We got into Fresno on the
fifth of July in 1943, and boy I’ll tell you that’s a hot time in Fresno! Again I had a married man’s pass, so Alice
and I had a room in an old house in Fresno, not a very nice place. Places were
hard to get in those days; all the housing was taken. And it was hot in that
room![1]
Winkler and Derrick and I
were assigned to Hammer Field, where we were required to take basic training
over again and go through an infiltration course at Clovis, about four miles
from Fresno. Out in little rolling foothills, it was hot as the dickens! [2]
Hammer Field, with nearby Mt. Owens Rifle Range,
received filler replacements and prepared them for Air Force assignments. Reports
from men returning from combat resulted in an increased focus on extended-order
drill (small units in combat situations), fitness training, and weapons firing
accuracy, especially the rifle. Men repeated basic training and took a combat
training course whose core was the infiltration course. “Waves of troops were
sent through smoke and gas barrages, across land mined with dynamite and
crossed with barbed wire, beneath a sheet of live ammunition fired from fixed
machine guns, finally to advance around the flank of a low hill to an attack on
an organized position with subsequent reduction of a secondary defense line.” The
course trained fliers and technicians for overseas service.[3]
 |
| Back: Azevedo, unknown, Derrick Front: Winkler, Kellar, Rehbein |
Everyone had to go through
the infiltration course where you’re crawling on your belly under bob [barbed]
wire, and they were firing live ammunition across the top of you. You learned
how to protect yourself if you got into a scrap in the war. [4]
Alice at work
Jack: Wherever
we went Alice had a job, whether it was working in some kind of five and dime
store or in the Post Tailors or something like that. She was busy helping out
to make money.[5]
With her sewing skills and experience at
Paris Cleaners, Alice went to work at Hammer Field’s Post Tailor Shop. She took
the bus from her room in Fresno to work, only becoming acquainted with the
people she worked with.
Oh! That girl that was ahead
of me! She had the first sewing machine, and I had the second one. There’d be a
box on the end of each sewing machine. She didn’t like to do certain things, so
when she came to one of those, she’d just throw it over onto my pile. So I
always had the biggest pile, but I figured, “Those people know,” the cutters and other
people working in there. “They can see.” I didn’t care ‘cause I could do anything
they gave me. I used to do the boss’s wife’s alterations. I liked that job.
Jack making money on the side
 |
| The Fresno Bee, 10 July 1943, p. 1; digital image courtesy of Henry Madden Library, California State University, Fresno |
We went home to Santa Rosa
and brought the ’41 Pontiac back down. That helped quite a bit. I made a lot of
money with the car. I started buying newspapers for two and a half cents apiece
and taking them out to Clovis because the fellas were hungry for news. They
wanted news, boy, because there weren’t any radios. I sold the papers for five
cents a piece.
And then I started buying
watermelons. I found a place where I could get watermelons for fifteen cents apiece,
and I’d take ‘em out to our camp and sell ‘em for forty cents. And the guys were
buying them!
We came home to Santa Rosa a
couple times. One time we came back with the trunk full of milk cans with
gasoline in them. There was gasoline rationing, and Winklers could get all the
gas they wanted for use off-road on their apple ranch. I charged the guys for
rides from Fresno to Clovis, and I was making money! OK! [6]
Nearly court martialed
I nearly got court martialed
in Fresno. One time I had promised too many guys rides off the base. I had
thirteen guys. We were trying to get them all in, and they were gettin’ in the
trunk. We got caught, and there was some real talking going on there, about the
trunk Somebody said, “Pipe down out there!” and I said, “Go on back to sleep.”
And then this fella came out and tapped me on the shoulder. Captain. I should
have told him, “Right now, right here.” It’s not his business what I did when I
was on pass. He was a civilian as far as I was concerned. He was in a robe
talking to me. I didn’t know who he was or anything. He had no right to say
anything, really, gee. Anyway, I had to report to him. When I walked in, he
walked out, and the other guy says to him, “I told you, go back to sleep.” So I
explained the situation, and he said, “Well,” he said, “It’s kind of
embarrassing,” he says, “To be laying there at five o’clock in the morning with
your wife and hearing the language that’s coming from out there.” I apologized
to him. That was a close call.
Going home!
 |
| Always the jokers! Permanent latrines were built after these boys left. Derrick, Winkler, unknown, Azevedo, Kellar |
I was in Fresno about two
months, but then I was transferred to Santa Rosa. Boy, I was glad to get out of
there, it was so hot!
Alice: He
went home, and I stayed there just a little bit longer because I was frozen to
the job. Jack: They’d freeze your job
in those years because they didn’t want people quitting and going to other
jobs. Alice: The girls kept rotating,
and they wanted [a replacement] before they let me go. Jack: If you left your job, you would not be able to get another
job. They would blackball you. Alice:
I wasn’t going to work on another base anyhow.
[7]
Jack and Alice were on their
way to Jack’s new post in Santa Rosa. Jack was trained as an airplane mechanic,
and now he had basic defense skills for combat. They would be home in Santa
Rosa, but for how long? And then what?
[1]
[2] Jack J. Kellar, “Autobiography,” 1998; two ninety-minute cassette tape recordings; held and partially transcribed by the author.
[3]
Capt. Mary P. Spangenberg, comp., History of the Fourth Air Force Replacement
Depot, 5 February 1943 to 31 December 1943, “Chapter II, Operations and
Training,” 10–12; digital images, California Military Department, California State Military Museums (http://www.militarymuseum.org ) > California Military History; Historical
California Air Force Installations > Hammer Field > History of Fourth Air Force Replacement
Depot, Hammer Field: 8 February-31 December 1943 (http://www.militarymuseum.org/HistoricalReport_Hammer.pdf : accessed 27 January 2018). Also, “Drill–Military,” Encyclopædia Britannica (https://www.britannica.com/topic/drill-military : accessed 28 January 2018).
[4]
Jack J. Kellar, interview about his first years
after high school by Judy Kellar Fox, 12 April 1993; cassette tape recording
and transcription held by the author. Also, Jack J. Kellar and Alice (Streeter) Kellar, interview, December 1993.
[6]
Jack J. Kellar and Alice (Streeter) Kellar,
interview, December 1993. Also, Jack J. Kellar, “Autobiography,” 1998.
Dear Judy,
ReplyDeleteWhat great World War II remembrances you've recorded here. I also love the great writing, thorough footnotes, the images which really bring it alive, and the formatting. Looking forward to following this blog.