->  ...   
   ->    
   ->  FS> Immediately after Pearl Harbor I decided to join the   
   ->  FS> Marines.  That would have been a terrible mistake since I   
   ->  FS> tend to avoid fighting, preferring to negotiate.  What got   
   ->    
   ->  A vary famous marine became famous for that very skill. Of   
   ->  course, there was the fact that he spoke fluent Japanese.   
      
   Unfortunately the only Japanese *I* know is "chop suey" ... OTOH, that   
   might be Chinese ... or Mexican ... "Pizza"???   
      
   ->  FS> into me at the time was the general patriotism following   
   ->  FS> the attack on Pearl Harbor.  I would have been the only   
   ->  FS> Marine in the Corps attempting to negotiate with the   
   ->  FS> Japanese ... I can almost hear the Japanese troops now as   
   ->  FS> they see me, "Negotiate?  Hell no!  Shoot that round-eyed   
   ->  FS> sucker!!" (In Japanese, of course)   
   ->    
   ->  You would have confused them so much they wouldn't stand a   
   ->  chance.   
      
   One would hope so ...   
       
   ->  FS> Fortunately before I had a chance to go to Chicago to   
   ->  FS> enlist in the Marines, the US Army made changes in their   
   ->  FS> requirements for Aviation Cadet training.  I decided to go   
   ->  FS> that route and, fortunately, dropped the Marine move.   
   ->    
   ->  Which got you working on aircraft hydraulics. Hmmm... different   
   ->  definition of "Aviation Cadet".   
      
   The USAAF had a cute way of getting guys to enlist.  They offered a slot in   
   the Aviation Cadet program if you could pass a written test in Chicago.  I   
   passed the written test as well as a physical test there.  Then they'd ship   
   you to Kelly Field, San Antonio, Texas, where they'd give you a much more   
   rigid physical test ... which I didn't pass.  However I had had to agree to   
   enlist in the active enlisted reserve if I dropped out of the Aviation   
   Cadet program.  So I was stuck.     
      
   But all-in-all I lucked out, as I enjoyed the work as a hydraulic   
   specialist -- and no one was shooting at me in Savannah, Georgia where   
   Hunter Field, was located.     
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