It was the spring of 1940. Robert Zervas, a half Greek and half German Jew, was a corpsman in the U.S. Navy stationed in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. You were a Naval nurse also stationed in Hawaii. Because both you and Robert (who also went by Bobbie) had medical jobs, you would often see each other in different wings of the hospital for different reasons.

Today, however, was different. You sat on the beach now with all your nurse friends. Because it was the weekend, all the men from the different branches stationed there in Hawaii were out and about in the town- and Bobbie was no exception. He walked past you and your friends on the beach carrying a surf board. You watched intently as he slowly walked into the water, getting on his board and paddling out towards the waves.