After my 18th birthday in February 1944, I took the qualifying exams for admission to the Army Air Corp Aviation Cadet Program at Topeka, Kansas. I failed the vision test, so waited for my draft date, for after graduation from high school. At induction at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas I indicated a preference for Navy service and was assigned to the Army Air Corp. I took basic at Buckley Field, Colorado, followed by the 27 week radio mechanic training at Truax Field Wisconsin. I was transferred to advanced radio transmitter school at Shepard Air Force Base in Texas, and then routed to San Francisco to join an invasion unit headed to Japan. Fortunately for me, the bomb was dropped while we were staging in Utah. My part of our unit was transferred to Saipan for several weeks, then to Tinian Island. I was immediately assigned to 'acting' sergeant because that part of our unit had been reduced to skeleton size by rotation after the treaty. Two months later I was flown to a Repo Depot at Manila, Philippines, and assigned to a Distance Finding Station on Palawan Island, Philippines, where I was finally using the skills for which I was trained. Six weeks later I was re-assigned to Control Tower Operator 552 while the pursuit wing was being deactivated for the same reason that I was supply sergeant on Tinian. I received no rank for either of those positions, however, I was rated corporal before leaving Palawan. The political situation in the Philippines during my time on Palawan produced some interesting, but scary incidents, because the young men who made up the pro-independence group were armed and were hostile toward us most of the time. Problems developed for us with them at check points that they had set up on the main road that we had to travel from our station to headquarters and back for our meals and orders. We had to be very careful what we said and how we acted in their presence. Control from Manila was supposed to be through the political organization on Palawan, but it was actually by the local Philippine military commanding civilians. It appeared to me that they seemed to forget why we were there in the first place. After my separation, at the convenience of the government, thanks to the G.I. Bill, I graduated from the University of Kansas in 1952 with a B.S. in Education, married in 1957, moved to Chanute, Kansas, helped rear a son and a daughter, and retired from education in 1989. As is the case with many of us, I'm sure, I wouldn't take a million dollars for my military experience but I wouldn't give a dime to have it again.