Oral History Interview with Baine Kerr, May 4, 1993 Page: 11
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know, (chuckle) that was a great surprise, a wonderful
thing.
They were worried about a possible Japanese
landing on the West Coast at that point. There had
been some sightings, and I think a submarine had fired
a few rounds on the West Coast. So, the entire
regiment spent two nights out of three on the base, so
you only left the base one night in three. Then,
later, they made it every other day.
My wife was recruited to be a coast watcher,
watching for airplanes, and she was assigned to the
house that was owned by the movie star Corinne
Griffith, who was married to the owner of the
Washington Redskins. George Marshall, I think his name
was. They had a nice terrace up on the second floor
with a good view, so they could sit up there and have
Cokes and tea and watch the airplanes. I don't think
they could have identified one if they came over, but
it was a very pleasant place to be at the time.
Our training was very rigorous. They decided that
we needed to be trained as airborne infantry. TheGermans had airborne infantry. Of course, that was
when we were beginning to do that sort of thing. The
only problem was that they didn't have any planes to
use except PBYs. When you get in a PBY, you lie down
flat on the bottom of it. I remember we flew over near11
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Kerr, Baine. Oral History Interview with Baine Kerr, May 4, 1993, text, May 4, 1993; Fredericksburg, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1606360/m1/11/?q=%22%22~1: accessed August 15, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting National Museum of the Pacific War/Admiral Nimitz Foundation.