Aviatian Cadets In W W II

Dallas Aviation Cadets

I was happy to be one of the thirty-six men shown in this picture, which was printed as a news item in the Dallas newspaper in March 1942. Notice that we were arranged in the form of a “D” indicating our ties to Big D. We had been in pre-flight training for several weeks at Kelly Field in San Antonio – it seemed like forever – and were now being assigned to flight training schools with the hope of becoming pilots in the Army Air Corps.

To me, being an aviation cadet was the ideal answer to the problem all young men of draft age had faced during the months prior to the Pearl Harbor attack. I had been in-ducted and accepted as a cadet during the week immediately following that historic event. I successfully completed pilot training and received my silver wings and commis-sion as a second lieutenant in September 1942 at Ellington Field in Houston.