Another email I received, published with his permission..............
Hello Joe....I'm John Dawson from Ohio.  Was just recalling some memories of my youth when the Mitchell came to mind.  So I started googling, and here I am.  I served in the USMC from 1958-61 with 15 months of my tour being on the island of Okinawa.  Arrived there on the USS Talladega in March of 1959, and departed June of 1960 on the Mitchell bound for Treasure Island, San Francisco, CA however, we did stop for 1 day in Yokohama where we were given liberty.  One short story about Yokohama. We were fortunate to make it back to the ship on time. A group of 5 or six of us were making the rounds of the bars, when one of our number (a Navy Corpsman) managed to somehow offend the locals.  We left rather quickly to avoid any repercussions by  running down the street to catch a taxi. As it turned out we stopped in Yokohama to pick up a USA civilian who had been kicked out of the country again.  I had brig watch on the return, and he was among several who were incarcerated. One a Marine who got caught in some black market activities on Okinawa.
   The voyage home was rather leisurely.  We sailed the northern route to the states (14 days I think)  so the days on deck were quite cool unless you could find a nice sunny spot in which to sit down in the sun.  Spent a lot of time spit shining my dress shoes.  One can get a pretty good shine in 2 weeks.  Your experience in Tijuana sounds interesting.  I remember being told by the Mexican Police before I departed CA,  that I'd better get back across the border very quickly, for reasons different than yours. I remember the galley from your pic, but not specifically a mural.  It was a pleasant trip, and we were all filled with excitement about getting back stateside.  
    Anyway was hoping to get a pic of the Mitchell perhaps to leave amongst my posessions for the grandchildren to look at after grandpa makes a final voyage.   Thanks for the site, and God Bless!

John