A Soldier and Photographer

Lois and I spent ten days together before my furlough ended. We went to Thornton and spent a couple of days with Mrs. Nobles, and the rest of the time was spent in Teague with Mother and Aunt Bert. We also enjoyed being with Mr. and Mrs. Rogers; Mr. Rogers was a big teaser and had something going all the time that was funny. He especially liked to tease Lois.

When we were in Thornton, I met a man on the street that owed me some money for newspapers I had thrown at his house when I was a paperboy. I remembered his remarks to me when I had asked him, in the presence of the same two men he was talking with then. He had said, " Boy, if you ever ask me for that money again, I'll box your jaws." I was now grown and in my Army Air Corps uniform when I approached he and his friends. He greeted me with, " Well hello there Gazzaway, it sure is good to see you." My reply was, " I'm here to get my jaws boxed, you owe me $1.75 and I want my money." He turned pale, reached in his pocket, and handed me two-dollar bills saying, " Keep the change as interest on the money I owed you." When I told Coleman Kennedy about it he said, " I wish that dead beat would pay me what he owes me, he owes almost everyone in town." I suppose I was lucky to get my money, and it was worth the wait to see the expression on his face when he saw me grown up and in uniform, still remembering his debt to me.

Our time together went by all too soon, Lois left for De Ridder and I left for Tempe. We did not know if or when we would see each other again, nor where. There was a good possibility I would have to go over seas, but when I reported back to Tempe, I soon learned I would be assigned to Del Rio Army Air Base in Del Rio, Texas. My new assignment was in the base supply room. I also discovered that there was an Army Air Corps Sub-depot located at the Air Base, and there was a possibility Lois could transfer from De Ridder to Del Rio. I arrived at Del Rio in June of 1944, and Lois was transferred in August of that year.

I got permission to live off base and rented a room from the mayor of Del Rio, Mr. Jim Netts. The house was an older house but the room was very comfortable, even though there was no air conditioning, and the summer heat in Del Rio could be almost unbearable, the high ceilings and big windows made it feel as if it were air conditioned. I also applied for apartment housing on the base and was put on the waiting list. An apartment would be much better, and Lois and I both could walk to our work.

I remember waiting for the train from De Ridder to arrive and seeing Lois coming down the steps from the open-air coach. She was tired from the trip and anxious to get settled in our first home. The Netts' were very nice people and did all they could to make our stay in Del Rio pleasant. We hated to leave them when we moved to the Air Base apartment.

J.W. Rogers, the younger son of Mr. and Mrs. Laudie Rogers who had attended our wedding in Teague, was based at Del Rio and was assigned to the base headquarters office. He was our first guest in our new home, and Lois wanted to fix a good home cooked meal for he and I. We sat on the front steps and smelled the biscuits cooking, we could hardly wait. Lois was embarrassed, and J.W. and I were disappointed, when the biscuits were too hard to eat. Lois never knew what went wrong, because she had been baking biscuits since she was a little girl without a failure before. The rest of the meal made up for the bad biscuits.

We bought a 1936 Chevrolet Sedan and Lois' first request was to learn to drive. The car had standard shift, no power steering, and no power brakes. Most cars did not have power accessories then, and learning to drive was harder than it is now. In order for her to get a good feel of the car, I suggested she take her shoes off. I think she probably still feels better driving in her bare feet.

J.W.'s wife, Katy Fern, came to live with him on the base and the four of us spent a lot of time together. We would drive up to Fort Clark at Brackettville or west to Devil's River and go fishing. We also spent some time in Villa Acuna, just over the border in Mexico. We usually carried a picnic basket and seldom ate out even though hamburgers sold for ten cents. It took all that Lois made plus my military pay and her allotment as a soldier's wife to get by. In spite of the lack of money and the war going on, I think those were the happiest days of our life.

One week end, Lois and I went to Fort Clark to swim in the cool, spring fed swimming pool, and to picnic in the shade of the big oak trees that surrounded the pool. After swimming for a while and enjoying the food, we lay on a blanket and took a nap in the warm sun. When we awoke, Lois was as red as a cherry on her back and legs. By nightfall she was in real pain and for the next week she had to sleep sitting in a chair. Needless to say, she has never taken a sunbath since.

Fort Clark was a frontier fort, which had been built to guard our border with Mexico in the Mexican American War of the 1800's. It was reopened during World War II as a German prisoner of war camp and housed hundreds of German soldiers as prisoners. They did maintenance on the camp buildings and facilities and also operated the laundry, which did all the laundry for Del Rio Army Air Base. I looked forward to the opportunity, once a month, of riding on the laundry truck to Fort Clark and getting to eat in the prisoner's mess hall. The German cooks could have taught the Americans how to feed their soldiers. I will never forget the taste of the ice cream and have often wondered if Blue Bell Ice Cream Co. of Brenham, Texas got their recipe from the German prisoners at Fort Clark.

Lois and I had looked forward to May 8, 1945 and planned to go to Villa Acuna, Mexico and celebrate our first anniversary, but as it so happened all military personnel were restricted to base on that day. Victory was won in Europe and that part of the war ended on that day. It was feared that the soldiers would go wild in celebration if they were allowed to leave the base. We gladly gave up our small celebration plans to know the war was over in Europe and many soldiers including Lois's brother, Newman, would be coming home soon.

Lois and I used to playfully scuffle a lot and she usually won the match, either because she was stronger, or I did not want to hurt her; I'll never tell. We were scuffling one day while my mother was visiting us and I hit the back of my head on the windowsill, knocking me out for just a few seconds. Lois said that I turned as white as a sheet and Mother yelled, " You've killed my baby." Lois started bathing my face with a wet wash cloth, and I woke up laughing, which started the scuffle again. Mother never was able to understand our rough housing.

