The Great Depression prepared the author to serve during WWII. He began as an aircraft mechanic learner before finishing high school.Before he transferred to the Aviation Cadet Training Program, he had become an aircraft inspector in the Army Air Corps. During pilot training, his classmates taunted him for his South Texas brush-country ways.He graduated as a twin engine pilot, and was left behind when his classmates transferred to transition school. For seven months, he taught French Officers to fly the twin engine Billy Mitchell TB-25, and used the occasion to learn the French language.Upon shipping over seas, he reported to the 2766th Provisional Headquarters Flight in Cairo, Egypt, where he joined an elite group of pilots who furnished the flying needs for the African Middle East Theater Headquarters Command.He served as a "lend-lease" pilot to King Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia, piloting King Ibn Saud's personal C-47. Secondarily he became the step-child of the American Embassy, helping to carry out President Roosevelt's foreign policy that assured adequate oil supplies at a critical time.