Brad’s Gambling Life–Part 5, Off to See the World

At noon on January 18, 1949, Brad’s 17^th birthday, he walked out of his high school, where he had been impatiently marking time until his “real life” could begin.  He boarded a city bus going to downtown Connersville, and then took another bus to Richmond, Indiana where he entered a Marine Recruiting Office.   

 “I’m ready to see the world!”

The recruiter replied, “Well, you are in the right place.  There are only two kinds of Marines, one that is getting ready to ship out and one that is just coming back from overseas.”

This was music to Brad’s ears.  He had wanted to join the military ever since he could remember.  Playing in his sandbox, he didn’t want to make roads for trucks and cars like the other little boys; all he wanted was as many tiny metal soldiers that he could find and line them up in straight formations and then pretend to have a war.  As he grew older, he organized the neighborhood boys into various “troops” and played war, never mind that most of the weapons were imaginary ones.

As relatives, friends, and neighbors came back from action in WWII, Brad listened intently as they described their military life.  They might have described some details about the horrors of war, but Brad heard only the “glorious” details:  the adventure of travel to a foreign country, the thrill of conquering the enemy, the hero worship of a man in uniform.  But most of all he heard, from those older brothers who long ago had taught him to play Tonk, that there was a lot of gambling going on anywhere soldiers congregated. 

Adventure and gambling together – yes, the military would definitely be the perfect place for him.  But there was a problem – Brad knew he couldn’t join up until he was 17.  He might look old for his age and get into the cigar stores to play cards, but he knew he would need to show a birth certificate to join the military.  However, he caught a break.  The local Army National Guard was just getting organized and they had mostly officers but few “foot soldiers” to “train.”  Some of his older friends were joining and urged Brad to come with them even though he was just 16.  He doesn’t remember whether he lied about his age or they just assumed he was 17 and didn’t ask for verification.  Anyway, he signed up and with his friends spent 2 hours every Monday night, learning to march in formation and taking military classes.   And the amazing part to him was that he got a private’s full day’s pay for those two hours, a whopping $2.50.

So from “sandbox wars” to “Armory practice wars,” Brad felt he had been preparing his whole life for this 17^th birthday and was looking forward to becoming a Marine that day – or the next at least.  However, he was keenly disappointed when he found out that there was a freeze on Marine recruitment.  But the recruiter assured him that he would definitely be called within 3 or 4 weeks.  So Brad went home to wait.  However, the call had not come for over 3 months so on April 29th he decided to visit the Army Recruiting Office in Richmond.  There he took the entrance test and was ready to sign the papers to join the Army.

Then fate intervened.  The Air Force recruiter (the Army and Air Force had a combined office) signaled Brad’s recruiter,  “Hey, my recruit didn’t pass the Air Force test, but his score is high enough to join the Army.  You owe me one.”

The Army recruiter replied, “I can pay you right now.  Brad here just passed the test with a high score.  I’ll take your guy.  You can have Brad if he’d like to join the Air Force instead of the Army.”

Brad really had his mind set on the Army, but the AF recruiter did what recruiters do best, started selling his product.  He showed him pictures of the brand new blue AF uniforms – they will wow the girls, he said.  He told Brad that you ate your meals on real plates at tables with white tablecloths instead of on tin trays.  On and on with the propaganda! 

And that is how on April 29th Brad ended up, not in the Marines, not in the Army, but in the Air Force – and heading out of Indiana the very same day, on a 3-day train ride across the country to San Antonio, Texas, where he was headed for basic training at Lackland Air Force Base.

The see-the-world adventure was finally beginning for this small-town kid.