Five miles was not too long to hang on
the side of a car which went to downtown Orangeburg. Sometimes we
would see a movie or go to the service club which was in a large old
house. I used to dance there with a little blond girl and when I went
to the next base she was there also. I found out later they were
called camp followers and would marry as many guys as they could and
have the men's army life insurance put in their name. I never did go
off the base very much after we started flying as that was the main
interest.
When our large group left Maxwell Field, we were divided up and sent
to several of the smaller fields to start flying. Some of the friends
I made there went all through the rest of the war with me. I can't
remember just when, but it was about this time that Lloyd Bruce from
Missouri and I became close friends and we were together the whole
way. He was my wingman, we were both shot down on the same mission
and were together in prison camp.
I was at Orangeburg from November 1942 until January 1943. We were
divided into groups of five students to each instructor. My
instructor was Art Brewster and we got along fine. We had classes
studying airplanes and motors and would fly for one hour a day. The
student rode in the front seat and the instructor behind him. After
the first ride he would let us do the takeoff and landing. In the air
sometimes he would shut the motor off and it was up to you to figure
out which way the wind was blowing and to find an open field in which
to land.
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