KILROY, HOME FROM WWII by Wesley E. Hall Publication date: May, 2002 Retail price: $25.95 biographical fictionSize: 6X9. Length: 522 pages. ISBN: 0-595-22837-2 Published by iUniverse Available: Barnes & Noble Bookstores, Amazon.com, Borders, etc. Synopsis: This is a wild story about three ex-Navy enlisted men who return home after WWII. They join the "Fifty-two Twenty Club", hang out at a place called Garner's Pool Hall, buy a 1935 Ford V-8 and name it Kilroy. It is the greatest of times to sow wild oats. Photo by Bambi Fertswart.

Every young man fresh out of a war needs to sow a few wild oats, and at the end of World War 2 the time was right for me.

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Kilroy, Home from the War is a true story based upon my experiences when I came home from the Pacific. After three years aboard a wooden subchaser, I returned to a small town in Oklahoma. It was a wild time, to say the least, because I had gone overseas at the age of seventeen, having never dated a girl or driven an automobile. Trying to pick up where I had left off turned out to be very tricky because I couldn't remember much about what it was like to be a civilian. I still did not smoke, dip, chew, drink, or gamble. That all changed quickly when I ran into two ex-sailors just back from the war.

The photo on the extreme left (above) was taken shortly after the war (WW2) when I was twenty-one. These were the good old days of the 'Forties. I had not a care in the world because for the first time in a long time I had no superior officers. It was a pure luxury to go to bed when I wanted to and get up when I wanted to. Besides my mustering out pay I was receiving twenty dollars (Don't laugh, that was not chicken feed in the 'Forties) a week from Uncle Sam, and wherever I went somebody wanted to pick up the check.

The old coot in the center of the page is yours truly today. I'm skipper of a 26-ft. Sea Ray "Overnighter" docked in Pickwick Lake, on the Tennessee River. I've had worse duty.