So, Who am I?

Past, Present and Future

Past,

Born at home, the fourth of five children, in a small town in Northeast Louisiana.
I remember a few things from my early childhood. I blew up a balloon, tied a knot in it to hold the air in. To make sure the knot didn't come out I placed my ring over the knot and then I threw the balloon into the air. When I picked up the expended balloon, the knot was untied and the ring was gone, never to be found.
I dreamed that I was riding my bicycle in the Delhi train depot parking lot. There were not many or any cars in the parking lot so it was natural that I would ride my bicycle as fast as I could which was pretty fast. I happened to see a penny on the cinder turf and I tried to stop as fast as I could, but when I did stop and go back to get the penny, I couldn't find it. This was a recurring dream, I can't tell you how many times I had this dream, over and over again, sometimes more than once in a single night. Psychoanalyze that will you? I remember my mother driving me to school in our 1929 Chevrolet sedan. I remember one day at school recess, I was playing with some other kids and my mother came up behind and startled me and as I turned around I accidentally hit her in the face somehow. I doubt if she felt anything. She was checking up on her little boy.

I frequently visited my Grandpa Hudgins' farm and rode his ole gray mule with no saddle. I remember one time the mule decided to get a drink of water out of the slew and as he lowered his head to drink, I slid right down his neck into the slew, head first. How embarrassing! Otherwise, no damage done. Grandpa had a 40-acre farm about 4 miles south of Delhi and his main crop was cotton along with a small amount of garden vegetables. He was the only grandparent that I ever knew. He was a Christian preacher and a farmer.

When I was about 6 or 7 years old, we were having a birthday party at our house, I think that it was mine. One of the little girls who attended my party wanted to go to the bath room. My Aunt Patsy led her to the outhouse which was about 30 yards from the house. My dad built the house that I grew up in in circa 1930. It was well- built but didn't have a bathroom or running water. The water pump was beside the house about 10 yards away. My Dad continually made improvements to the house, like enclosing corner porches, adding a bathroom and a kitchen sink. He asked me since I was getting a little older which facet was for the hot water and which was for the cold. I told him that the left was for the cold water and the right knob was for the hot water and so he hooked it up that way. Of course, that was not right but the water flowed, you just had to remember which was which.
Another milestone in my life was when my little brother, George, was born at home when I was 11 years old. Talk about a bubble bursting. All of a sudden I was not the baby of the family anymore and I was just another middle child with all the benefits.

About the time I was a senior in high school, we got a telephone, the number was 345W. Later on, it became 318-878-3459. When I was about 12 years old, I did two things that had a significant affect on my life. I joined the Boy Scouts of America and I made a public profession of my faith in Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. Mrs. Ola McKinnis was my Sunday School teacher and led me to believe in Christ.

Dad bought a broken down Service Cycle motor bike and we installed a washing machine gas engine in it and I drove around town and North on highway 16 (they changed the number to highway 17 in about 1955). I had several older friends who had motor cycles like the Harley-Davidson 45,61,80, etc. I remember riding the Harley 45 over an elevated railroad crossing at a fairly high rate of speed. That was quite a thrill, going airborne for a few seconds.

I decided that I would take my flying lessons at the local airport when I was 16 years old. My instructor, Bill Clinton had an Aeronca tandem trainer that we used for my first flights. This was right after the war and Bill had raised just enough money to buy a new Piper Cub J3C-65. With a little over 5:25 hours of dual flight instruction, told me to take it around the field. This meant that he wanted me to solo, so I taxied over to the end of the runway and got still for a minute. I twirled my high school graduation ring several times and said a little (but sincere) prayer. And suddenly the throttle was moved full forward and the Cub began to accelerate down the grass runway. I made three takeoffs and landings in 15 minutes and taxied up to the gas pump where Bill was standing with several others interested in flying. I was wearing a khaki shirt. I remember because the guys pulled out my shirt tail and cut it off to hang on the hanger wall. (We didn't have a hanger.)
My flight instructor wrote my name on it, signed it and dated it May 4, 1946. I was 16 years old, a senior in high school and an airplane pilot.
That same year, I was awarded the BSA Eagle Scout rank and graduated from high school. I was the president of my senior class.
So, there I was, I wanted to be a fighter pilot in the U S Army Air Forces, like my brother Jim. But, I was too young to go into the military. I decided to go to Northeast Junior College of LSU in Monroe, Louisiana, just 40 miles away. What academic field should I take? Agriculture, No!, Business, No!, Engineering, what is that?, Aeronautical Engineering, Yes, whatever that is, it must have something to do with airplanes. So, that is what I enrolled in. Since the war was over, there were a lot of veterans attending NJC on the GI Bill, many of them were former U S Army Air Forces pilots, etc. I hung out with them. My brother Jim was still in the service. When I was 18 I joined the USAF Reserves so I could fly with my friends out at Selman Field there in Monroe. Mostly, I flew in the back seat of an AT-6 trainer. One very good friend in particular, fancied himself as an instructor pilot and gave me many hours of instruction and practice in "under the hood" instrument flying. When we completed the course of instruction at NJC, He went on the Louisiana Tech and I went to LSU. I never saw him again, but we kept in touch occasionally. He has passed away but I still keep in touch with his son by email and facebook.
The reserve unit that I joined went on a two-week active duty trek that summer at Carswell AFB. We were part of the 579th Bomber (VH) Squadron that flew B-29s. It was a way of maintaining proficiency. I made some night flights out of Carswell in T-6 trainers. Across the field, was the No. 1 Convair B-36 that I saw on several occasions, but I didn't see it fly. After the two-week active duty assignment, our squadron CO had agreed to fly me to Baton Rouge so that I could enroll at LSU. However; something came up and he was not able to fly me there. So, I had to ride a bus, with my footlocker all the way to Baton Rouge and LSU campus. I got there at the last minute and was able to enroll but I couldn't get into the AFROTC because all the draft deferments had been subscribed. (Actually, I didn't need a draft deferment because I was already in the USAF Reserves.) This delayed my graduation from LSU from the summer of 1950 to January 1951. That was good however, because the Aeronautical Engineering course was part of the Mechanical Engineering department and therefore, I almost got the full coursework in both Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering. I had 179 semester hours when I graduated. More to follow.....