Allison - Corbett

BOB ALLISON, AIRMAN FIRST CLASS, USAF

I was attending Akron University in the electrical engineering program and working nights at Goodyear Tire and Rubber under an arrangement where engineering students were exposed to all production tasks in the various departments of truck and car tire manufacturing plants.

During my second year I realized that 5 of my buddies (who had joined the Marines) were never coming home from Korea. I had broken a long relation with my girlfriend and not doing great in classes. The distorted, mixed up solution was to join the Air Force.

In the early spring of 1954 I found myself at Sampson Basic Training Base in New York. Nine weeks later I was at Keesler AFB in Biloxi, Mississippi enrolled in Airborne Radio Repair School. After graduation I was selected to stay there as an Instructor assigned to the 3398th Technical Training Squadron.

A year or so later I asked to be transferred to flight line duty at Moody AFB, Valdosta, Georgia working on F-89 Scorpions, T33 Shooting Stars and F-94 aircraft. There was a 3496th Mobile Training Detachment being formed for support of F-89 at Chanute AFB, in Illinois. I requested assignment, joined that group, and became instructor for radio, navigation and electronic countermeasure equipment.

All the training bases for this aircraft were stateside, so we travelled to numerous Air Force Bases located in Georgia, Mississippi, Massachusetts and Illinois.

My last assignment was at James Connelly AFB, Waco, Texas, from which I was discharged in November of 1957. At the time, the Korean Conflict was over and the USAF was in manpower drawdown, therefore, I took an early out (3 months) at my present grade of Airman First Class with National Defense Service and Good Conduct Medals.

After exhausting my unemployment benefits (maximum at the time I believe was 3 months), I went to work for Goodyear Aircraft then married, finished a Bachelor of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering under the G.I. bill and again worked nights on the squad with Goodyear while my wife worked days - we saw each other from after midnight to early morning. The first baby came roughly 3 years later after we started really learning to live together.

CLAYTON P. ANDERSON, TSGT, USA

I was drafted into the U.S. Army and inducted on March 9, 1943 at Fort Niagara, NY. Basic training was completed at Camp Edwards, Massachusetts. I was assigned to the C Battery 359th AAA Search Light Battalion. On January 1, 1944, I was transferred to AAFTAC Air Base in Orlando, FL for more training. I was promoted to Sergeant on November 12, 1944. On March 3, 1945, I was transferred to Capt Davis, NC, where I thought we were going to get ready to go overseas. However, I was transferred again to Camp Stewart, GA on October 3, 1944. On October 25, I was transferred yet again to Camp Gordon, GA, which we thought would be our final camp before being reclassified and deployed. We were training for the infantry and it was very intense. I had done 6 weeks of training in radio and wire communications at Camp Edwards, Mississippi in 1943. I was then transferred to Camp Polk, LA, where our outfit was broken up and I ended up in the 107th Calvary, where I was doing radio work. March of 1945, I was transferred to Fort Knox, KY with Co. C 23rd Armored Special Training Battalion and was no longer doing radio work. June 1, I was transferred again to Co C 20th Bn 5th Regiment, Fort Meade, MD. On June 13, I arrived in San Francisco and was assigned to be the Intelligence and Communications Non-Com for Armored Co. B, 4th Platoon.

On June 21, 1945, I shipped out to the Pacific Theater. On the ship, which was a Dutch Ship, the Kota Baroe, that had been leased to transport troops. I produced a radio broadcast with the news that we had received and preparation for the landing in the Philippines. We stopped in Hawaii for refueling and landed in the Philippines in Mid July. We were in Luzon until going to Cebu in early August. I was transferred to the Americal Division, which was one of the oldest combat outfits in the Pacific. I was again on the radio, having replaced someone with enough points to go home. By late September, we were in Zushi, Japan, having gone from Cebu on an LST that was very fast. We passed three convoys on the way to the port. On the way, we were allowed to turn on our running lights for the first time and that was a beautiful sight.

In Zushi, I met a few people who spoke English. One was a dentist, Dr. Taraki, who had gone to school in Baltimore. His 21 year old daughter, Aiko, showed me around a lot, including Tokyo where I saw how bombed out the city was. A friend and I bought a Dotson car, which had a top speed of about 35 miles per hour but with the roads there that was good enough. In Zushi, I was transferred again to the First Calvary when a lot of their troops went home. I did a lot of radio work keeping in touch with the radio tower in Tokyo. I also had some guard duty at the train station. About 10 years ago, I went back to Zushi and the guard house at the train station was still there.

