- Joined the service because I felt like
^I could have some decision where I would go,
^rather than wait for the draft.
So, I just decided on my own to go to Denver
and see if I could join the Air Force.
They decided that because of my interest in art,
they would send me to the photo school,
which happened to be right there in Denver.
(military music)
We were divided.
Some of them were at the airport
to install the cameras.
It was the K-17 camera.
It was a basic camera
the Air Force used for aerial work.
Three of them together.
Two on the oblique and one on the vertical.
When you laid out the prints,
you could lay out
from horizon to horizon.
Pilots flew the P-38
converted to cameras.
All the armament was taken out of it.
[Narrator] As the S5B Reconnaissance plane,
the B-38 is a sky spy that slips in on the enemy
for close range aerial photos.
- Besides studying an area
that they weren't familiar with,
they had to keep watching to be sure
they weren't under attack from the ground,
as well as, from the air.
But, they did their job, and it wasn't easy.
We got the photos
and sometimes it was urgent enough we got wet prints.
Just spread them out on a table that had a cloth on it,
and we sent out the reports.
The sad part of it is,
you're just one cog
in a lot of things that have to be done.
You just hoped that what you were doing was being used.
Eventually,
groups of us were returned back to the US.
Gladly. (chuckles)
Of course, I had a daughter 14 months old
to get acquainted with.
I remember, when I picked her up and I held her in my arms,
and she looked at me on my chest,
then she opened up her blouse
to see why she didn't have any hair on it. [Chuckling)
That tickled me,
cause I never thought about it.
Because I was still in the Reserve,
one day, I got a little message that said,
"Time to report to Fort Warren Air Base."
Korean War had broken out.
But, I returned to civilian life
and I was out of the Reserve too.
I wasn't gonna get another notice.
You'll get your life, your family life all settled,
then you're up and gone into the service again.
It's quite a readjustment.
But, you try to do it the best you can,
cause other people are depending on ya.