order to the Corps to prepare for mobilization and (b) that he thought General Taylor could be of most use to the Corps by going to the West Coast and doing what he could to facilitate the mobilization of the Marine Corps Reserve.
General Taylor took a plane that night for Camp Pendleton, with Margaret and the kids to follow by auto. The West Coast assignment was temporary duty, which meant that their furniture would be stored, rather than shipped to California.
At Camp Pendleton, Brigadier General Clyde W. Dawkins, the deputy commanding general, told General Taylor he was glad he was there, as he expected there would be “administrative problems” in the mobilization of Marine Reserve Aviation, and anything that Taylor could do to “sort things out” would be a real contribution.
General Taylor had not met General Dawkins previously, which he supposed was because Dawkins was wearing the golden wings of a Marine aviator, and Taylor had come up through artillery. He also wondered privately why Dawkins, an aviator, was deputy commander of Pendleton, which was not a Marine aviation facility. Logic would seem to dictate that a Marine aviator would be more suited to “sort out” the “administrative problems” involved in mobilizing Marine aviation, and someone such as himself, an experienced ground officer, would be better suited to be the deputy commander of Camp Pendleton.
General Dawkins said that it would probably be best that General Taylor “pitch his tent” at the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station, not far from Pendleton, rather than on the Pendleton Reservation.
“Pendleton is going to be one huge Chinese fire drill when the mobilization starts,” Dawkins said. “You’ll be more productive there than here. There’s a light colonel there—John X. O’Halloran, good man—as inspector/instructor. You can use his office and people.”
At El Toro, General Taylor was given quarters in a small building set aside for visiting senior officers. As soon as he unpacked, he went into the small town of El Toro itself to find someplace for Margaret and the kids. He quickly learned that there was the opposite of an abundance of furnished rental houses or apartments in the area, and what was available was priced accordingly.
In desperation, he rented a small, unattractive apartment that cost 125 percent of his housing allowance, and one that he knew would disappoint Margaret and the kids. They’d had really nice quarters at the War College, and the apartment was a real comedown.
And then he went to work at El Toro to prepare for the mobilization, which was almost certain to happen.
Lieutenant Colonel O’Halloran, USMC, the inspector/ instructor, was a muscular, red-haired Irishman. He wore an Annapolis ring, which immediately made General Taylor feel confident in him, even if he was also wearing the gold wings of a Marine aviator. Five minutes into their first conversation, they were agreed that calling an immediate meeting of the commanding officers of the three reserve squadrons on the West Coast to bring them up to speed on what was very likely going to happen was the first thing to do.
Two of the three squadron commanders showed up as ordered at 0800 19 July. The third—the commanding officer of VMF-243—did not. His name was Major Malcolm S. Pickering.
Lieutenant Colonel O’Halloran was not at the meeting either. He sent word—which was not the same thing as requesting permission to do so—that he was going to spend the morning checking on enlisted housing for the flood of reservists soon to arrive at El Toro.
Since he could not ask O’Halloran what he recommended should be done about the officer who had not, in Marine parlance, “been at the prescribed place at the prescribed time in the properly appointed uniform” and was thus technically absent without leave, General Taylor inquired of Technical Sergeant Saul Cohen, the senior staff NCO of the I & I staff, if he had been able to contact Major Pickering.
“Not exactly, sir. I left word at his office to tell him as soon as he got back.”
“Back from where?”
“No telling, sir. Major Pickering travels a lot.”
“And the executive officer of VMF-243? Did you contact him?”
“Same story, sir. As I understand it, he’s with Major Pickering. Permission to speak out of school, sir?”
“Go ahead.”
“VMF-243’s the best of our squadrons. They just about aced the annual inspection. And I’m sure Major Pickering will be here when he’s really needed.”
“Just to remove any possible misunderstanding, Sergeant,” General Taylor said, “I have the authority to determine when the major’s presence is really needed.”