When
I finished high school in 1944 the war was still going strong and my best
friend, Joe Openshaw, and I tried to enlist as Cadets in the Army Air Corps.
We both had been building model airplanes for many years and all we ever
wanted to do was to fly. We both failed the physical. This was a great
disappointment to both of us.
I found out that there was a special program where you could join the
Army and be sent to college until the end of the semester in which you
turned 18. Since I was only 17, I took the test. I was accepted and in
September I reported to the Army Specialized Training Reserve Program
(ASTRP) at Alabama Polytechnic Institute (name later changed to Auburn).
We
lived in a dormitory about two blocks from the campus but it did not have
any dining facilities. We had to march to one of several boarding houses
where we had our meals. Our course load was 23 credit hours where the normal
load was 15 to 17 credit hours. We went to class from 8:00 am until 5:00 pm
each week day and had a mandatory study period from 7:30 pm until 10:00 pm
each night. We went to school until noon on Saturday. From noon Saturday
until 10:00 pm Sunday was our only free time.
We
marched to and from all classes. Each morning we were joined by Rover. Not
his real name but the name we gave him. Rover was just a large ordinary dog.
Rover went with us to all classes. In our Physics class he was allowed in
the classroom where he lay still until the end of class. When we returned
for lunch Rover disappeared but he was back before 1:00 to join us for the
afternoon. When we returned after 5:00 pm he disappeared until the following
morning. He was a friend to all.
One of my favorite teachers was our Physics teacher, Dr. Allison. (Later
the new Physics building was named for him). Dr. Allison was a small man
that kept your attention during all our Physics classes. One experiment that
all of us will never forget was an experiment about gravity. Dr. Allison had
a small cannon mounted on a table. It was pointed toward the classroom door
that contained a lot of glass with a lot of glass above the door. Suspended
above the center of the door was a tin can secured by an electro magnet. Dr.
Allison had the cannon aimed directly at the tin can. He asked the class
that if he shot the cannon and the tin can was to drop at the same time,
what would happen. We all said that we would have broken glass all over the
floor. He fired the cannon and the cannon ball, about the size of the end of
your thumb, hit the tin can just in front of the glass in the door. He had
proved to us that both objects fell at the exact same rate. There was no
broken glass.
After
two semesters the ASTRP program was terminated at Auburn and we were
transferred to North Georgia State College at Dahlonega in the mountains of
north Georgia. Dahlonega was the site of major gold mining in the early
1800's. In 1849, when folks discovered gold in California, an exodus from
Dahlonega began. In desperation, the mint's assayer, M.F. Stephenson, gave
an impassioned speech to encourage people to remain in Dahlonega to explore
more of the north Georgia mountains.
"Why go to California?" he asked, then pointed to a nearby ridge and
added: "In that ridge lies more gold than man ever dreamt of. There's gold
in it!"
Those are reportedly the words that inspired Mark Twain's classic phrase,
"Thar's gold in them thar hills."
At the completion of this third semester I had reached my 18th
birthday. After a short leave I reported to Camp Blanding, Florida for
Infantry Basic Training. Camp Blanding was near Starke about 45 miles
southwest of Jacksonville. Blanding was on a perfectly round lake surrounded
by pine forest and sand, sand and more sand. What can you say about basic
training in war time, it was rough. Most of us were in our teens and early
20's but our platoon sergeant was a 33 year old Greek from Mobile. He could
out march and our run all of us. He was a very good example to all of us. We
strived to be as good as he was.
As basic neared completion we received orders to Fort Jackson, SC for
further transportation to Italy. However we were given the opportunity to
enlist in the Regular Army for 18 months. I knew that might get a better
deal than many months in the infantry if I enlisted. This I did. I believed
two things. One, that I could do better than the infantry and two, I would
be home before those going to Italy.
After my enlistment I was transferred to a replacement center at Camp
Shelby, MS. In the replacement center assignments took several weeks. I went
to the University of Alabama on the weekends and stayed with a good friend
of mine from elementary and high school days. One weekend I was several
hours late returning to camp. I guess I was technically AWOL. My luck was
with me. I had missed my own assignment to Cook and Bakers School in Texas.
The fact that I was several hour AWOL did not seem to matter too much even
though I was on KP the next week. One day I was called in for an interview.
I was asked what I wanted to do. I replied that I wanted something
technical.
A
few days later I was ordered to get all of my belongings and get on a truck
that I had been assigned to the 51st Signal Battalion. I thought
I was going to the train station and eventually overseas. I asked the truck
driver where the 51st was and he said, just over the hill.
The 51st had just returned from Italy and most of the men
would be discharged in the next few weeks. I was one of the first
replacements to the 51st after their combat duty in Italy. The 51st
had no communications equipment and really had nothing to do.
We lived in huts that had no windows just wooden shutters. It was in the
winter and it was damp and cold and our only heat was from two pot bellied
stoves in each hut. The mess hall used coal burning stoves for cooking. I
was trained on how to make fires and keep them going. I was called a
Fireman. My job was to start the fires in the mess hall each morning about
5:00 am and maintain the fire in the Colonel's house. This took only a few
hours each day and the remaining time I was free.
