Month: May 2014

We didn’t have a lot of money to spare, but I expected to go to college. I new vaguely that I was destined to become an engineer, but that was about it. I started looking for where I wanted to go. There was always the University of Delaware, a good, small school that didn’t cost all that much. That was my backup plan. The only other university I remember paying any attention to was Purdue.

Something brought the Air Force Academy to my attention. I recognized that somewhere along the line I needed to put in military service. After all, Dad had served in the big war as had my uncle Pat. It was in the family. One thing I knew for sure was that I didn’t want to be in a foxhole if I ever had to face an enemy, and I figured it was better to be an officer than an enlisted man. Besides, the Academy wouldn’t charge me any tuition. In fact, I’d be paid to attend. In addition, my experiences in the CAP had convinced me that I wanted to fly, and at that time physically qualified graduates of the Academy were expected to go to pilot training.

I looked into the application process and sent off a letter to one our senators, J. Allen Frear. Before I knew it, I received a notification to go to a written test in Dover. We filled a whole classroom. I think we were Frear’s candidates for all the academies. My test taking ability took over, and I breezed through the test, which was extensive. I don’t remember if we ever saw scores from the test, but I did well enough to move on to the next level.

Somewhen in there I also went to Wilmington to take the College Board exams. Again, my test taking ability took over. I don’t remember how long each test was, but I do remember finishing each of them before the required time and going out to walk around the campus till it was time to go back for the next test.

It reminded me of taking the standardized biology test when I was in the tenth grade. I had carried a C through the entire year because I didn’t put any work into the class projects. When the scores came back on the standardized test, mine was in the 99 plus percentile. That brought my final grade up to a B. I don’t remember any specific grades from the College Board, but I do know that none of the tests was hard. As I mentioned earlier I never had a problem with tests. You’ll note that I’m not claiming to be exceptionally smart, just to have a phenomenal test taking ability.

The next step was going to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, to the Air Force Base there (I can’t think of the name at the moment). We spent a whole day of testing, both written and physical. To no surprise to me most of the other candidates were better athletes than I. The one significant test was pull ups. I had never before in my life done ten consecutive pull ups, but I did then. I found out later that ten was the minimum passing. I had barely made it.

Sometime before our class trip to DC I was notified that I had been selected to attend the Academy. While we were in DC, I got to meet and personally thank Senator Frear.

Finally the day before the big day came. We drove to Washington and what is now Reagan International. After saying goodbye to Mom, Dad, Richard, and Susan, I boarded a Lockheed Constellation for the flight to Denver. I don’t remember anything about the flight other than the airplane type. I spent the night in the Oxford Hotel, and the next morning I carried my suitcase down to Union Station.

Once again my shyness kicked in. The Academy was supplying transportation from the station. I saw the NCO who was driving, but I didn’t know what kind of transportation I was supposed to be looking for and couldn’t work up the courage to approach him to see if he was picking up incoming newbies. After he left, I realized I had missed the bus (or car) literally, and I had no idea when or if more transportation would show.

I lugged my baggage to the nearest bus stop and found out how to get to Lowry. The number 13 bus dropped me off at the old Base Exchange. I can’t recall for sure how I got to the Academy part of the base, but I think there was a base bus.

That’s where the fun began.

When I started writing this journal, I planned to put out a post every Thursday. It hasn’t worked out. I admit I’ve done better with a deadline, but I’ve gotten so far behind that I’ve decided to restart. If I get a chance to do some catching up, great. But for now let’s call today the new baseline.

During the summer between junior and senior year I had my first real job. Somewhere I still have my beat up social security card that I got that summer. I worked with dad at a housing development. Dad was the surveyor and I was the surveyor’s assistant, which meant mostly holding the rod and driving stakes. Interestingly, Carol from the Van Buren Avenue era had moved out to that development, and I reconnected with her (nothing serious, just friends).

Then there was Ellen. I hesitate to talk about her because eventually I hurt her. Her father worked in the political arena – Washington, I think. They returned to Smyrna during Ellen’s junior year of high school. Because we were both “outsiders,” we had a common bond of sorts. For some reason Ellen seemed to take a shine to me. Unfortunately – or fortunately for me considering the long term outcome, I was too shy to take advantage of her interest. I suspect that if I had, I would have gone to the Naval Academy instead of the Air Force Academy and would have had a completely different future from that point on. That would have meant no Carol, no Keith, no Kathy, no Shannon, nor any of the grandchildren. Carol turned out to be keystone of the rest of my life. I consider myself to be the luckiest person alive for having met and married her. But Ellen might have been a good choice otherwise.

I remember tiny bits of trivia about those final years of high school. I remember Spanish class and Mrs. Getty. I thoroughly enjoyed the class, and there was only one person in it who did better than I. She was the daughter of an Air Force member, and she came from Puerto Rico. I remember the Treble Clef (a soda shop — or was it technically a drug store?), especially the jukebox.

One thing I remember vividly was a softball game during phys ed class. I was on the third base side of the field. Rodney was sliding into second, and the right fielder threw a high ball to the second baseman. The second baseman went up for the ball and came down on Rodney’s leg. The bone snapped much like Joe Theismann’s did later. It was clearly visible from where I stood. Because of that broken leg, Rodney was still recuperating when we went on our class trip to DC and he was unable to go.

I mentioned that I was working on overcoming my shyness. I worked on it during our senior class trip to DC. I still have the group photo that was taken on that trip. I don’t remember a whole lot about the trip, but I do remember Glen Echo amusement park, and I do remember meeting a girl from another school that I took up with whenever our classes bumped into each other. For some strange reason it was as if my class wasn’t there and I had moved into a new environment where I could shed some of my shyness. However, and I’m not sure of this, I seem to remember Ellen being annoyed by the attention I paid to that girl.

More about Ellen later.

One other thing about that visit to Washington, I got to meet Senator J. Allen Frear who had nominated me for the Air Force Academy. But I’m getting ahead of myself. I’ll save that for the next post.