February 2, 1946, we shipped back home and I was discharged on February 15. I took a train back across the country from San Francisco. It was great to get home. I finished High School in a special school set up for GI's who hadn't finished and then went to college at Simpson College in Indianola, IA on the GI Bill. It was there that I met Vi and we were married at the end of my Junior year.

KEN ANTHONY, 2nd LT, USAR

Enlisted in the U.S. Army Reserve in 1959 and received basic training at Ft Knox (KY) and combat engineer training at Ft Leonard Wood (MO). Attended OCS and commissioned as a 2nd LT in the Infantry in 1961. Saw duty/ training at Camp Perry (Ohio), Camp Pickett (Virginia), Camp Zama (Japan), Guam (Mariana Islands) and Schofield Barracks (Hawaii).

Became a Special Agent with the Office of Naval Intelligence in 1962. (Subsequently, ONI changed its name and command structure to what is now known as NCIS, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service.)

Served in the following capacities during a 25 year career:

Special Agent: Philadelphia, Cleveland, Guam
Senior Special Agent: Yokohama, Japan
Assistant Special Agent-in-Charge: Navy Base, Great Lakes, Illinois
Special Agent Afloat: USS INTREPID (CVS-11) (Europe)
Special Agent-in-Charge: Marine Corps Base, Quantico, VA
Special Agent-in-Charge: Navy & Marine Corps Bases, Okinawa, Japan
Special Agent-in-Charge: US Navy Counterespionage Operations
Assistant Regional Director (Japan & Korea)
Regional Director (Northwest USA)
Director of Career Services (Responsible for the hiring, training and transferring of all members of
the 1,200 member Special Agent Corps)

Memorable Moments:

* Served on Protective Service Details for Presidents Kennedy, Nixon and Ford as well as led security services for author James Michener on Okinawa.

* Selected as the 1st deployed Special Agent Afloat, a program that continues today.

* Catapulted off the deck of the USS INTREPID (CVS-11) in a small passenger airplane 11 timesto meet with local police and conduct criminal investigations in various European ports of call. Lowered by "helo-line" to the deck of a destroyer in rough North Atlantic waters.

LYNN AUBEL, SN, USN

I enlisted in the Navy when I was 19 on January 18, 1945 when I was living in Pleasantville, NY. After boot camp, I attended Class "A" Fire Control School at the Naval Training Center, Bainbridge, Maryland. I was trained to fire guns and cannons.

I helped shake down a new aircraft carrier, the USS KEARSARGE (CV-33). One rather vivid memory is when the ship was in drydock in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. I was one of a group of men on scaffolds, with a wire brush less than a foot long to scrape the barnacles off the hull. The ship was 888 feet long. I remember feeling very small. During the shake down trip, we visited Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and Colon, Panama.

Though I did not get into combat, I do remember being called on deck and to bring a life preserver. We were being refueled at sea while being under way. The tanker ship got too close to us and hit our ship. There was lots of smoke around and several hoses from our ship were spraying onto and into the tanker. It turned out that there was no fire. The tanker had hit a tank on our ship that provided a smoke screen. There was no serious damage to either ship. We did get our ship up to 34 knots (39 miles per hour) during the shakedown trip. Maybe scraping the barnacles off the hull helped.

When Honorably Discharged on July 20, 1946, after serving about a year and a half, I was a Seaman First Class. I received the Victory Medal and American Theatre Medal.

I'm very grateful for the GI Bill. It made it possible for me to go to Georgia Tech. By going to the Veteran's Administration, I was able to arrange cutting off the educational benefits each summer. It paid most of my school expenses for 3 1/2 years. I was able to borrow enough money for the additional 1 1/2 years to get a degree in architecture.

I was one of four boys in our family. All four of us served our country. The picture shows my brother Lee on my left and Dale on my right. They both served in the Air Force and were stationed in England. My younger brother Ronald served 4 years in the Navy.

JAMES BAILEY, CORPORAL, USA

I registered for the draft before I was 18. I had a draft deferment as a pre- theological student for 3 years in college. During my Junior year, I dropped the theological study and became liable for the draft. Because I wanted to graduate from college first, I joined the Illinois National Guard in Monmouth in 1948. The duty consisted of weekly drills at the armory and a two week summer camp in Wisconsin. I still remember my serial number and have recently used it when signing up for medical benefits through the Veterans Administration (VA).

