(Army 1) Could not enlist, but could be drafted.

Pearl Harbor was on Sunday of December 7, 1941. I was 16. On Monday I listened to the President speak. The students of Pomona High School were all sitting in the auditorium to hear the speech. On Tuesday I rode the street car into Los Angeles and tried to join the Marines. I did not get very far before I failed the eye test. You could wear glasses in any branch of the Service but not in the Marines or Air Force.

Very disappointed I rode the street car back to Pomona. The street car was called the Red Car. They were soon taken out and replaced by busses. I walked from the street car to the office of an eye doctor. He informed me that yes I had bad eyes. They might have saved my life. Very soon the Marines landed on Guadalcanal.

Over the next year I tried to enlist in the Army and the Navy. Each time I was required to get the approval of my Father. I can remember phoning him several times and asking him for his approval. He always refused. He did not want me to get killed. We had never been real close. I am impressed that he worried that much about me. He was an invalid in a hospital after a severe stroke.

I got the idea to register for the draft and to lie about my age.  Said that I was 18 instead of 17. In two weeks I was ordered to duty!

That was a strange fact. I could be drafted into the Army and the permission of my Father was not required, but if I wanted to voluntarily enlist in the Army the permission of my Father was required.