Aircraft, Fleet Marine Force, Pacific
U. S. Marine Corps Air Station
El Toro (Santa Ana) California
I arrived at 1740 on 8 February 1954 according to my orders. The next morning I was assigned to Headquarters Squadron and then to the Group S-4 (Logistics). What a break! I went to work for Naval Aviator Lieutenant Colonel Kruger L. (Curly) Bright, the S-4 and his assistant, Major Stephen G. Warren and with a Master Sergeant Glenn Dunn who taught me lots. Colonel Bright had been promoted to Major after only three years in the Corps in the early years of WWII. Major Warren, a highly decorated pilot who flew U. S. Air Force F-86 Sabre jets in Korea, would become my Commanding Officer after I completed flight school the following year. I had no idea of any of this at the time.
I recall being assigned the project of overseeing a complete inventory of equipment of all the squadrons assigned to MAG-15. I got to meet quite a few Marines in the process, many of whom were not too happy with having to do the inventory. Being near the aircraft was moving me ever closer to my dreams. Colonel Bright arranged for me to get a ride in a Douglas F3D Skynight jet. What a thrill that was! I can still smell the jet fuel and hydraulic fluids of that big bird. Click "Back" to return after viewing the picture.
One of my classmates, Bob Durkin, from Basic School had been assigned to El Toro with me. We became eligible to move out of the BOQ and immediately took the opportunity to rent a place in the hills of Laguna Beach.
Those were the days when you could drive from El Toro to Laguna and see nothing but orange groves for nearly the entire distance. The picture below was made from our deck with me on the right. The Pacific ocean is in the background. As I examine the picture I cannot imagine why Bob was wearing a tie. I don't remember ever doing it except in uniform. On the right with me in the middle are Joe Tiago, right and Bud Gould.
Needless to say, even back then, this was
one party town. Continuous parties might be a better way to express
it! Our territory included Long Beach, Newport Beach and then south
all the way to San Diego. One weekend we ventured across the border
into Tiajuana. What a hoot! It was the raunchiest place I could
ever imagine. All the streets were dirt then and the town was made
up primarily of bars and prostitutes. I recall one little girl soliciting
for her mother and telling us that her mother was a virgin. After
a few beers we got out of the place and back to civilization.
We had been told that we could expect at least a delay of one year prior to being assigned to flight school so I was shocked, but ecstatic, when my orders arrived in April. I departed on April 12, 1954 with a passenger for the first part of the trip. He did help keep me awake but in the middle of the night flipped a cigarette that landed in the back seat. When we finally smelled the smoke it had burned a sizable hole in the seat. We were in the middle of the desert and not near even a gas station. I happened to have a couple of cans of beer in the trunk and that did the trick. The total distance home was 2552 miles and I completed the trip in 52 hours total time. My passenger drove for a couple hundred of those miles, otherwise it was all me. Tired and totally wiped out when I arrived at 2922 Duncan Street.
It was nice visiting and partying with my fraternity
brothers for a couple of weeks. While in Columbia I traded the Ford
for a 1953 Plymouth Belvedere Sport Coupe. Dad had just recently
traded the Plymouth so I knew it was in great shape. I was having
fun but anxious to get to Pensacola to begin living out my dreams.
I left Columbia in the early morning and arrived at the Pensacola Air Station
at 2255 on May 7, 1954. And now the excitement begins!
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