The Dream

It was four O'Clock in the morning on December 7, 1941, when the alarm sounded. Dr. C.L. Prichard, a close personal friend and our family doctor, and I had driven from Abilene to Harper, Texas, to spend the weekend with my sister Frances and hunt deer and turkey on a ranch north of town. We decided we would get up early on Sunday morning and hunt for a couple of hours before we returned. After hunting and deciding the turkeys were too smart for us, we put our guns in the car and drove to my home, which was about five miles east of Abilene. As soon as we arrived, my parents met us and asked if we had heard about the Japanese bombing Pearl Harbor. We had not. They said that several of our warships had been sunk and thousands had been killed. While I had never heard of Pearl Harbor, the news impacted my life significantly. This event meant there was no longer any question about whether I would have to go into the service. I had registered for the draft after Congress had passed the bill requiring all young men to register at the age of eighteen. Now, it was no longer a matter of if, but when and where I would serve.

I had been working at the Quartermasters office at Camp Barkeley since September 1940. Colonel E. C. Adkins, the quartermaster, and H. M. Bauer, his assistant, had both said they would like to have me continue to work for them and would help me join the service and get assigned to their office. I appreciated the fact that they wanted me to work for them, and it would have been an excellent situation for me since I could have continued in the same job and served my military duty at home. However, after giving it serious consideration, I decided it would be best to delay my military career. My parents were building a new home on the north side of our farm, and since dad was not in good health, I felt it would be best for me to help them until they could move into the new house. I had also recently bought some steers and had them in the feedlot. I feared I would not break even financially if I sold them. Additionally, I believed I was already doing my part for the war effort with my current work at Barkeley.

I had worked at Camp Barkeley long enough to know that I did not want to serve in the infantry or artillery. The one thing I really wanted to do was join the aviation cadet pilot training program. All my life I had loved airplanes. Ever since I saw my first one, there was hardly a week that went by when I did not build some type of plane. The planes, when mixed with my desire and imagination, would take me soaring through the clouds. I felt being an aviation cadet and an officer with silver wings on my chest would be the greatest achievement a man could attain. However, I realized my chances of becoming a pilot were slim at best—you had to complete two years of college just to apply. Since I had not been to college, I had little hope.

The months after the bombing of Pearl Harbor were a real challenge. I did not want to be drafted, but I knew that unless I enlisted, it was inevitable since I was twenty years old at the time. I had made up my mind that the U.S. Army Air Forces would be the best place for me. Before I could enlist, I had to help my parents finish their house and then sell the steers I had recently purchased. It was during this time that a surprising and exciting development occurred. The Army Air Forces eased its requirements for applying for aviation cadet training. Anyone who had completed high school and could pass a test based on a two-year college level would be accepted for cadet training. That was great news for me. After about a day of excitement, the reality hit that I would have to pass the test. I knew it would be difficult, because at best I was an average high school student. In spite of the odds, I intended to make the attempt as soon as possible. I went to the Army Air Forces recruiting office and signed up to take the test. The list of applicants was long, and the office only had facilities to handle about thirty a day. I was told I would have to wait ten days. I was afraid that I might get my draft notice before I could take the test.

The day I was scheduled to take the test finally arrived. I got to the recruiting office early that morning and joined a large group of young men who were standing out front. We all went in and took a seat. Finally, they announced that we were to report to a sergeant who briefed us on what to expect. As soon as I started, my confidence vanished. I had absolutely no hope of passing. Several hours later, we completed the last section. The recruiting officer excused us for lunch and told us to return to have our papers graded. I was so discouraged that I thought about just going home. Changing my mind, at one o'clock I returned. Finally, one of the sergeants called my name, and I sat across from him while he graded my test. I began to think that I had probably made the lowest score ever recorded. It did not take him long to check all the answers and to add the score. I could not see the totals, but after he completed the grading, he started back through the test, grading it again. I wondered if I had gotten any of the questions right since he was taking so long and doing so much checking. He apologized for taking so much time, but he wanted to re-grade the test since I had scored a seventy-nine and a grade of eighty was passing.

I was pleased that I had scored so high but disappointed that I had not gotten one more answer correct. There were a number of questions that could have gone either way. As I left I felt fortunate to have come so close to passing. I also learned while there that I might have one more chance. The Army Air Forces was going to change the test and when it did, I would be eligible to take it. Unfortunately, no one knew when it would be offered, and I was afraid I would receive my draft notice any day.

There was one person who was glad I failed the test. My mother was not excited about seeing her son become a pilot. She believed flying would be the most dangerous thing I could do. While she never did tell me that she did not want me to join the Army Air Forces, I could tell she wanted me to choose some other branch of the military.

I decided to wait and hoped the new exam would arrive before my draft notice. I knew that as a last resort I could try to take the Navy flight test. I went by the Navy recruiting office, but just inside the door was a large picture showing an airplane landing on an aircraft carrier. All the water and such a small place to land had no appeal to me, so I turned around and left the building. I gambled that I would get to take the new Army Air Forces exam and plotted a strategy to do better than the first time. I had thought a lot about the test I had taken, and knew that if I were able to take another test, I would do it differently. Each part...