It is a warm winter day just after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941. Our young Army Air Force Lieutenant stands out from the crowd as he bids his girl goodbye. Locomotive 4443 of the Noon Coast “Daylight” slowly eases to a stop at Santa Barbara Station. The next stop is San Luis Obispo, 119 miles up the line. With a ride time of two hours, a passenger might have time for dinner in the dining car — if he wanted to spend at least ninety cents or splurge on the fresh mountain trout at $1.50. In the air are two P-38 fighter aircraft on their first test flight, a mere day after rolling off the assembly line in Burbank. Full production of operational aircraft has begun and will continue around the clock. Young soldiers departing for war after Pearl Harbor faced the unknown road ahead with patriotic and passionate commitment and they held their heads high as they bid their loved ones farewell. - WP