USO offered a touch of home, entertainment to region's soldierscol

(Many people came to Sandpoint during World War II. Two of them were Beth Knight and Price May. Today she concludes her story, in her own words, and shares some of her memories of Farragut Naval Station, the Sandpoint USO, and the people of Sandpoint).

“To go out to the base was a thrilling experience to me. To watch the boys working on what they called the grinder — learning how to stay in step. I recall one sailor in my husband’s company, Company 384-43, and his name was Angelo. That poor fellow could not keep in step and somebody was always walking on his heels. We still have a panoramic picture that Ross Hall took of Farragut and it is probably three feet long.

“I worked at Central Ship Service before I got a job at the bank in Sandpoint. My husband went through Camp Ward and the Central Ship Service was right there at the entrance to Camp Ward and I had a pass to get on the base. We spent our weekends in Sandpoint because it’s such a beautiful place. We would go down and sit by the lake and watch the water. I remember the big wooden bridge and it was the longest wooden bridge in the world.

“The boys stationed at the base took turns driving to Sandpoint. We did not have a car and my husband felt that he should have one so he could drive part of the time, with gas being rationed and all. So we bought a black, four-door, Model A Ford for $125. A man that worked up in the woods had owned the car and apparently he had the Model A parked in the wrong spot because a tree fell across the front of the Ford. At that time, the Model A’s had a gas cap right in the center of the front and our gas tank was dented in on one side. We drove it until just before Price was released from the service.

“One night when Price was driving home he let one of the boys off that lived at the south end of the bridge. When he went to put the car in gear the only gear that worked was reverse. So he drove home across the long bridge in reverse and he drove all the boys home going in reverse down the streets of Sandpoint. A sailor’s wife was never told if her husband was to be sent out because they couldn’t contact us. I was worried because Price was late coming home that night and I thought they had shipped him out. Pretty soon I heard this little “putt-putt” and it was the Ford coming in reverse down the street. It turned out that it was only a pin that had fallen out of the gears and they put the pin back in and away he went.

“I have very fond recollections of the USO in Sandpoint. It was down a block south of the courthouse and it was like a big log cabin. They had several rooms, one room was a kitchen and there were always sandwiches, coffee, hot chocolate, and fruit there. The women of the town brought all this and different organizations would prepare and bring things on certain days of the week — there was always something there. In the main room, where they had the games, there were chairs around the edge and there was a jukebox. We who lived in the era of the big bands, loved to dance. There was always a dance going on any time of day or night; there was always somebody up dancing. We didn’t do a lot of things other than go to the USO.

“The townspeople were just marvelous, they opened their arms to us and you’d think we were all their kids. I think they truly felt that they would do anything they could to help these young men and their families. They knew a lot of them wouldn’t come back and they didn’t want any of them to feel that their country did not appreciate what they were doing. They made every minute that a person was in Sandpoint very special.”