Alone in her Francisco studio, Caydance remembered a Saturday night celebratory seafood dinner on the Santa Cruz Wharf and a peaceful Sunday at Griff's beach house: a breakfast of croissants, shirred eggs, and bacon; wearing sweaters on early morning beach walks; the evening dark deep blue Pacific; companiable shared football talk and art talk. But School would start in a week, and she had not yet identified the pre-World WarII occupant of the studio/workshop.

Her Father, Mac O'Brien, a Quartermaster during that War, knew more about Fortress San Francisco than she had imagined. "Immediately after Pearl Harbor it was likely that San Francisco would be the next target, ” he told her on the telephone. “With the specter of Japanese aircraft carriers, battleships, destroyers, and submarines entering San Francisco Bay -- and over 300 Japanese Zero fighter planes unleashed on the City -- San Francisco was the frontline of the war in the Pacific. And, just because of those books in his desk, you cannot assume that the soldier you seek would go into battle in an artillery unit," he pointed out. "It was a time of arrow unexpected transfers between units. One week a soldier was with an Anti-Aircraft unit defending the Carquinez Strait. His unit might be sent to the Pacific, but as an instructor, he was sent to Camp Davis in North Carolina. Or, he had mechanical skill and suddenly he was in a tank warfare unit."