Barbara and I were married in the spring 1951. I was inducted into the Army at Fort Sheridan, Illinois (near Evanston) on October 25, 1951. During the first week, we got uniforms, medical inoculations and the first GI haircut. From there I traveled to Arkansas by troop train and was designated as the platoon leader. The trip was long, no air conditioning and no bunks. We slept sitting up for two nights.

At Camp Chaffee, Arkansas, the first 8 weeks was the basic infantry course and the second 8 weeks was training on the 105 Howitzer. We were told from the first day that we were all headed for combat in Korea. Our 16 weeks of training had not been racially segregated. There were Blacks and Whites, Latinos and Anglos as well as Orientals and American Indians all in the same unit. However, after basic training, the unit assignments were segregated. Upon graduation, I was one of about 50 all white soldiers selected to go to a battalion in England. All the rest went to Korea.

We were transported on a troop ship, crowded into hold like areas with bunks stacked 5 high approximately 12" between bunks. You had to keep all your belongings on the bunk during the day and hanging from the end post at night. We arrived in Southampton, England and were transported by troop train to Mildenhall Air Base near Cambridge. England was the staging area for a large number of Strategic Air Command (SAC) bases. We were to be the ring of anti-aircraft gunners to protect the base and the planes.

I was assigned to the 92nd AAA Battalion as a Supply Clerk because I knew how to type. We moved from Mildenhall to Lakenheath near Oxford where I spent at least 14 months. Part of my training included a week in Weisbadden, Germany attending Quartermaster School with a group of German officers who were part of the US created German Work force immediately after WWII. While in England, President Truman issued the famous order integrating the services and we had a number of black troops join our battalion. A major highlight for me was that Barbara was allowed to join me and we lived off base for the last 10 months of my conscription. She also got to meet my English relatives. I returned to the states via troop ship. I was discharged at Fort Sheridan and received the National Defense Service Medal. The law at the time was 2 years active duty and 4 years reserves. Since I already had 2 years in the Illinois National Guard, I got a full Honorable Discharge. I used the GI Bill for 2 years of post graduate education. In retirement, I am able to use the medical services and drugs from the VA hospitals at greatly reduced cost. I admit to a degree of pride in flag and country, and I always proudly stand when veterans of the armed forces are introduced in any gathering.

HELEN (GRAY) BARNES, SGT, USA

After Basic Training in Des Moines, Iowa, and since I had six month's nurse's training, I went right into Medics at a hospital at Camp McCoy, Wisconsin. From there, I was sent to a hospital at Galesburg, Illinois, specializing in nerve and orthopedic surgery. Working in surgery, I came into contact with compounds and became allergic to them. I then worked in the Mess Office until discharged, completing about two years of service from August 14, 1944, to July 2, 1946.

The military was a good experience, giving me good training and discipline. My only regret was not staying longer.

WARREN F. BEAUMAN, ARM3/C, USN

I joined the Navy in 1944 at the Detroit, Michigan Recruiting Station. I had tried in 1943 but found out 16 was too young. Being from Michigan and enlisting in Detroit, I felt sure I was headed for Great Lakes Training Station. But once on the train at the Fort Street Station, and 9 days later-via El Paso, Texas, I ended up at Farragut, Idaho. Took my boot camp training there, finishing Seaman Second Class (S2C).

After a leave, I was sent to Aviation Radio School at Millington, Tennessee. There I had an amazing experience-I was with men that had been in V5 and V12 programs, several years of college under their belt (and I had quit high school). I was able to keep up with them, even excel because I graduated in the upper 10% of the class. I was promoted to 3rd class Petty Officer and given the opportunity to stay on in ships company as a teacher. I declined and was shipped to Air Gunnery School in Purcell, Oklahoma. Finishing there, I transferred to a PBY Squadron at NAS, Jacksonville, Florida. It was not very long and the squadron was broken up. I was assigned to the radio repair shop. Our job was to work on, repair, and install equipment to keep the remaining PBY's flying. Working on the flight line was so hot in this Florida sun that I requested night shift. Shortly following this, I was transferred to a PB4Y2 Squadron located on the north side of Jacksonville. I think it is possibly the same location of the present day commercial field. I flew in a 4 engine patrol bomber serving as the second radioman. This squadron trained several months before being shipped to Kearney Field outside of San Diego, California.

All the time I served in the Navy, I was writing to a young lady I met in the flute section of our local high school band. Her name was and is Joyce. I no longer write, I'm married to her-for the last 66 years. She seemed to encourage my writing because first a birthday gift of stationary followed by a beautiful fountain pen with my name on it. The letter writing was not real often, but I made sure when I had a leave to Monroe, Michigan that a visit to her home followed. Of course several dates took place-a movie, a dance on Friday night, and those walks afterward to her home in the dark.

