My father had served in World War I, and he also joined the Navy, just a week after I did.  That's pretty amazing! (SEE ARTICLE BELOW) He was sent to Corpus Christi, Texas.  I started my training in aviation maintenance at Navy Pier, Illinois and then went on to Moffit Field, California for combat training.  Finally I went to Norfolk, Virginia where I had my very first airplane ride.

Because of a shortage of American-owned ships, we sailed on a leased Dutch merchant ship from California toward a destination in the tropical South Pacific.  We passed the equator on January 31^, 1943. Sailors like myself who had not passed the equator were called "Pollywogs" by the more experienced sailors. The senior sailors gave us an initiation -- they shaved our heads and made us brush our teeth with cornstarch. After this we were referred to as "Shellbacks", and this remains a naval tradition to this day.

I was stationed on the largest island in the New Hebrides, a 75 by 45 mile island in the middle of the ocean called Espiritu Santo.  This was an aviation repair station, and we lived there in Quonset huts.  I was an Aviation Machinist’s Mate in charge of fueling ("gassing") the planes and checking the planes for defects or damage. 

The army cots we slept on became lumpy after awhile, so we stuffed them with strips of old tires to make them more comfortable.  The food wasn’t the greatest -- some Wednesday mornings we had beans for breakfast!  For entertainment we played baseball and watched movies.  Some of the men went boar hunting around the island which provided pig-roasts for us.  We took handkerchiefs to the native people to exchange for bracelets handmade from shells.

I did have the privilege to service the planes of the famous Black Sheep Squadron (VMF 214) led by "Pappy" Boyington.  You might remember them better from the old 1970s television show.  I cleaned and gassed their planes and checked them over for damage as they taxied back down the runway after they returned from their missions.  They flew the Navy’s F4U Corsair, one of my favorite planes.

After I had learned the ropes as a Machinist’s Mate I learned how to repair wing damage.  When I had gained more experience, I  began to work in the propeller overhaul shop.  You asked me if we filled in the bullet and shrapnel holes in the planes.  No, we just took a sheet of metal and covered them up.  The planes could fly even with bullet holes in them.

I was on the island for 21 months and returned to the United States before the war’s end to continue repairing Navy equipment in Pasco, Washington.  I was stationed there from December 15, 1944 to June 20, 1945.  My last posting was at the United States Navy Air Station in Hutchinson, Kansas from June 24, 1945 to December 19, 1945.  By the end of my service, I had been promoted to Apprentice Machinist’s Mate, Second Class.