I joined the Navy, November 6, 1941 and went to Great Lakes Naval base in Illinois for basic training. Upon completion I was sent to the Henry Ford River Rouge plant in Dearborn Michigan for aircraft mechanics training which I completed in December of that year. I spent 30 days in Herman Keefer Hospital with scarlet fever thus missing my class graduation. Instead of being shipped to Iwo Gima, I was assisgned to clean the office of Henry Ford II in the barracks. With the next graduation class I was sent to Norfolk, Virginia where I was put aboard a destroyer for transport to Panama. En route we picked up 74 survivors from a merchantman that had been torpedoed by a German Sub. We left them in San Juan Puerto Rico and proceeded to Panama. I was stationed at Coco Solo Naval station where I overhauled aircraft engines for over two years. From Panama I got a 30 day leave to return to my home in Valentine, Nebraska adn my father's farm in South Dakota.
After my leave, I reported to Millington, Tennessee naval training base where I overhauled engines for trainer planes. While there I was sent to Chicago training base at 87th and Anthony for advanced training in aircraft mechanics. I was returned to Millington where I remained until I volunteered for transfer to the Pacific area in 1945. From California I boarded a troop transport en route to the Hawaiian Islands. Midway between the US and Hawaii we got word of the Japanese surrender at which time the ship's lights were turned on! The remaining voyage was like a pleasure cruise!
In Hawaii at Barber's Point my duty was line chief. I had the rank Chief Petty Officer. I instructed my crew to take care of planes that were spotted on the mat. We took care of general maintenance and repairs to ready the planes for their next flight.
On April 12, 1946 my fiancee came aboard the China Clipper. She traveled in the baggage compartment to Honolulu to marry me. We wed on February 14 at the Chapel of the Cross Roads in Monoa Valley. We stayed in Hawaii almost one year. Because I was due leave, I was discharged 3 months before my tour was over. I was dischared at Urba Berina, California on November 6, 1947. In the fall of 1948 I returned to the University of Nebraska in Lincoln to complete my engineering degree on the GI bill. I graduated in 1950.