Our squadron trained regularly with the patrol flights up and down the west coast line of the U.S. Sometimes our flights would be 10 hours long; some of that time, I would be on the radio desk or at the radar station. The end of the war finally came, hence I never served overseas. I was sent to serve in a radio maintenance facility at Alameda, California. From there to a similar station across the bay to Oakland, California and on June 1, 1946, I was honorably discharged from Shoemaker, California.

I think the greatest thing the Navy did for me was to convince me that college was indeed a viable option. With the GI Bill ahead of me, I knew I could do it. So I applied at the University of Michigan and was accepted, but only on probation. That was not acceptable to me, so I went back to high school. They took me and allowed me to take 2 years of classes in 1 year. I succeeded with an all "A" record. The Navy had given me the drive so lacking in my early years. I went on then to the University of Michigan, transferred to North Central College in Naperville, Illinois. There I was able to study flute with Rene Rateau, principal flutist, Chicago Symphony, and then I studied further at Eastman School of Music, Rochester, NY.

AL BROCK, QM2, USN

My twin brother Pete and I enlisted in the U.S. Navy in June 1944 after we graduated from high school. We traveled from Sanford to Jacksonville, FL and on to Boot Camp at Camp Perry, near Williamsburg, VA. Pete was assigned to the naval aircraft carrier, USS BON HOMME RICHARD (CV-31) and I was assigned to Quartermaster School in Gulfport, MS. Then I was assigned to an amphibious ship, USS LSM-349, consisting of 58 crew members. The Captain recognized my Christian commitment and asked me to write a letter of comfort to the family of one of our shipmates who died suddenly of cholera.

While underway, we encountered the worst typhoon of the war just off Okinawa. In the middle of the night we were thrown out of our bunks as our ship ran into 50 foot waves. Several destroyers in the convoy did go down, but with our flat-bottomed ship, we rode the waves and stayed afloat. In China, where we were near Tientsin for almost all of the last year I was in the Navy, I saw suffering of the Chinese coolies at the hands of some of our U.S. servicemen. We hauled supplies including food up the river to the Marines. One day, while the coolies were unloading food supplies from our ship, it was discovered by the Marine guards that a number of bags of sugar and other food supplies were missing, I saw the Marines beating these coolies with boards until the sugar and food were running out from beneath their clothing. They were hungry. One of them was running away and I saw one of the Marines shoot him. I never personally experienced actual military combat. The atom bomb was dropped while we were preparing to invade Japan; thus, the invasion never occurred.

In 1946, we gave our ship to the Chinese Nationalist government now located in Taiwan. The Communists were beginning to take over mainland China. We were placed on a supply ship and crossed the Pacific to San Diego, where we boarded a train. We rode the train through Arizona, New Mexico and Texas to Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and landed in Jacksonville, where I was Honorably Discharged as a Quartermaster Second Class after serving two years.

God had been so good to me. He had wonderfully helped me through a difficult separation from my twin brother. He had spared me in a terrible typhoon and a possibly very dangerous beach landing and invasion of Japan, and had increased my faith through His presence with me in China as well. The GI Bill helped to pay four years of college and the first year of seminary. I eventually became an ordained minister in the Methodist church.

FRED BRUNER, AT2, USN

I enlisted at the Navy Recruiting Station in San Rafael, CA on Feb. 18, 1951. Because the Korean War was on and because I had dropped out of college, I knew my college deferment would no longer be with me, so rather than be drafted in the Army, I enlisted in the Navy. None of my buddies enlisted with me. I took the train from San Francisco to San Diego for basic training.

During basic training In San Diego, I was assigned to be an Aviation Technician and was sent to Norman, OK for A&P training for two months. From there I went to Memphis, TN for Aviation Electronics Technician training and from there to the Naval Air Station at Patuxent River, MD from May 1953-October 1954. I was then assigned for duty with FASRON 104 in Port Lyautey, French Morocco until late January 1956.

During my time in French Morocco I visited Spain, England and Italy. I also went to Casablanca, Marrakesch, Tangier and Gibraltar. Casablanca was famous for the WWII meeting between Winston Churchill, Franklin Roosevelt, Chiang kai-Chek and Charles de Gaulle. We saw the hotel where they met and had a cup of coffee there. Because of French influence, the cities were nicely laid out. I've always loved history and have always enjoyed thinking back on the time I spent over there.

