Page 30 - MY STORY

RETROSPECTION

There was some major physical movement during the

four years of my enlistment going from Denver to
California, to Tucson (Davis-Monthan AFB), and finally

to Salina, Kansas (Smoky Hill AFB) before discharge. I
also made crew chief and Staff Sergeant by the time I
escaped. The good part of the four-year experience was a
marked movement in “growing up” and not fearing, in the

slightest, moving anywhere in this country to achieve my
ultimate goal of becoming a competent engineer. Also

got my first taste of management. The bad part was that
four years elapsed with no experience in my hard-fought
field of endeavor.

AFTER SERVICE AND A NEW OPPORTUNITY: NOV 1954 –
JUNE 1955

We moved back to the Chicago area and settled in

Lombard. I went back to work for H.M. Harper at the
same level of employment when I left for service. The
company had grown dramatically by then. It was now
fully integrated with its own foundry, extrusion presses,

and hotwire drawing capability. It also had hired senior
metallurgists after I left for service, and I was still “low

man on the totem pole.” This was not a terribly fulfilling