"Got Me There, Got Me Home"
His movie star good looks could have landed him in Hollywood.
Instead, he enlisted in the Army Air Corps in 1940.
Recruiting sergeant came through Tarboro rounding up lads
to fight in a war where they didn't know where
they were going end up,
or what they were going to do.
Fit for service, volunteered for flight training.
P-40 War Hawk, a one seater, high speed of
230 miles an hour.
They had to break in their own engines.
Ended up off the coast of Africa,
Cape Bon, Tunesia,
enemy ship beneath.
"Flying pretty low, and I had to pull out quick,
a second to decide 'kick hard, left rudder, pull bomb release handle.'"
"I was scared but didn't know it. Just twenty-one then
and I got a direct hit on an enemy ship. Only two practice sessions before going out.
Always had a lot of respect for the P-40 War Hawk.
It got me there, and it got me home."
Two hundred sorties flown.
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