I wrote as few letters as possible. That's why my mother wrote to the Red Cross to see if I was still alive! I was sent back from French Morocco to Philadelphia, PA in late January, 1956 and was discharged in February as an Aviation Electronics Technician 2ⁿᵈ Class. I took a train to Washington DC and then flew to San Francisco. I hitchhiked to San Rafael because I hadn't told anyone I was coming. I surprised the socks off them!

I can wear the National Defense Service medal but I no longer have it.

The things I learned in electronics have stayed with me and I've always been able to repair things. I use that skill here at PRC in the electric shop.

I went back to my old job with the California Highway Department as a surveyor until the fall of 1956 when I enrolled in the engineering program at College of Marin in San Anselmo, California. I wanted to get back into the swing of studying and make up some bad grades. While going to school there, I met my wife, Dorothy.

JAMES C. BRYANT, PRIVATE, USA

I was inducted into the U.S. Army on May 18, 1943 and entered active duty on May 25, 1943. I had been trained as a 19 year old draftee at Ft. Bragg, NC. Part of my preparation was how to fire a 105 Howitzer. Our troop ship destination unknown to us, sailed away from the USA with 6,500 soldiers aboard. We zigzagged across the Atlantic without any protective escort ship so were really relieved when we saw land-Africa. So many of us had been seasick most of the way, that was another reason to get off at Casablanca.

Our 40 and 8 train chugged up the side of the Atlas mountains, shuttling us in little groups as the train was too small for this task. At this staging area, we were taught how to use a bayonet with these terse words: "Kill or be killed." The next ship took us into Naples, Italy, where we were loaded onto some kind of wartime craft. At the Anzio shore, I somehow got off that little craft. I hightailed it alone, up a hill, spotted a church and hid there from the German strafing. They got to a hill-top monastery and outfitted with the strongest weapons they could. They hoped to drive us out of the land below and into the ocean. It was a desert. I cannot begin to tell you of the misery of living in a foxhole-your home dug out of the sand-your helmet is your pillow. You can't remember when you changed your clothes. Days, weeks, months went by. Boxes of food rations were dropped from the sky and the food was always the same. Some we ate to keep from starving, most we buried.

I was assigned to go up the hill between us and the Germans as an unusually dangerous guy called the forward observer. The mortality rate for these guys was very high. We located an empty building and from that spot we could radio down any movement on the part of the enemy The Germans kept us pinned down and the only time I was out of my foxhole was when I was assigned to fire the 105 Howitzer. I would put my left index finger in my right ear as I pulled the lanyard with my right hand. In those days there was no such thing as ear protection so as a result I am deaf in my left ear.

All of a sudden life changed for me as I was hit in the head and eye and was evacuated by medics. When I came home on a hospital ship, I was treated at Starke Hospital in Charleston, SC, where they tried to save my eye. Then I was transferred to Tuscaloosa, Alabama, to the Northington General Hospital, where I had another memorable experience. One day Helen Keller with her aide Annie Sullivan, stopped at my bedside. She put her fingers on my lips and told me I had a good life to live for-I had one eye and I could make a success of my life. Those 16 months in the hospital taught me patience and diligence and respect for all those who care for the sick.

My military occupation specialty was Gun Crewman Light Artillery 844. I served during the Battle-Campaign in Rome Arno Co. 33 War Department 1945 with Battery C 39th Field Artillery Battalion. I was Honorably Discharged on September 8, 1945 at ASF Regional Hospital, Camp Lee, Virginia. My awards include 1 Bronze Service Star, a European African Middle Eastern Service Medal, and a Good Conduct Medal.

PAUL BUE, LTC, USA (RET)

I was commissioned a Second Lieutenant upon graduation from Boston University in 1955 and entered active duty in September 1956 at FT Monmouth, New Jersey where I began learning the military mantra-failure is not an option. On graduation from the Basic Signal Officers course, I was assigned to the Army Pictorial Center in Long Island City, New York, the site of the former 20th Century Fox studios.

My roommate Jack Smith and I had breakfast in the PX cafeteria and were joined by the Post Engineer, a Lieutenant Colonel, who viewed us as fresh meat and proceeded to hold court at our expense. We learned he was from Texas and had a brother who gave up a good job as a teacher to become a politician. He asked me, "Bue, do you know who is the meanest man on this post?" I replied "yes sir, you're looking at him". This was the beginning of a military friendship. Some years later I learned that his brother Lyndon became President of the United States.

