemies. They would drop bombs on the island. The plane he flew in on took a direct hit the first night he was there. He didn’t think he wanted to stay there very long after that. He would be sleeping in his bunk until he heard bombs then he would dive into his foxhole where he would be safe from them unless he took a direct hit. He had several close calls with bombs. One bomb hit about 12 feet away from him. The next morning he came out of his foxhole and saw 2 sailor boys who had taken a direct hit. This was the closest the action of the war came to him. They packed up after a month and went to Hawaii for a short repair. After this time a bomb that explodes before it hits land was invented.

WAKE ISLAND

On Wake Island he helped prepare for the Battle of Midway which was a turning point in the war against the Japanese. He stopped here for 3 weeks before he went to Guam. He helped there with the pilots. He was an electrician on the B24’s. Using the grounded aircrafts he was able to take parts from 2 planes to make one plane. He liked it here because there was never any bombings.

GUAM

Then he spent 10 months in Guam. He went with a boatload of people and spent 2 days on the ocean until the island was secured and taken over by the Americans. He landed on the east end of the island and had to hike to the west end. It was a pretty good walk. When they got close to camp they were told to make a big long line and to pick up every object that didn’t belong there like trash. Roy was walking along and kicked a boot. It bounced back because it was attached to a Japanese body that had been buried by a bulldozer. He’s not sure exactly what happened to that body. When they were done they set up camp. Roy pitched his tent then leaned his short rifle against the tent. In the morning it was covered with moisture from the humidity. He picked it up by the barrel and left his fingerprints on it. When he arrived on the island, some Japanese were still there trying to find food, not to fight. They only had one bombing while here. He never had to dig or get in a foxhole.

The planes would take off and land on the island. His job was to make sure the airplanes were in working order and he enjoyed doing it. Roy or one of 3 other guys who did the same job needed to be there when they landed so he and the pilot could look at the plane together and talk about what needed to be fixed on the plane. Sometimes it was a couple simple things, sometimes it was something more complicated. If Roy could see what the problem was, he could fix it. He would work on the plane to get it in the best flying condition he could to eliminate as much risk as he could for the pilot and crew. There were plenty of parts they could use from planes that had been hit by a missle or something and interchange those parts to the working airplanes.

The eating conditions were good and he never went hungry. There were 6-8 people per tent. It became pretty cramped with 8 in a tent. One of the guys in LeRoy’s tent was pretty tall and fun to be around. There was some time for entertainment. A group of guys would get out a play a ballgame or do other activities. It wouldn’t last very long.

There were 4 or 5 groups of religious services. They would announce the time and place for the LDS services on Sunday. There was a crowd every time. It followed the typical LDS service format with opening and closing prayers and songs and talks. Chaplains gave most of the talks. This was the only place LeRoy could attend church, besides Hawaii. Once they took pictures of the LDS group and sent them back to church headquarters to go in the Church News. The atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki while Roy was in Guam. His reaction was that he was just glad they weren’t close to him. One day Roy received a telegram on his lunch break that said the war in Europe was over. Not much celebrating went on, they were just happy to see the trail coming home getting bigger. He was here for about 1year.

COMING HOME

At this time, the war had pretty much ended in Europe and Japan. There was a rest and recuperation program which lasted for 45 days for those servicemen who had been overseas a long time and had earned enough points to go home. Roy applied for this and went home. He stayed at his mother’s house in Salt Lake. Meanwhile Roy’s outfit was sent to Okinawa to help with post war business. His 45 days rest and recuperation were not over yet when his outfit went to Okinawa so he was discharged at Fort Douglas and rode a bus into Salt Lake. Irene and Beth were going back and forth between bus and train stations trying to find Roy. He called them and they were waiting to meet his bus.

AFTER THE WAR

After the war Beth and Roy decided it was time to buy a house so they purchased the one they own in Midvale, 746 East 7800 West.

SCOUTING

Years later Roy was able to go to Japan for the Scout National Jamboree. He was there 1year exactly before Clifford was called to serve his mission in” Japan. Roy was thrilled Cliff was called to a mission in Japan and held no resentment towards the Japanese people. LeRoy became acquainted with a man while there and stopped to talk to him often. He was interesting to talk to. This man was in charge of the place where Roy was staying. When Cliff went on his mission, Roy had him look up this man. He never did take the missionary discussions. Prior to going to Japan he had attended 2 Scout National Jamborees in Farragut, Idaho, and 1 in Pennsylvania. The scouts stayed at an army base converted to a scout camp in Pennsylvania. He went to West Virginia 5 different times for the Scout National Jamboree as well. He loved attending these events.