Returning to Stateside in 1953

By: Jerry Blackerby

After a little over a year on Okinawa, I was transferred to Whidbey Island, Washington to a patrol squadron, VP-57. I came home on a months leave. Dad was the pastor of a church near Goree, which was about an hour north of my home town, Anson, Texas.

I rode a bus to Anson, expecting to see Granny Grunt and Granddad. While waiting at Abilene for the bus to Anson, one of my cousins in the Army was at the bus station. He had been home for a few days and was going back to camp.

I got to Anson and saw another cousin, who took me to Granny Grunt's, but they were not home. Another young cousin came by and said my grandparents had gone to Goree to Mom and Dad's waiting for me.

I called Dad from an aunt’s house to tell him where I was. He then drove to Anson to pick me up.

Every time I was home, either for a day or two on a weekend or on leave, we ended the visit with a family sing around the piano. The last song we always sang was "Will the Circle be Unbroken."

When it came time to return to the Navy; Mom, Dad, my little sister and my brother and I drove to Idaho. We visited some people that Mom and Dad had corresponded with near Twin Falls and Dad conducted a revival at their church. I caught a bus from Idaho to Seattle, Washington.

After reporting to VP-57, they assigned me to a compartment cleaning detail for three months. The base library was short-handed and I mentioned to the librarian that I had experience working in libraries while in high school. I was transferred to the base library from the squadron.

I spent several months working in the base library and performing magic at clubs in the area. I had practiced my sleight-of-hand and developed a routine of pulling lit cigarettes from the air, similar to Cardini. I gradually developed other routines and dropped the lit cigarette routine. I performed at the Chief’s and Officer’s Clubs, the USO and several other clubs in the area.

I continued performing magic after getting out of the Navy. Most of the time, I performed for Scouting functions or birthday parties. I concentrated on entertaining children rather than working at clubs.

The Chaplain's office was in charge of the library. I sang in the choir and taught a children's Sunday School class. The Chaplain talked me into performing at an all-Navy rodeo as a clown. There would not be any Brahman bulls.

We had bareback and saddle-bronc riding, two-man roping and bull-dogging. I rode a donkey and performed as a clown. It was fun, but I would not have worked with Brahman bull's and that is the real purpose of a rodeo clown. Two of my cousins were professional rodeo clowns for years. Both were busted up multiple times while clowning.

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