Our military unit was the first to successfully integrate white and minority soldiers. We learned from each other. The Big Apple was our campus and thanks to the USO we were able to get tickets to broadway shows and sporting events at reduced rates.

On New Year's Day in 1958, I met the love of my life, Ensign Sandra Maude Dallaire. We fell in love, married and began our journey through the land of genteel poverty. Yet despite life's trials and tribulations, God was with us as I labored in various assignments:

OIC TV Applications Development Section, APC Long Island City, NY-OIC AFRTS (Kanu radio and TV) Asmara Eritrea Ethiopia, East Africa; Staff and Faculty at the U.S. Army Signal School; The Command and General Staff College; U.S. Army War College, Carlisle Barracks, PA; Network Liaison Office, AFPRTS New York; MACV, 39th Signal Battalion RVN; MACV First Signal Brigade Southeast Asia Pictorial Center, RVN, Public Affairs Officer

Alaskan Air Command.

My awards include: Certificate of Achievement, Legion of Merit, Meritorious Service Medal, Bronze Star Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster (OLC), Air Medal w/4 OLC, and Army Commendation Medal (w/OLC).

I retired in 1977 after serving a total of 22 years with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel (LTC), U.S. Army.

SANDRA (DALLAIRE) BUE, LTJG, MSC, USNR

While a freshman at Framingham State Teachers College in Massachusetts, I signed up for the Reserve Officer Candidate (ROC) Program in the Navy. It involved 6 weeks of training at Great Lakes Naval Training Center, Illinois, the first summer and 6 weeks at U.S. Naval Training Center, Bainbridge, Maryland, the second summer.

Instead of taking a commission as a line officer upon graduation in 1954, I was able to take an internship in Dietetics at Cook County Hospital in Chicago. Two years later, I was commissioned in the Medical Service Corps as a dietitian. I was then sent to St. Albans Naval Hospital, St. Albans, New York, serving for two years.

I met my husband while in New York. Paul was career Army and after we married, we moved to Asmara, Eritrea and stayed for 30 months. Our son was born there and my status was now Army wife. That's when the traveling began. We added two daughters to the family and lived in several places: Connecticut, New York, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Alaska, Kansas, Georgia and Paul added two tours in Vietnam.

Upon Paul's retirement in 1977, we moved back to Georgia to a ten acre farm. We had 3 horses, several goats, chickens, 3 dogs, and several cats. I worked as a dietitian and diabetes educator at St. Joseph Hospital in Augusta, Georgia when our children were in college. When I retired, I volunteered at the Senior Center teaching reading to seniors and working with handicapped people of all ages in horseback riding. Finally in 2002 we moved to Penney Retirement Community, Penney Farms, Florida.

JAMES C. BURNS, LCOL, USA

While living in Tennessee, I enlisted in the U.S. Army Reserves. They wanted me to finish college, which I did in less than a year in December 1942. I rode the train to Chattanooga, TN to report for active duty. Frank Clement, who was 2 years ahead of me in high school, rode with me. After the war, he became Governor of Tennessee when he was 30 years old. The night I reported for active duty, I learned a cousin, Harris F. Collier, had been killed that day in the war while training.

I was trained for 2 1/2 years to be an electronics engineer. I supervised maintenance of airborne radar equipment on B-29's. I was enroute overseas when the war ended. I served in Guam, Seapan and Tinian and later on Clark Field with Phillipines. When I got to Tinian, the Enola Gay was parked in front of my radar shack. I flew over Japan in a B-29 at very low altitudes after the war to evaluate the damage from all the bombs dropped on Japan. When I was at Clark Field, I ran into a fellow who lived directly across the street from me in Nashville, TN. I went to Manila for rest and recreation. There I met a fellow who was the brother of a boy in my high school class.

When my troop ship was in Pearl Harbor going overseas, I met a boy who was a fraternity brother in college. He took me around Pearl. Years later, he introduced me to a lovely lady who later became my wife. My parents wrote to me three or four times a week while overseas. I recently re-read those letters.

I was a Private for almost 2 years until I received my commission as a 2nd Lieutenant after a course at Yale University in the fall of 1945. I was discharged in San Antonio, Texas in June of 1946 after serving 3 1/2 years. I utilized the GI Bill to go to law school. I knew how to use the GI Bill as my folks required me to pay for my last two years of college before the war. I had it paid for when I graduated in 1942.

I was called to active duty for another 1 1/2 years during the Korean War. After that, I stayed in the Reserves (Air National Guard) for a total of 24 years service and the last few years as a Lieutenant Colonel.

