[Milsurplus] Pacific War Marine Air Corps veteran

[Hue Miller]

This is copied from the QRP-L list.
I'm sure some of you will find this as highly interesting
as I do.
This calls for a longer interview, really it does, but I
fear I cannot get around to this for some time yet...
-Hue Miller
________________________________________________

Message: 13
Date: Fri, 7 Aug 2009 17:45:03 -0700
From: "FRANK W  KING" <aa7xa at embarqmail.com>
Subject: Re: [QRP-L] Interesting Old Code Course
To: "scott mcmullen"

   I, also, am a WWII radio school graduate. I was in the Marine Corps
and
right after boot camp, and mess duty at North Island NAS, San Diego, I
was
sent to Texas A&M for 16 weeks of airborne radio operator school. We had
to
pass 15 WPM code to pass, and we copied everything with a stick at
first,
then a mill (a typewriter).
   In its infinite wisdom the Corps sent me to a fighter squadron, that
had
no need for radio operators, so it was working on gear, the old ARC-5s,
in
the Grumman F4Fs in the battle for Guadalcanal . After a few months in
the
hospital with malaria stateside, I was assigned as a radio gunner in
SBDs,
the Douglas Dauntless dive bomber. I also flew in the Curtis Helldiver,
the
SB2C, and ended up in a TBM Avenger with VMTB 131 in the Okinawa
campaign.
   On Okinawa, in June 1945, we got new airplanes with the Collins
ART-13
transmitter. It was heavenly. No more changing those monstrous tuning
coils
when changing bands.
   That was more that 60 years ago. I was 19 when I went in right after
Pearl Harbor, and on Oct. 1 I will be 87 years old.
   Memories, memories.

72
Frank
AA7XA