MEMOIRS PART 15 - THE COLLEGE YEARS

I graduated from Grantsville High School in June of 1937 and it was a foregone conclusion that I would go on to college. Irene was then attending Brigham Young University in Provo, which didn't have much of an engineering school. Since I wanted to study engineering, I prevailed upon my parents to let me go to the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. 1937 was not in the depths of the Depression, but money was still in short supply. I think that the tuition was free, but living expenses, books, clothing, etc. amounted to enough to stretch my budget almost to the breaking point.

**********

The first year I boarded with Henry and Edith Jefferies, who had been our neighbors in Grantsville and who probably promised my parents that they would look after me. They lived in the Avenues about a mile or so from the University, and I usually took a city bus, but sometimes if I had time, I walked to school.
I have almost no recollection of the classes I took the first year except that I didn't get put into dumb-bell English, and that the professor in the regular English course assigned two projects which made an impression on me. The first assignment was to read Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World", and to write a review of it. I was about as naïve as possible, and the professor was disappointed with my review. The other assignment I remember was to go to a concert at the Mormon Tabernacle that was being given by the pianist Rachmaninoff. All I can recall of the concert was that when Rachmaninoff concluded his performance and left the stage, the applause seemed to go on forever, so the pianist finally returned for an encore. He played what I later learned was his famous "Piano Concerto".
I can't remember why I did it, but I signed up for ROTC in my first year at U of U. It turned out to be a good decision, because it paid off four years later. I don't recall much about the rest of my freshman year, but I must have taken some engineering courses, because I can remember one of them in particular. It was the drafting course. I was no better with a compass or pencil than I am now, but I guess that I passed, because I don't remember having to take it again. I still have the remnants of the drafting set I had to buy.

**********

My sophomore year was a little better. I had made a few friends by then and had gained a little more self-confidence. I was invited to join the Sigma Nu fraternity and did so. I wanted to live in the fraternity house, so with some regret, because I knew the Jefferies needed the money, I moved out of their house.
My recollection of the classes I took that year is almost nil. They must have been nearly all engineering courses. I had decided to major in Mechanical Engineering because I thought I was more adept in that field than I was in Electrical or Civil or Mining. I don't think any other Engineering majors were available.

My social life was now a little better. Because of Dad's efforts on my behalf in the summer custom harvesting work, I had a little more money at this point. However, I was dirt-poor compared to most of my colleagues. I took a job as house boy in a sorority house in an attempt to improve my financial situation. I dusted and vacuumed the downstairs area every morning and set the breakfast table before the upstairs residents got up. They didn't pay me anything, but gave me a room in the basement to live in, although I still took my meals at the fraternity house. It saved me $25 or $30 per month.

**********

My junior year was just as unremarkable as the previous year. I had gotten to know a few more people, and even went on a few dates to fraternity parties, but beyond that my memory fails me. In my senior year, three things happened which changed my whole life. Keep in mind that this was the winter of 1940-41.
First, since I had been enrolled in ROTC every year, my course load was such that I didn't have the necessary number of credits to graduate with my engineering class. I found that it would take me another year to get the required number of course credits.
Second, the U.S. government, in its efforts to increase the number of qualified airplane pilots in the population, had decided to offer an incentive toward that goal. The plan was called Civilian Pilot Training (C.P.T.), and for $35 it provided qualified individuals a chance to get a private pilot's license. The course consisted of ground school and flying time in a Piper Cub. I took the course in the fall quarter of 1940; I passed and got my pilot's license.
Third, at the beginning of the winter quarter, the ROTC officers announced that all of us who graduated from ROTC the following June would become second lieutenants and would be called to active duty for a period of three years. The winter ROTC course was field artillery. I mulled this over for about 10 minutes, then went to the Army recruiting office and applied to become a flying cadet in the Army Air Corps.
I had to agree that if I completed the training and became a qualified pilot, I would be enlisted to serve three years on active duty. To encourage young men to sign up, the Army promised a $500 per year bonus for the three-year period. In addition to that incentive, a pilot in the Army Air Corps got what was calling “flying pay”, which made his pay about 25% higher than that of ground officers. I thought that the $1,500, plus being a pilot in the Air Corps, was far better than being a second Lieutenant in the Field Artillery. The Air Corps finally accepted me in early May and ordered me to be at the primary training school in Hemet, California, on June 10, 1941.