I do not know who Jackie's teacher was, but having been a teacher, myself, I can tell you that the first day of school is always a very hectic one, no matter how much you have prepared in advance. It is possible and likely that this teacher had held meetings in advance with parents and students so that the first day would not be so traumatic, and so that she could connect with each child on a one-to-one level. It may have been at such a meeting when she was given the letter, or was informed about Jackie's special needs.
The letter I was refering to is the letter that his mother says she sent on the first day of school saying to keep Jackie until his brother came to pick him up when they sent the children home to eat lunch at 11.30. The reason I think this letter is so important is because his mother said she sent it but the teacher didnt follow the instructions within the letter as she (or he) asked him if he knew his way home on when dismissing the children for lunch.
We need to know what happened to that letter, because only 1 of 2 things could have happened - either she didnt get the letter which would mean we would need to be able figure out at what point the letter was mishandled or the teacher got the letter and for some reason didnt keep Jackie as requested. It could have been an innocent mistake on the part of either the teacher or the person meant to deliver the letter but it would be a big help in trying to figure out what happened.
School was much different in the 40's and it wasnt really a time that people would attempt to transition children into school by having meetings beforehand and such, but that doesnt mean that it didnt happen.
He went missing after being dismissed at 11.30 on his first day which is what makes me a bit curious about the teacher.
There were numerous other children in that school room, all of which were having their first day at school so one would assume that like any other first day of school there would be quite a bit of getting to know each other - my issue begins with this - the teacher would have been paying attention to all students, attempting to remember names and such..
Even if a teacher had only one on one time with Jackie for the same amount of time (a couple hours tops) it seems most unlikely that she would be able to spot Jackie years later after he had grown into adulthood.
As to this teacher seeing the sailor and thinking it might have been Jackie - I wonder if she might have seen his name stenciled on his uniform or on his seabag first, and then studied his face. The Navy is made up of sailors from every state in the union, and seeing someone from almost anywhere in any place on earth is very possible. Being a Navy man myself, I could recite quite a few examples of how I have run into similar situations. The world is really a small place, after all.
She wrote a letter to his family that said she saw him getting off the navy ship and had a conversation with him, in that conversation she says that he told her that he was adopted and that his name was 'Jackie Theel'. She also said he signed the log with this name.
It wasnt so much that the navy thing that makes me unsure of this, it just seems that there are far too many coincidences in her story.
2000 miles from her home and runs into the adult version of a 6 year old child that she was the last person to see alive years before? She knows who this person is by sight though she had only had him in her class for 2-3 hours many years before? Unlikely? Yes.. Impossible? No.
To then say that she has a conversation with him and that he says his name is Jackie Theel but she just lets him leave without stopping him is beyond me. She says she knew it was him when she saw him, she made a point of having a conversation with him where he said his name yet she doesnt do anything?? Her only action is to write a letter to the family saying that she saw him yet when he was actually in front of her she could have done many things to keep him there until things were figured out.
Jackies mother apparently blamed the teacher for him going missing, though I dont know if its just because she didnt keep him in school until his brother picked him up or that she felt the teacher was otherwise responsible.
Its entirely possible that the teacher had nothing to do with any of this, that she didnt get the letter and didnt know to hold him at school but her story just seems a bit off to me.