Manila, Philippines. June, 1956. My brother Mike was fifteen. He’d been in boarding school since our father died, so I barely knew him. My step-sister Carolyn was fourteen. For her, the arrangement was supposed to be a summer visit. That’s not how it worked out. There was drama involved.
Carolyn says she might have been nervous about the flight if Mike hadn’t been along. Mike reports the flight attendants were good-looking and personable. He remembers Manila International Airport as fancy, ultra-modern.
I met Carolyn for the first time in Manila. I was six, untroubled, with no reason to be otherwise. I showered her with kisses. That’s the kind of days those were for me.
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John Dyer Writes 
Actually, I remember a lot about the trip. I remember meeting Dad’s family in Dallas – Wonderful people, very nice. They gave me a very welcoming start in our new family. I remember the flight from San Francisco to Manila in a Lockheed Constellation – first class! It had a forward salon where passengers could gather and talk or play cards and I was introduced to the card game Canasta.
Our pilot explained that the Constellation was fully pressurized and could therefore fly well above most weather, and it did – we looked down at the top of a pacific-wide cloud cover most of the trip.
I don’t remember landing in Hawaii, so apparently there was no guided trip on the Big Island for Carolyn and I. I think that I remember landing on an island somewhere in the middle of the Pacific sometime in the middle the night to refuel – “stay on the plane”, but after 65 years I may be remembering a later military flight.
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Now you tell me.
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You and John both have an extraordinary lives. As a midwest Farm girl, I’m sometimes daunted by, and envious of the things you both experienced and the opportunities you had for travel. Keep writing about this period of your lives, it’s very interesting for the rest of us that were stuck in the corn and soy bean fields! Living vicariously through your memories is great! Linda Dyer
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Did I mention that the stewardess’s were beautiful, poised, gracious and patient to a fault. What a great introduction after 4 years in an all male boarding school!
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Flight attendants in those days were movie star caliber.
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