Page 166 - Anthology

I was born in March 1929 in Mount Sterling, Kentucky. We worked on a tobacco farm, so I did all the
things you’d think of about farming; putting up hay and taking care of equipment. It was a big farm. My
dad didn’t have an education; he could not even write his name.

I only went to high school a short time. The reason is that one day I had an arm load of books; I could not
get a locker to put my books in; I had to carry the whole load from class to class and on the bus to make
sure I had them all. The next day when the bus came, I decided that wasn’t good and I was losing the
$3.50 a day from farm work, so I didn’t go back to school. I completed the eighth grade and about three
months at Clark County High School.

I was married before going into the Army. I remember when I first laid eyes on the girl I would marry.
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She came through the church house doors on December 19 , 1948; we were putting on the Christmas
play. I remember when I saw her, I said to myself that she was the cutest blonde haired, blue eyed girl I’d
ever seen. I wanted to talk to her but, I didn’t know how to get started; I was a little bashful. I was 19 and
I found out she was only 14. She got up against a tree and got angel hair all over her clothes; she had on
a little black full pleated skirt and a little white cotton blouse, a wool jacket, and saddle oxfords. I told her:
you have that angel hair all over your back. She tried to look around to see her back. She said: “Well,
pick it off.” I thought; that’s good enough, the ice is broke. We waited until she graduated high school,
but we got married and that’s that. She was the rose I picked out of the bouquet.

When I turned eighteen, I registered for the draft. I was living in Montgomery County at the time. I had a
skull injury and was given a 4F classification, which meant I would not likely be called for the draft. We
had a man that lived in the county that had a son that wasn’t worth the powder and lead to kill him; he
would run around and drink and play pool all the time. He was draft age and they were getting close to
him. His daddy started telling people that he was trying to get me to take the place of his son. I had a
guy that I would coon hunt with that told me that the guy was meddling in my business at the draft board.
Sure enough, they reclassified me to 1A, and his son never did get called to duty. So, that is how I got
drafted.

I went to Ashland, Kentucky for my physical. I remember this one doctor; we were up on the third floor
and he was looking out the window as we would line up to go through for examination. It almost sounded
like he was singing; he’d say “next, turn around, bend over and spread your cheeks.” Well, I did that, but
I peeked around and saw that he was still looking out the window when he said: “next.” I could have had
hemorrhoids or something, but he just kept looking out that window. I’m sure he was tired of looking at
butt ends.

I was drafted, and my basic training was sixteen weeks at the 101 Airborne Infantry Division, Fort
st
Campbell / Fort Breckenridge, Kentucky. We had to run two miles each morning before breakfast. I
remember that first run; I thought I was going to die.

I was gagging and coughing, and so was everybody else. I remember thinking that the next morning I
was not going to do the run.

I was in the fourth platoon. Being Willoughby, I was at the last. They gave us a right face and double-
time; I was on the back-end and when I passed the third platoon I just fell off to the side and we had a
great big furnace room that was on the ground level floor. I went in there and was standing behind the
furnace; it was just breaking daylight enough that I could see the doorway and I could hear these boots
on the barracks floor. I saw the guy come in; there was some kind of cinders on the floor; he came in to
his right and came around where I was standing; when I saw him coming in the room, I started around to
my right; I bypassed the door and went on around. He came to the door and went out. He didn’t hear me
walking because he was walking on the same cinders. My heart was in my mouth. I said to myself:
Charlie, tomorrow morning, you will make this run; we are not going to do this again.

I guess you could say with the way I pulled all those pranks; it sounds like something Beatle Bailey would
do in the cartoon strip. At the time, I thought the army was bad, but when I look back it was funny, and it
is now fun to chuckle and tell stories about.