At the time he entered the Air Force, there was a tremendous build-up and the demand for flyers was great.  Although he did not have the education of most young men who were filling the flying spots, he was likely given special consideration because of his previous military record and flying experience.  He was accepted and became a bomber pilot.  I have detailed his military record separately.

I vaguely remember some of the places he was stationed when he was going through his training.  I remember when he was stationed at March Field near Riverside, California just prior to him being sent overseas to the European war.  We (the 4 of us) lived in the second floor of a two-story house that we shared with the owner of an orange grove.  There were hundreds of orange trees all around us and a swimming pool in the back yard of the house.  It even had a small wading pool for us kids.  We could eat all the oranges we wanted but were told to only pick off the trees what we could eat.  We were a couple of orange-faced little boys for much of the time.

When Dad received his shipping orders to Europe, we moved back to Waco.  I remember the duplex we lived in for a short while.  I remember the four of us having an early Christmas in December 1944 at our grandparent’s house (Big Momma and Grand Daddy).  I remember Daddy asking Richard and me to be good boys while he was gone and take care of Mommy.  Mom was pregnant with Linda Louise at that time.  I remember Richard and I stood up tall and saluted Dad, promising that we would take care.

Dad shipped to England in December of 1944.  Dad was so excited about being a father again, he even decided Linda’s name and had a locket engraved with her name while he was in England.  This, at a time when you didn’t know the sex of the baby until it was born.  He never got to see the daughter he loved.  His fighting career was short lived.  After only 4 combat missions, on February 6, 1945 he and his entire crew were killed in a mid-air collision over England prior to a bombing mission to Magdeburg, Germany.

I guess somehow the circumstances of his death and the mystique of this person that was our father helped form my personality.  I developed an intense interest in everything about him and his overwhelming interest in the military.  Over the years, I have tried to learn all I could about him and about the times in which he lived.  He lived in perhaps the most exciting times of the century.  Unfortunately, although I have learned much, I still know very little.  Certainly, I do not know nearly as much as I want.  When I was young, Mom, in her grief, would not talk about him.  After many years, when she could have told us three children about Dad, she could not remember the details that we all so much wanted. One of the reasons I am writing this recollection is to help others in the future to know what little I do know of Dad.

I have often thought about writing a novel based on my Dad’s life.  It would have to be fiction, as I do not know enough of the facts for it to be a biography.  Maybe, after I retire I can reconsider something of this nature.  I know that even today at this age of nearly 63, I have always hero-worshipped my father.