Charles Boyd

Francis Marie Hutchens Boyd and Jasper (Jack) Washington Boyd. I was named after both of my grandfathers, Charles Samford Boyd and Henry Alexander Hutchens.

Shortly after I was born Dad got a job in the Oil Field working for Christy-Hickman Oil Company in Kellerville, TX. We moved to Kellerville and lived on the D’Spain lease in a company small box like house. Later the company moved into the area a one bedroom house in which we moved. We slept in bunk beds in the small closed in porch off the kitchen.

When I was three years old, Dad was working on the wind charger on top of the house and had left the ladder in place so he could later get down. I climbed the ladder and when I took my first step from the ladder I fell to the ground and was hurt. My folks took me to the hospital in Pampa, Texas where they diagnosed a broken jaw. They wired my teeth together and bound my head around the top as well as under my chin. I had to wear this for several weeks and could only have liquids to eat. I had to wear the binding under my chin for so long that I still can feel the indentations on the sides of my head to this day.

The state of Texas only had a total of eleven grades in the school system when I started to school. When I was in the third grade the state added a twelfth grade to the school system. The Kellerville grade school system decided to have all the students complete their current school year requirements in the first school semester and then take the next years requirements during the second school semester. Out of about fifteen students in my class there was only one student that did not pass into the next grade, which was the fifth grade. Consequently, this student ended up being two years behind their classmates upon graduation from the eighth grade.

In the late 1930’s the Kellerville First Baptist Church was established The congregation then bought a building located on the Gray County line, which was five miles west of Kellerville, that had once been a dance hall/beer joint and remodeled it for their church home. In the early 1940’s a fire started in the church early one morning and the building was destroyed. The church building was rebuilt and was made larger to accommodate more people.

When I was twelve, which was the age requirement for the Boy Scouts, I enrolled. I progressed through the rank until I qualified for the Eagle rank. I met the requirement for each rank in minimum time. When we had a Court of Honor for presenting the ranks there were four of us that received our Eagle badges at the same time. That was half of the total people in the scout troop at that time. Our pictures were taken and were put in the McLean newspaper along with a lengthy article about scouting in Kellerville Troop #70. One of the things that we had to do to qualify for one of the merit badges for the Eagle Scout rank was to build a durable building and also to build a bridge across a creek or ravine without using any nails. Everything had to be tied together. We built the building in a grove of mesquite trees and it stood for many years afterward. Other scouts used it to get some of their other merit badges, such as cooking, tracking, and others. I still have my Eagle Scout badge and certificate as well as my sash with all the merit badges on it that I had earned. It has just been a keepsake for me.

I started to high school in September, 1945. We had to ride the bus twenty five miles to Shamrock to high school and return. I seemed to always be the first one on the bus pickup route and the last to be delivered. Most of the time I would be on the bus around six o’clock and not get back home until around six o’clock that evening. Our bus driver was a man named Dick Sargent. He drove the bus the four years I was in High School. I wanted to enlist in the US Air Force as soon as I was out of school. Dad would not sign the necessary papers until he returned home from the hospital. After he returned and had signed the consent forms since I was only seventeen years old, I applied and due to circumstances I could not be sworn in to the service until September 1, 1950. The Korean conflict had just started in June 1950 and many people were volunteering and filling the quotas. We rode the train to Lackland AFB at San Antonio, TX for our induction. There were so many new enlistees they did not have room for all of us in the barracks so they set-up a tent city on the parade field to house us while we were there. We only stayed there for a week while we were given our clothing and initial indoctrination and then we were sent to Sheppard AFB at Wichita Falls, TX. They were just reopening that base for basic training when we arrived. Only a couple of the wooden barracks had been renovated for use. So our flight had to help get the other barracks ready for other troops. I was given a detail of men and we completely renovated several barracks in record time. We were given the worst barracks, which required a lot of carpenter work. I always enjoyed working with wood. I had studied a lot of woodwork in the Boy Scouts as well as taking woodshop while in high school. At that time basic training time had been reduced to just six weeks due to too many new personnel enlisting in support of the Korean “conflict”. After completing basic training I was sent to Rantoul, IL, Chanute AFB for technical school. At that time we had no choice as to what schools we were sent. I ended up being sent to the aircraft and general sheet metal school. It was about sixteen weeks long. Upon graduation from the sheet metal school I was sent to Carswell AFB, Ft. Worth, TX to work in the aircraft sheet metal shop. I was very fortunate because my older brother Earl and his wife Irene, was also stationed there. He was an electrician on the B 36 bomber. After working in the shop for about five months I had the opportunity to cross train into a new field that General Curtis LeMay had devised. I went to the school at Offutt AFB, Nebraska to learn how to give massages, light physical workouts and steam baths. I made the highest final grades for my total class. I left for Japan in August 1952. I went to Camp Stoneman, CA for my assignment and transfer to Japan. Japan and docked. We were then put on a train that took us to Yakutat Air Base where we were processed for further assignments, the train ride was only about twenty miles but it took over six hours for us to arrive there. My assignment was to go to Yokota AFB and set up another Physical Conditioning Room for flight crews. We had not gotten a separate AFSC job description yet for this task so they assigned us to the gym/recreational activities AFSC. When I got to Japan I was reassigned to Misawa AFB in northern Japan as a recreational specialist. I began trying to convince my commander that I was supposed to be in Yokota AFB to no avail. As soon as I arrived at Misawa I made out an allotment for fifty dollars a month to be sent to my parent’s home and saved for my future use. This left me with about forty five dollars a month to live on. I was selected as Airman of the Month one time while I was stationed at Misawa and given an engraved cigarette lighter and a commendation. I rotated back to the states in July 1954 and reported in to Kirtland AFB, NM to be processed for discharge as a sergeant, three strips. I reported in about a month before my enlistment was up and the first sergeant told me that I was to return one week prior to my discharge for final processing and he did not want to see me until then. I took my discharge on 31 Aug 1954 at Kirtland AFB NM and immediately returned to Amarillo AFB, TX and re-enlisted without losing a day.

