the bed beside him lay another young man. He was sleeping. When Jeffrey coughed to clear his throat, the man woke up. “Welcome back. I was sure hoping you’d make it. I’m Lieutenant Philip Roth. I think you saved my life.”
The following few days were filled with visits from every officer on the entire post. It seems he had emerged from the water a hero. He felt confused and smaller somehow. With all the attention he was receiving, he forgot all about the president. The young lieutenant next to him assured him that President Harding would know his name. The president had already returned to San Francisco by boat.
The president had handpicked Lieutenant Philip Roth to be his pilot. President Harding had only recently begun to travel by plane. He chose Lieutenant Roth over hundreds of other young officers. The lieutenant’s injuries were minor, but he remained in Alaska to meet the young man who had saved his life. Philip was not much older than Jeffrey. The soldiers became friends on the first day they spoke to each other.
“Seriously, you are the president’s personal pilot?” Jeffrey asked on the morning after he woke up.
“It was only our third flight, so I doubt if that will be my title much longer,” Lieutenant Roth answered.
The soldiers talked for hours and were only interrupted when Kikimo would bring food. She would smile at both of them and tell them they were too skinny. Lieutenant Roth called her Mama Kiko after knowing her less than twenty-four hours. Jeffrey told Philip of his desire for adventure and begged him to use his influence to get him a more interesting assignment. Philip promised to do all he could. Philip remained in Alaska for the next two months, awaiting a new aircraft. The president had written and assured him he still had a job. At the end of July, he learned that President Harding was still in San Francisco. He had developed pneumonia and was recovering there. On August 2, Philip heard the news by telegraph. President Warren G. Harding had suffered a stroke and died. Two days later, a letter arrived asking Lieutenant Roth to fly the president’s body back to Washington. He showed the letter to Jeffrey. “This is too much.” He looked at his new friend and added, “How could this have happened?”
Jeffrey could not think of anything appropriate to say, so he just said, “It will be all right.”
“How do you know that?” Lieutenant Roth spoke out loud but did not seem to be waiting for a reply. Two days later, he flew back to San Francisco, promising Jeffrey that he would get him out of Alaska soon.
True to his promise, Corporal Cannon left Alaska in December of 1923 en route to his new assignment, as close to Alaska as any other US holding but as far from Alaskan climate as was possible. The islands of Hawaii were as picturesque as all the still photographs he had seen. Everything felt so serene and remote. All the people seemed so content all the time.
Later in life, when he remembered this time, it seemed as it had happened the day before. The memories were a permanent part of him.
The next few months were the best of times and the worst of times. From every beach to every jungle, young Cannon hopped from island to island, training night and day, for a job he could not imagine. He trained hard and quickly excelled to the top of his class. The special operations team that he was assigned to was code-named C-Unit. President Coolidge had signed off on all his missions so far. The pilot of his team, Captain Philip Roth, flew them into the jungles of South America. Citizens were unaware of these missions. The two men became lifelong friends. When Jeffrey introduced Philip to his sister, their friendship changed forever. His friend Philip had just become his brother.
Throughout the rest of the decade, the pilot and the soldier became not only friends but also partners in a sense. They looked after each other as best they could. Philip married Margaret in 1926 and had a daughter the same year. Uncle Jeffrey could not have been happier for his friend.
In 1932, Philip accepted a new assignment in Washington DC while Jeffrey continued in special operations. The two friends’ military paths would not cross again until December of 1941.
Sergeant Cannon paused and seemed to be remembering something of particular interest. Jack and Em remained motionless in their chairs, mesmerized by every word. Neither of them could comprehend what they were hearing. Questions erupted inside their heads; however, before they could start asking, Morton returned and announced, “All aboard.”
Em realized this was not the appropriate call to board an airplane, but nevertheless, the message was understood. Sergeant Cannon stopped pacing, and his demeanor changed to professionalism. “Ready, you two? There’ll be plenty of time for questions later. We better find our gear. It gets mighty cold at ten thousand feet.” He hugged his Mama Kiko and told her he would see her again. Jack and Em followed him through the mazelike hallways of the hangar, both of them silent except for their obvious rapid breathing.
Em felt like the walls were surrounding him. What exactly were he and Jack getting into? Were they seriously going to go on secret missions authorized by the president? Sergeant Cannon seemed to be implying that. Training so intense it’s done in secret. Colonel Roth was a pilot and a real good one. He had flown with presidents. What could he want with two boys fresh out of basic training? It seemed that in answering their questions, Cannon had merely succeeded in creating a whole batch of new ones. First things first, Em thought. Let’s get to Hawaii and get this show started.
Cannon talked more during their long flight; however, because of the noise, Em could only understand the words he spoke when he was looking right at his lips. Every time he turned toward Jack, all Em could hear was a distant muffled voice. When they reached Hawaii, boot camp would begin all over again. Only this time, it would include parachute training along with survival skills preparedness training. If they made it through this training, they would then be trained on the aircraft. Sergeant Cannon did not say what type of aircraft. As to what sort of missions they would be assigned, they knew better than to ask.
Em felt thrilled to actually be on his way but frightened nonetheless. There were still so many questions in his mind. Most of all, he wanted to know when he could tell his family and Irene where he was. He wanted to tell Irene everything. He reached into his bag that he was now carrying with him and retrieved his journal. He began to write for the first time in days. He did not know if or when Irene would ever get to read the words that he was putting on the paper, but he felt a sense of relief with every word he wrote. The plane’s dull drone began to make his eyelids heavy. He put his pen down. He closed his eyes and, for the first time in over a week, fell asleep to thoughts of Irene and the white dress.
“Wake up, Storybook; you got to see this!” Jack’s eyes were bulging from his skull. “You are not gonna believe this! Take a look!” Jack pointed to a small window toward the front of the plane. Em unbuckled and at first felt a little dizzy and unbalanced. He rose slowly to his feet and commanded himself to move toward the front of the plane. He suspected his legs were going to be slow to cooperate. He looked once again at Jack, who looked completely at ease with his situation. Grinning from ear to ear while he prodded Em forward, he said, “The pilot says we can fly right overtop of it!” Em could not imagine what he was about to see.
He leaned toward the small window—which was not exactly like a window—and squinted into the bright sunlight. He saw nothing at first, only small wisps of clouds in the distance. He strained his neck to look down and could barely make out the blue-and-white floor of the ocean surface. Then he saw the most amazing sight his eyes had ever seen. There below him was an island. The mountain in the center was glowing.
The low altitude made the volcano’s lava look like a brilliant fiery river. The pilot was flying them directly over the summit of one of the Hawaiian Islands’ many active volcanoes. Jack poked Em in his ribs. “How ’bout that, hillbilly? Never seen anything like that before!” Em could not stop staring. The sight under their wings was
