San Diego County (El Cajon)
By Pat Alston
Daily Journal Staff Writer
EL CAJON - Jim Atkins was chugging beers with a buddy a couple of weeks after his high school graduation when the friend announced he was joining the Navy.
"I've got nothing else going," Atkins reasoned. "I'll do it, too."
For an East Coast kid whose summer vacations had never taken him more than 1,000 miles from home, every shore leave was an adventure. He saw Korea, Hong Kong,... (continued)
