Ch. 7, The War Is Over

A few weeks after the war ended in Europe King was sent with his unit, to Chartres and then Beauvais, France for a couple of months and then to Frankfurt-on-Main, Germany, and set up residence in the town of Koenigstein. In France, being able to speak German, King was able to serve as interpreter for Prisoners-of-War, and he was soon drafted by the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Association to help with the thousands of Jews who had just been released from the concentration camps. King did not dwell on this subject at length because, as he put it, it was too sad and involved many women and children. An interesting coincidence occurred while King was in Germany. King had occasion to visit a photo shop to gather some equipment for his unit, and happened to meet the German proprietor, whose name was Adolph Straub. Adolph was the cousin of Adam Straub, the man who taught King how to speak German, and the man on whose farm King was sent to in South Dakota after the breakup of the Henderson family.


After making several thousand dollars selling cigarettes to the Russians and delving into several other “Black market” activities, King was returned to England where he was processed for shipment back to the States. Upon arriving in New York, King ended up in a discharge camp and was processed for return to civilian life. He spent several days as a tourist in New York City, and spent some of his black market money on some furs and jewelry for his wife Elsie, who was still in England with the two children, Kenneth and Robert (me).

King was soon on an airplane headed for California, and made a short stop in Reno Nevada on the way. It was not long before he was back at McClelland AFB in Sacramento, where he started. It was here that King’s sister Eleanor picked him up and took him to the home where she and her husband Lew Parrish resided.

                                             L to R: Ralph, Paul, and King, right after the War.

King rented a room in downtown Sacramento, and found a job right away with the Shell Oil Company managing a service station that was located across the street from the old Governor’s Mansion. King soon found his way into the carpenter’s union, and began his long career in the construction industry. He worked at many trades during this time and eventually found himself acting as an inspector on the new addition to the State Capitol Building. It is now the summer of 1946, and King’s wife Elsie is arriving from England with the two children. King started his own construction company at this time, and built 6 new homes using his ill-gotten black market cash as a grubstake. For one reason or another, that venture did not work out too well and King lost most of his holdings. He then teamed up with his brother-in-law, Lew Parrish and they started building homes together and doing other plumbing and electrical work. The partnership only lasted a couple of years before Lew went on to build many apartments in the Sacramento area and King found himself working as a plumber, a career that he stayed with for the next twenty years.

King was always in trouble with city officials because he refused to pay for a city business license, maintaining the argument that he was licensed by the State of California and, therefore, was not required to be licensed by the city. After dealing with Union Member building inspectors who passed other jobs while refusing to pass King’s, he went to see the Chief Building Official who called his inspectors to task for their transgressions. Eventually, King was summoned by the City Manager, who offered King special treatment if he would purchase a City business license, but King refused and sued the City for bribery. The city, in turn, sued the City Manager, and the suit was eventually settled for $3,500.00 and a City Business License. Shortly after this, one of Kings customers refused to pay him and King took him to court and won a judgment. The judge sat on the final determination for months until King forced him to make a ruling, citing a law that required the judge to either rule or forfeit his pay. The judge then made a ruling, but retaliated against King by adjusting the settlement so that King received only about $5 of what should have been a several hundred dollar settlement. King then filed a suit against the judge with the California Supreme Court and won, with the final outcome being the removal of the judge from the bench. The judge eventually committed suicide because of this and other mis-dealings he was involved in. This all took place about 1954.

Next: I Love You, Dad