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 I
was raised on a dairy in Santa Ana, Ca. in what
was considered a rural farming area at the time.
I was born in 1938, just three years prior to the
beginning of World War Two. I had two older brothers
that were draft age when the war broke out. My brother
John, the oldest of my 9 elder siblings, was 20
years old and immediately joined the Air Force to
become a pilot. He flew B-25's "over the hump" and
survived over 40 missions, being stationed in Burma,
India. He flew bombing missions to Japan.
I remember the day in 1941, my brother, Joe, and
brother-in-law to be, Richard Eggleton, received
their draft notice. They were both 19 years old.
I had gone with them (as I did on a regular basis)
on a 24 hour trucking trip from the dairy in Santa
Ana to Imperial Valley to pick up a load, approximately
20 tons of hay, on a 1938 Ford cab-over pulling
a 26 foot flatbed trailer. The truck had a sleeper
on it, what they referred to as a "coffin sleeper"
because if the truck crashed, the person in the
sleeper usually died. Also, it was a wooden box
and not a lot larger than a coffin. It was a great
place for me to sleep (which I got plenty of when
I went with them). However, when one of them, Joe,
or Richard, decided they needed some sleep, I either
got squished in the corner, or I would get out of
the sleeper and ride shot-gun.
I learned a lot about trucking life on the road
and slow paces up steep grades because the 1938
Ford was power deficient, even for it's day. My
guess is that it had all of 300 cubic inches and
maybe "120 truck-measured" horse power.
The trucks today will easily make two trips in the
same amount of time it took the truck to make one,
not to mention that they had numerous break-downs.
The day they were drafted was a sad day for my sister,
my future sister-in-law, Margaret, and of course
my mother and father. Joe and Richard, however,
were delighted! They were proud that they were going
in the service to defend our great country. My father
begged all the boys to take jobs milking cows as
that would guarantee them a deferment from the draft
as the dairy industry was considered a vital industry
to the war effort...
For more on the "Vision of Gus", please e-mail us at visionofgus@osterkampgrp.com.
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