Lois was promoted to a foreman position and had a group of Mexicans working for her. She worked in aircraft engine build up, which required the installation of starters, carburetors, magnetos, pumps, and other accessories on the engines for B-26 bombers. The parts were all very heavy and she developed a lot of strength in her arms and hands. I am not sure, but I suspect that the arthritis she suffers from today is the result of the handling of those heavy parts. I was happy to see her get the new position so that her job was easier. She had quite a time with the Mexicans, because they would speak Spanish and she could not understand them. If she thought they were talking about her she would make them speak English.

We would go across the border into Mexico and buy gasoline, tires, cigarettes, and many other things that were rationed in the United States. Of course Mexico was neutral in the war and did not have rationing. It was hard for us to understand that we could buy American-made products in Mexico and could not buy the same products here. We could buy all of anything we could bring back as long as we paid for it in two-dollar bills. We were required to exchange all our bills for two-dollar bills at the border before entering Mexico. It cost a penny per dollar to exchange the money. We would always go to Mexico and fill the gas tank in the car before taking a trip.

On the first furlough I got after Lois and I married, we went to Alabama to see Lois' family. I had never met them although we had been married for more than a year. Her sister, Dortha, and her two younger brothers, Gene and Scott, as well as her Grandma Hayes lived with her mother and father in Northern Alabama, between Huntsville and Guntersville. I loved them all on first sight. Daddy (I always addressed him by that name) was a gentle, kind, soft-spoken man who was obviously used to hard work. I knew immediately he was a man that could be trusted. Mama (I always addressed her by that name) was a religious, family loving woman with beautiful snow-white hair in a bun on the back of her head. Mama seemed to be the one to answer to, if the occasion arose. Little Grandma was a small frail lady in her eighties. She was the brunt of a lot of teasing by the family, but it was not hard to tell that she enjoyed every minute of it. Dortha was a pretty girl with reddish brown hair. She seemed to stay out of the way as much as she could. She was soon to marry Robert Cambron who was in the Navy. Gene and Scott were typical farm boys who liked to hunt and fish. Coon hunting was their favorite sport, and they always had at least two coon dogs on hand. Gene was fifteen years old and Scott was nine. I knew I had made a good choice for a wife.

J.W., Kate, Lois, and I took a trip to Teague on a three-day pass J.W. and I had from the base, and somewhere between Fort Clark and Uvalde, we had a flat. I jacked the car up and J.W. ran his hand around the bottom of the tire to see if it was up high enough to clear, and just as he got his hand to the bottom of the wheel, the car fell off the jack and pinned his hand between the wheel and the ground. Luckily we were on sandy land and no bones were broken, although his fingers did turn blue and were quite sore for a while.

In early August of 1945, I was transferred to San Bernardino Army Air Base in California. Lois resigned from the Sub-depot and after loading all our belongings in the car, J.W. and Kate rode to Teague with her. She stayed with Mother in Teague until Newman came home from over seas and then she went to Alabama to stay with her mother and father and to visit Newman whom she had not seen in over three years.

Newman had been in the Army Combat Engineers, serving in North Africa, Sicily, and Italy. We learned later, from one of the men who served with him, that he had been one of the very first to land on the beach at Anzio. Not only had he had a rough time in the military, but also shortly after he was sent over seas, his baby daughter Eloise died, she was ten months old. He never got to see her again and they never had other children.

I was put in aircraft mechanic school at San Bernardino although I had already finished the same school in San Antonio in 1942, but it bore out the saying, " There is a right way, a wrong way, and the Army way." There was not a lot to do on the base and I did not have to study hard, so I spent quite a bit of time at the U.S.O. in town. I discovered a photographic darkroom there and they would furnish the soldiers with a camera, film, paper, and chemicals to shoot, develop, and print pictures. I took full advantage of the opportunity and learned all that I could about photography, hoping to do aerial photography after the war was over.

While I was at San Bernardino, Lois became ill and had to have surgery. I was given an emergency leave to go to Alabama and be with her. I contacted Mother and asked her to go with me, planning to pick her up in Teague, where Lois had left the car, and thus we would have transportation while we were in Alabama. Lois' father did not have a car and they lived about fifteen miles from Guntersville, where Lois was to be hospitalized. I caught a ride on a C-47 to Albuquerque, New Mexico and an A-26 from there to Lake Charles, Louisiana. I then hitchhiked to Houston and caught a bus to Fairfield, where Mr.Rogers met me and took me to Teague. Mother and I drove straight through that night to Alabama. I had been up 36 hours without sleep when we arrived.

Mother and I stayed with Lois and her family until she was able to sit up, which was about ten days. My leave was for two weeks and it would rush me to get back to base without being A.W.O.L. We drove straight through to Teague. I caught a bus to Dallas and managed to get on a C-47 to San Bernardino. When I got off the plane in San Bernardino, the M.P.s were waiting for me. I was A.W.O.L. by two hours. I thought I was in trouble, but the base commander dropped the charges after warning me to never let it happen again.

In November of 1945 I was transferred to McClelland Army Air Base at Sacramento, California, a special separation center for discharging soldiers. I received my discharge in early afternoon of December 19, 1945 and the race was on to get to Lois in Alabama by Christmas Day. In spite of getting off the train in Tucumcari, New Mexico to hitchhike and outrun the train to Memphis, Tennessee, it was the day after Christmas when I got to Huntsville, Alabama. It was good to be a civilian again.

Lois and I moved to Teague, bought out Quillan's Photographic Studio, and started doing commercial and portrait photography in the Needham Building, above the Western Auto Store, on the first day of January 1946. A new career had begun.