After a few months at Camp Shelby the 51st was relocated to
Camp Polk, LA. We went by convoy with an overnight stay in some small town
in Mississippi. Our quarters at Polk were much better. We had the standard
two story barracks that were standard in most military bases.
When we arrived at Polk I was assigned to the Carrier Platoon. My
Sergeant was Sergeant Paul Miller of Phoenix City, Alabama. We became
friends since we were both from Alabama. Years later, when I arrived in
Germany as a 2nd Lieutenant, my Platoon Sergeant was Paul Miller.
My early days at Polk were working in the Motor Pool keeping vehicles
clean. Later I became the permanent barracks orderly. My duties were to
clean the latrine and the barracks, then stand by for inspection. When the
inspection was over I was free for the day. What a rough life.
One
day I was summoned by the Red Cross. I thought that someone in the family
was quite ill. When I arrived I was asked had I been in touch with my
family. I confessed that I had not written for several weeks. I found out
that my mother was concerned about me. I was required to immediately write
my mother.
About a week later I received an envelope from home. I opened it and it
contained a dozen pre-stamped postcards. Each was the same. Mother had very
carefully typed on each several questions about my well being and all I had
to do was to check a Yes or No box. I got the message. I wrote my family at
regular intervals from then on. I never mailed any cards.
During the summer of 1945 I was sent to Fort Monmouth to be trained as a
Powerman. A Powerman maintained all small power generating equipments. At
Monmouth we were again housed in the small huts like at Camp Shelby. There
was one exception, they did have windows. These barracks were located where
the hospital was later built.
One
day one of the men in the barracks had on a set of earphones and he had a
cigar box in his hand. I asked him what he was doing. He said that he was
listening to the radio. A radio in a cigar box? I had to see that. He showed
me the crystal set he had built in the Radio Repair course. I asked if I
could build one. He said he would get me the necessary parts. A few days
later, with my friend’s guidance I put together the parts for a crystal
radio. Because of the cramped space in the cigar box, I put the parts
together on outside of the cigar box. I put on the headphones and to my
astonishment I picked up a radio station in New York City.
Phase one was complete. Now I had to reassemble the parts in the cigar
box. This I did but now it did not work. This was a turning point in my
life. I wanted to know why it did not work and I wanted to know more about
radio and communications I went to a drugstore in Eatontown and purchased a
copy of QST, an Amateur Radio magazine. I read it but did not understand any
of it. For the next several months I continued to purchase QST and little by
little began to get some understanding. I made a decision, that when I
returned to college I would study Electrical Engineering.
You can't be in New Jersey along the ocean without going to the beach.
The beaches at Long Branch and Asbury Park were a real treat for me, a boy
that had never seen a beach. The view of the ocean and the sand was
outstanding as was the view of some of the creatures on the beach.
Most
every weekend I would hitchhike to New York City. In those days all service
men were treated like royalty in the city. There was a Service Men's Center
on 5th Avenue just three blocks south of Grand Central Station.
There you could play games, get refreshments, read newspapers and magazines
or just relax. They provided free tickets to ball games, Broadway plays,
concerts, radio broadcast and movie theaters. I frequently went to Broadway
plays and radio broadcasts. My favorite was the Bell Telephone Hour at Radio
City. Of course we also got tickets to the Radio City Music Hall.
I found the city a fascinating place full of fascinating people. I would
spend a lot of my time just standing on the corner of Broadway and 44th
street, near the Astor Hotel Drugstore, just watching the people pass by.
A
service man needed very little money in the city. You could not buy a drink
for there was always someone that wanted to buy one for you only because you
were in the service. You needed very little for food but food was cheap at
the Automat. The Automat had windowed boxes, much like a large post office
box. Each box contained a food product and a coin slot. You could eat at the
Automat for a dollar or less.
Most
pastors frown on people sleeping in church. Not so in a very large church on
Madison Avenue. They had converted a basketball court into a dormitory for
service men on Fridays and Saturdays. You could come and go at any time.
There was no curfew. They had showers and lockers for you to use. In the
morning they served doughnuts and coffee and never tried to get you to
attend their worship services.
You cannot go to New York City without a visit to Central Park. I went
there often and wandered and wandered. I liked to go to the zoo. On summer
evenings there were frequent concerts in the park that always drew a large
crowd. Sometimes I had a friend since this was many years before I met my
wife.
My summer vacation in the north was coming to an end. I successfully
completed the Powerman's Course. I returned to the 51st at Camp
Polk. I went back to the same barracks. We still had no equipment and no
primary mission except to keep our vehicles and barracks clean. I had been
promoted to T-5 and now I had one of the private rooms on the barracks
second floor. I resumed my duties as barracks orderly.
As the 51st was trying to build a unit of career soldiers,
several of we short timers were transferred elsewhere for our final months I
was transferred to Fort Sill for my last three months of active duty. At
Fort Sill I worked for Base Housing delivering furniture to military
quarters.
As I was being processed for discharge a Sergeant told me I could go home
a week early if I would join the Reserves. I was still very young and
realized that if there was another war I would have to serve if I was in the
Reserve or not. Besides there was no real commitment to attend any meetings.
I joined the reserve and returned home. Thus ends my enlisted service.