My dad came from a poor background and worked hard all his life. He grew up in northwest Arkansas during the depression, like my mother, and loved his family. This picture of him was obviously taken in front of someone else’s car, but I’m glad to have a picture of him as a very handsome young man. He was thrilled to get to see part of the world during WWII, not because of the war, but because of the opportunities. He trained to be an aircraft mechanic and used that training all his life. He asked me to type this up for him not long before he died and it is attached to a globe in the bedroom with grease pencil markings of the places he visited. It seemed fitting to show you this for Father’s Day.
JAMES L. OSBURN
MILITARY HISTORY
(Autobiography)
I was born at Walnut Ridge, AR on January 16, 1923. I entered the military services May 19, 1943. I took Basic Training at Amarillo, TX then Aircraft and Engine Maintenance a Keesler Field, MS on B24 bombers then to B-24 factory at Detroit, MI (or Ypsilanti, MI, close to Detroit), then to B-24 Gunnery School at Harlingen, TX. This was to prepare me for Engineer-Gunner on B-24s.
A change of status then due to the war, had all the B-24s they needed. My gunnery training came to a halt and many others at Harlingen. We were dispersed to other areas to become aircraft and engine mechanics. I was sent to Guadalcanal to be a part of the Air Transport Command. I became an aircraft general mechanic shuttling out and back from Guadalcanal to many islands to maintain many aircraft of many types. I was flown from Guadalcanal to many islands where many types of U.S. military aircraft was stranded (engine, electrical, hydraulic, tires, propellers, etc.) awaiting a mechanic to be flown with parts and tools and repair the aircraft. I was that purpose and that mechanic for many, many months, many aircraft, many type of aircraft. I would be flown back to Guadalcanal, spend a night and be flown down to problems at various islands, then repair and back. I finally transferred to the Philippines and soon to Guam. At this time there were ma battle body damage at Guam needing aircraft transportation to the United States and hospitals.
We were involved in repair of C-54 aircraft out of the China, Burma, India (CBI) that had been in rough use. We had eleven (11) stalls built to match the design of the C-54s. It allowed 20+ mechanics at each stall and around the clock (24 hours per day) and producing a serviceable aircraft sometimes in one or two days and sometimes weeks from each stall. I ran one of those docks or stalls along with another controller. It was production maintenance; however, each aircraft was the same type as the last one. You would almost know what parts would require replacement. As the aircraft was removed from the dock, they would be loading sick GIs (military); crank up and head for the United States and another entered that dock. When I left there, 9 months after I arrived, I rode a ship to the U.S., into San Francisco, then a bus here and there until I was discharged and home.
All this was rough and hard work, but I used that schooling after I left the military to obtain nine certificates for my purposes and for me and my family’s living. One of those certificates was for a pilot license and the other eight authorized specific maintenance, inspector’s training, certifications for many mechanics to become certified as a qualified mechanic and inspect and certify aircraft after crash, etc.
Like my father-in-law, husband, and son, they worked hard for themselves and their families and did their best to provide for their families. Happy Father’s Day to all of them.
What are you reading, creating, or writing this week?
Dani, a stressed-out tour boat captain, attempts to save her brother, Cody, from the local drug dealers only to find she and her boat will be their next victim. This time, Cody owes some big money, and the only person he knows to help him is his sister.
Peggy Chambers "Views from the Hammock" site 