During one of these weekends I met Mary Ann Evans at the Sunday Baptist church service. I was immediately attracted to her. I tried to date her but her father was extremely strict. We did finally get to go out on a date and it was very enjoyable. We then dated several times after that by going to the movies, church and school activities, etc. Mary was a high school senior in 1954/1955 at the time going to Shamrock High School, which I had previously graduated from in 1950. I had decided that I would like to spend the rest of my life with this young lady so I purchased a set of wedding rings. One evening while out on a date I showed her the rings. I actually did not at that time ask her to be my wife. She commented that the rings were beautiful and handed them back to me. I then asked if she would wear them and she accepted the engagement ring. We were planning on a wedding at the Kellerville Baptist church on June 5, 1955 but Pete Evans, her dad was very adamant that she was not going to marry a service man. We found out later that he was very sick during that time. Since us all, Mary, her mother Birdie, and I were afraid that her dad would make a scene at the church ceremony we decided to elope and go to Clovis NM and get married. We left Kellerville on June 3, a Friday, in my 1954 Ford and drove to the courthouse in Clovis NM to get the marriage license. We arrived just about the time that the court house was closing. They asked for a proof of age for Mary and she did not have one because she did not have her driver’s license at that time. The clerk asked where she was born and she replied Whitewright, TX. The clerk stated that she could call the court house where she was born for verification but it would be the next day, Saturday, before they would be open. We were at the county clerk’s office when she arrived and opened the doors. We were the first ones there and she immediately called the clerk’s office in Whitewright, TX and received the necessary verification of Mary’s age. She issued the marriage licenses and we drove to find a Baptist church so we could be married by a Baptist preacher. Fortunately, when we arrived at the church, the preacher and his clerk was there. He agreed to do the ceremony for us and his clerk and one other person that came around the church signed the marriage license as witnesses.

We were very proud when found that Mary was pregnant. This was in October 1955. Mary was a very beautiful pregnant wife. We named our daughter Patricia Marie Boyd.

I was promoted to Staff Sergeant in 1956. While I was still working in the hospital dining hall the Hospital Commander, who was a full colonel, kept after me to apply for OCS, Officers Candidate School. He stated that he would personally give me my physical for the application. I then took all the necessary written and verbal test for the application and successfully completed them. I attended an instructor’s school while stationed at Amarillo AFB. It was quite an experience. For the final grade and before we could graduate we had to teach one day of classes at the aircraft engine school that was taught at the base. We were given five days to prepare and teach that one day to new students. Then we had three days to prepare our lesson outline. Then on the fifth day we had to teach that one day to students.

I was transferred to Sheppard AFB, TX at Wichita Falls. I was assigned to the food service squadron. We arrived at Sheppard AFB around April or May of 1958 and base housing was not immediately available. So we ended up finding a small house that was available which was originally the servant’s quarters of a big beautiful house that sat on the hilltop. The house was small but it served our purposes until base housing became available. We ended up getting a one bedroom house on base on Nell's Blvd. Patricia, our daughter was still just a baby so we were able to keep her in the one bedroom. As soon as I reported into the squadron I found that I could request a transfer to another career field, AFSC. So I applied to go to the Special Weapons School that was in Denver, CO. I was accepted to the Special Weapons School and we were transferred to Lowry AFB, CO in Denver Colorado. There was not any base housing available for students so we rented a small house in Aurora, CO which was on the outskirts of Denver and the base. I had seventeen weeks of electrical and electronics fundamentals before completing the course with another thirteen weeks of weapons familiarization and maintenance. Upon completion of the school in July 1958, I and five other classmates were assigned to an overseas location which at that time was a secret classified assignment. The orders were cut with the minimum information available which included only the APO number of the European theater. The orderly room that cut the orders stated that the destination location would have all the other necessary information for our further assignments.

I was able to stay long enough for our daughter, Patricia’s third birthday, on Aug 14, 1959, before I had to leave by airplane to McGuire AFB, NJ. We boarded another airplane for the trip across the Atlantic. We made our first landing at the Azores AFB where we were able to get off and stretch our legs and have a meal. Then we boarded the airplane for a long leg of flight which took us to Torrejon AFB, Spain. It was a very long and very tiring flight. Since our orders had transferred six of us to the base at Alconbury and we had completed our training we had the option of having our families come to the base from the states. I looked for quarters for a while and finally found a house off base in Cambridge, England. English houses did not have a refrigerator but they did have a cool box that would keep things cool at least overnight. All Englishmen purchased groceries every day for what they needed that day, for instance, milk, bread, and meat.

Mary and Pat joined me in November 1959. This was the first time either of them had been on an airplane. They left Amarillo, TX and flew to New York/New Jersey to catch the flight to England. Pat was only three years old at that time and was a hand full the entire trip but they kept each other company which made the travel time go by faster.