Aviation School, Gunnery School--March/April, 1943

When I got to Aviation school at Memphis, I decided that "There were only two Navies, the Queen's Navy and Crump's Navy". Mr. Crump was the political boss at Memphis, and he had made his influence felt so strongly on the base at Millington, that one wondered if Millington was still part of the U S Navy. The commanding officer of the base was Captain. Norman R. Hitchcock, and probably he was the only officer on the base at that time who had been to sea. We did have some excellent enlisted instructors who had seen combat duty and they taught us a lot. The main thing we learned at Memphis was principals and operations of Radar. Up until this time, I hadn't even heard of Radar, much less to have seen a set. Radar was a highly classified subject at that time, as it was one of the Navy's secret weapons. In addition to radar, we learned ship and aircraft recognition; voice radio procedure; visual blinker reading; semaphore and more radio theory. Several of the fellows that were in school in NYC were with me at Aviation school at Memphis. We finished this school in March, 1943 and about all of us were sent on to Aerial Gunnery School in Hollywood, Florida.

The Gunnery School at Hollywood was at the edge of the city, which was also the edge of the everglades at that time. The Navy had taken over a boy's military academy and had cut the gunnery range out of the everglades. A small circular railroad track was laid for the purpose of pulling a target sleeve. We had thirty and fifty caliber machine gun mounts, stationed around the track in positions so that all of the firings were into the everglades located in the background. Each man would dip the tips of the projectiles on his belt of ammunition into a different color paint and when the target was hit, the paint color would show up on the target sleeve, thereby making it possible to score your marksmanship. We also fired many rounds with shotguns and shotguns on machine gun mounts, at clay pigeons dispensed by both skeet and trap methods. We fired many, many rounds day after day to perfect our marksmanship, motion tracking ability and to learn how to break down and clean and maintain our guns. After a months intensive training, we were all pretty fair shooters. One of the highlights of being at Hollywood was that I got to visit with brother Gene, who lived at Cape Canaveral and was a Border Patrolman patrolling the coast between Canaveral and Key West. At that time, the German U-boats were sinking many of our tankers and cargo ships along the Atlantic coast, many of them just short distances offshore. I had not seen Gene for about two years previously and we were able to get together two or three times when he would be working close to Hollywood.

Upon graduation from Aerial Gunnery School, it was normal procedure for the gunners to be sent up to Fort Lauderdale, where the Navy had an airfield that was used for operational training for new pilots and air crewmen. That was the place to go to learn squadron tactics and gain all kinds of flying experience. It just so happened that Uncle Sam was in dire need of air crewmen with the fleet, because of the heavy losses we had sustained from the battles of Midway and the Coral Sea. So, the men who were in the top ten percent of our graduating class from Hollywood were sent directly to San Diego, California to join the fleet. This included ten other men besides me, of which all of us had been together since we met at radio school in NY C. The list was as follows:

1. James M. Morris, age 21, from Derby, Virginia, who had worked as a machinist helper before enlisting.
2. James B. Gaffney, age 21, from Easton, Pa., who had been a musician and clerk in civilian life.
3. C. A. Fagan, age 18, from Dallas, Texas who was formerly a payroll clerk.
4 ' . Glen Froetschner, age 22 from Larned Kansas, a farmer and former clerk.
5. Richard F. Gentzkow, age 23, from Salem, Oregon, who had previously worked for Boeing Aircraft.
6. Ted M. Grudzien, age 21, a former college student, from Cleveland, Ohio.
7. James B. Katke, age 22, from Wanwatosa, Wisc., formerly a storekeeper for St. Paul and Pacific railroad.
8. Charles R. Paul from Piedmont, Missouri, who had worked for Montgomery Ward before enlistment.
9. James B. Steckf age 21, from Sibley, Iowa, a former student and football player for Morningside College.
10. Edward O'Conner, Jr., age 20, from El Cajon, California, formerly employed by Cudahy Packing Company.

Well, we spent six days on a troop train, four of them in Texas, between Hollywood, Florida and San Diego, California; A very tiring experience.