he couldn't afford the tuition to go back to VPI, his dad had just died. Tried crop dusting but went broke. Joined the Navy in mid 1940 was an armed guard on a merchant ship. After the japs bombed Pearl, the brass found out he could fly an sent him to flight school returned to the Pacific in mid 43. He died when I was two but according to family he hated the Japs for what they did. My uncles said that he saw many baled out pilots strafed by the Japs. I guess if he had lived past 1966 he might have changed his mind. We will never know. My mom had a cousin on a DD at Pearl that was not damaged. He never forgave the Japs, he had many friends on ships that were killed. I think this poster sums up how most felt on 8 Dec 41