BELINDA (BURWELL) CARLSON, AC3, USN

I joined the U.S. Navy in January of 1962 while living in warm Florida. I boarded a train in Jacksonville heading for Washington, DC. It was very cold and I had never been in such cold weather. Two other girls and I ran around DC most of the day. Then we were taken to Bainbridge, Maryland, where the Navy boot camp and other Navy facilities were located at the time. The base has long been disestablished.

I was chosen to be the Recruit Chief Petty Officer of our company. I had to quickly learn how to call commands and march 80 young women around the base. It was a great time and our company won all company marching and military honors.

At the end of boot camp, I received orders to Air Traffic Control School in Brunswick, Georgia. This was a lovely base and still had two old dirigible hangers. Classrooms were located here for several Navy schools. These hangers are now gone and the base is now a training place for parts of the FBI.

My next duty station after Brunswick was Naval Air Station, Jacksonville. Needless to say it is quite changed also. We had several jet squadrons and also P2V's, the later were located on the river sea wall and was always good for a challenge and laugh getting them to the runways.

So many changes for women now, no overseas billets for women then. So after nearly three years, I left to follow my spouse to Naples, Italy, where he was stationed on a ship. This was a positive experience in the Navy and especially in Naples. It is good to see the changes for women in the services and in other places in life, there is more to accomplish.

RICHARD CARLSON, SSGT, USAF

After attending Case University in Cleveland, Ohio for one year, I joined the U.S. Air Force in 1959. I was in basic training for 3 months at Lackland AFB in San Antonio, Texas.

During basic training and selected testing, I was sent to Indiana University in Bloomingdale for 9 months at the Russian Language School, preparing for Russian Military Communications Intercepts.

From there, I was sent to Good Fellow Air Force Base in San Angelo, Texas. I received 3 months of intensive radio intercept and specific Russian military terminology and language training.

I traveled to Germany by military chartered airlines. I spent most of my time, 3 1/2 years, at Rhein Main Air Base in Frankfurt, Germany. I flew missions around the Baltic area in C130 aircraft monitoring Russian communications.

I was discharged in 1964 at the rate of Staff Sergeant (E-5). I returned to college at Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. I graduated in the second class of their computer science program with a B.A. in Computer Science. Through the GI Bill, my tuition and books were paid.

ROD CARTER, MAJOR, USAF (RET)

I was commissioned in the USAF from ROTC at Oregon State College on 12/21/1957. I entered the first all jet pilot training class in February 1958. My first assignment was to SAC in KC-97's and flew them and KC-135's, for 10 years. Most of 1966-1969 was TDY to SEA, refueling B-52's out of Guam and F-105's bombing Hanoi. I had a brief stint flying the RF-4 in 1969, but there was a greater need for pilot with "prop" experience, so I was reassigned to the AC-119 Gunship and sent to Vietnam for a tour, which was exciting as we were positioned in an area where we could expect 10 to 20 thousand rounds of intensive and accurate antiaircraft fire on every mission defending "troops in contact". All told I flew 335 combat missions and picked up 13 Air Medals and a Distinguished Flying Cross in the process. I'm proud of what we did because we dispatched a lot of very evil people and saved a lot of good lives. One of the most interesting factors of my VN tour was that before I arrived the gunship squadron had experienced heavy losses, and had a new commander who smoked a pipe and carried a Bible wherever he went. I wasn't a Christian then, but on reflection, I know that it was his prayers and God's hand that kept us alive. On one mission our aircraft took 3 large hits from AAA. One round went through an engine nacelle without doing any damage, another went through a fuel cell without causing a fire, and one tracer round went through the fuselage scorching a crew members nomex flying suit and leaving an 8" hole right between all the hydraulic lines and control cables. One of the first people I shared my conversion experience later with was my old commander 10 years later.

From Saigon I went to Ching Chang Khan AB on Taiwan where I was the Base Chief of Operations and Training; an interesting and challenging experience with running nine distinctly different sub units and got to fly the C-130.

Then I was off to Air Traffic Control Officers School and an assignment back to the fun of flying "little" airplanes again at a large pilot training base. Being in charge of 154 Air Traffic Controllers who maintained positive control of up to 50 aircraft at once, in a half pie shaped radius of 50 miles was a challenge.

From there it was to the same job at MAC Headquarters in Illinois for 2 years. Then on to the Exec Officer's position at the AF Worldwide Central Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) Facility at Carswell AFB, Ft. Worth, TX, where I retired on March 1, 1978. After retiring I worked at American Airlines Flight Academy as a Boeing 707 instructor.

