Bob on voyage home from Okinawa. Due to the numbering "PA-176-4" of the amphibious vessel on the deck of this ship(probably attached to Davits with an alternate use as a lifeboat), the ship is probably the USS Kershaw (APA-176), which undertook several shuttle missions to return armed forces back to the US mainland from 1945 to 1946 in Operation Magic Carpet. Bob explains in 2015: "Photo of me posing with my beard (taken by shipmate Rodney Lundeen). We boarded that ship at Okinawa about 3-11-46. They made us scrape paint off the foredeck down to the bright metal for 8 hours every one of the ten days returning to San Francisco. The Captain announced that "No one would disembark in SF until every man was clean-shaven. I ignored the command. About 2 days out of port, my shipmates ganged up on me and held me down while I was given a bloody shave, Dressed to kill, we were put on a wooden Passenger Railcar and overnighted to San Pedro where I was discharged on 3-23-46 and given busfare home. About a year later Ruth and I drove to Rodney's house on Orange Grove Drive in Pasadena and talked him out of the Polaroid Photo."

Malibu beach west of Malibu Creek, 1946, the week I drove her to LAX so she could marry the Brazilian cinematographer and fly to Rio

BLACK & WHITE of above pic of Robin

Aunt Minnie, Bob, Judith

"On my 11 day cruse from Okinawa to S.F., the captain of the ship told everyone that if certain men didn't shave, then no one was going ashore in S.F. I was nearly lynched on the day S.F. came in sight, and was intimidated by my shipmates to get shaved."

Bob recalls:

"Soon after my discharge from the Navy in March 23, 1946, I joined the 52-20 club, a veteran's benefit which game me $20/week for 52 weeks, provided that I enter an education program. I applied for admission to Cal Tech, USC, and where my beach buddies had succeeded, Compton Jr. College, the closest. I managed to get enrolled in Math, Physics, Chemistry, English & French -- elementary type classes. I had my Ford Coupe from before the War and that was helpful in making freinds. I needed a distraction since my return to my pre-war associations was unsatisfactory. Miy girl friend, Robin, had called me (at my parents home where I was living) and asked me to drive her to the airrport. On the way, she explained that she was going to New York to marry a cinematographer.

At Compton Jr. College, I met several girls during the next 52 weeks. They were mostly interested in my car, a rarity among college students in 1945 - 46. We went to beaches, horseback riding, nightclubs, and football games. Few of the girls were interested in an unemployed elderly student (Robert was 25 at the time) except for the convenience of the car.

In my calculus class, one of the 12 students was the only girl, Ruth. I sat next to her and she got along well in the group. She had a brain and was quite attractive. I wasn't the only one interested in her. She was not the type to waste time on entertaining.

Ruth had run away from home and was living with 2 (married) teachers at Compton College. They advised her to change her name (without any approval by family or court). Hence, her name was Henson in the marriage licence.

Once, shortly after first meeting Ruth, she asked me to stop by a small mom-and-pop grocery store in Willowbrook, so she could visit a moment with friends. Ruth was "at home" with her schoolmates, but I was apprehensive about venturing into a totally black community, but I got by with my smile while my future fiance joked, touched, and pranked her old companions, thinking nothing of pulling a couple of cokes out of their cooler and drinking them before I could offer to pay. The money was not accepted. This store was 2 blocks from Ruth's family home. I never met Ruth's mother or father - Ruth would not allow it! We did look at the nearby Watts Towers."

December 31, 1946, Robert with Barbara Baer at the Florentine

"Barbara lifted a bottle of champagne from the icer of our neighboring table. When confronted by the neighbor, she explained that we had ordered one just like his and she would return it to him when our order was filled! But that never happened!"