I returned to Ft. Lauderdale in 1980, dropped in on Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, got saved, became a disciple of Jim Kennedy, got married to Jan, was encouraged by the Session to use my GI Bill and go to Westminster Theological Seminary in California, then returned to my family in Bend, Oregon, where I served as a Chaplain with the Fire Department for 17 years, while Jan finished her 42 year nursing career, and then we came to live in PRC in 2010.

ANN COLISKEY, PN2, USN

Upon completion of boot camp at Naval Training Center, Bainbridge, MD in 1957, I was assigned to the Naval Training Center, Great Lakes, IL. I worked at the recruit side, processing recruit and reserve personnel records. I was allowed to wear fur-lined boots in the office during the winter months because it was cold and drafty.

My dream came true when I received orders to the Naval Station, Pearl Harbor. I worked in the personnel office, processing military ID cards serving the Fleet, receiving daily meal counts from ships in port whose personnel were eating at the station galley. I had an opportunity to serve as an "extra" in the movie, "Wackiest Ship in the Army", being filmed near Pearl Harbor, starring Jack Lemon and Ricky Nelson. Wearing civilian clothes and authorized to be off duty, I was even paid $10 a day for a few days.

My sea duty consisted of being shipped back from Hawaii to Oakland, CA aboard the USNS GENERAL EDWIN D. PATRICK. I was transferred to Naval Station, Treasure Island, CA, where I lived in the barracks. I commuted daily to San Francisco to the Federal Building, where I served as a secretary to the District Chaplain. Part of my duties included scheduling chaplains for funerals at the Naval Cemetery.

I received the Good Conduct Medal and was discharged in 1962 as a Personnelman Second Class (E-5), after serving five years on active duty. Using the GI Bill, I graduated from Valencia Community College with an Associate in Arts Degree.

CLAUDE TABOR CORBETT, Pharmacist's Mate, First Class, USN & USMC

I served in the Navy and in the Marine Corps. To the left is a picture of me in my Marine Corps uniform and to the right is a picture of me in my Navy uniform with a friend.

I was living in Portsmouth, VA and worked as a hardware and sporting goods salesman for Sears Roebuck from April 1939 to May 1942. I enlisted in the Navy on May 23, 1942 in Newport News, VA. I completed six weeks of Hospital Corps School in Portsmouth, VA.

My duty stations included serving on the USS ANCON; the 7th Replacement Battalion Training Center, F.M.F. Tutuila, American Samoa and "A" Company 1st Medical Battalion, 1st Marine Division, FMF; and U.S. Naval Air Station, Hutchinson, Kansas. I served as a Hospital Corpsman with the Navy first in the Mediterranean and then with the Marines in the South Pacific.

After serving 3 years, 5 months, and 9 days, I was honorably discharged on October 31, 1945, at the U.S. Naval Personnel Separation Center, Shelton, Virginia.

I then entered Asbury College in Wilmore, Kentucky, where I served as Chaplain of the sophomore class and President of the Junior Class. I also met my future wife, Zella Dorsey, as a member of the sophomore class. We married on June 1, 1947 and have been married for 67 years in 2014. I received my MA degree in theology from Asbury Theological Seminary in 1956.

ZELLA (DORSEY) CORBETT, LTJG, USN

In January 1944, I graduated as a Registered Nurse from the Capital City School of Nursing in Gallinger Hospital, Washington, DC. I worked at the Children's Hospital in Washington, DC from July to October 1944. I was commissioned as an Ensign in the U.S. Navy Nurse Corps on October 23, 1944. I entered active duty on November 16, 1944 at the Great Lakes Naval Station, Chicago, Illinois. I served from November 1944 until October 1946, and attained the rank of Lieutenant Junior Grade. I was sent to the Cleveland Dispensary Office for four months to assist in an emergency situation involving an outbreak of hepatitis. While in Great Lakes, I had a life-changing experience with the Lord and felt that I wanted to serve the Lord full time, probably as a missionary.

After serving 1 year, 11 months, and 4 days, I was honorably discharged at Post Demobilization Activity, U.S. Naval Hospital, Great Lakes, Illinois on October 19, 1946.

I entered Asbury College in Wilmore Kentucky in 1946, where I met Claude Corbett, who was serving as chaplain of the sophomore class. We were married on June 1, 1947.

My brother carried this photo in his wallet until he died at age 42. His wife gave it to me. I didn't have one.