Vietnam Fighter Pilot

The Korean War dominated the news media.  Turn on the radio and   listen to the war stories, or if you were lucky, and owned a television, you could watch the horrors of war on the black and white tube.  Many of the broadcasts and newspaper headlines were about the enemy fighter planes being shot down by the United States Pilots.   The United States was winning the air war.  Jim Burns wanted to be a fighter pilot.

Jim graduated from Jeffersonville High School in 1950.  The town of Jeffersonville, Indiana lies just across the river from Louisville, Kentucky.  After graduating, Jim started working at a newspaper plant in Louisville. He bought a new Triumph Thunderbird motorcycle, and was living what is now known as a gang member’s life.  Back then they were just doing fun things.

Jim had a very good job for an eighteen year old.  He was catching newspapers and magazines as they came off the press and he belonged to the pressmen’s union.  The union title for this type of work was Flyboy. The job title was to become his actual lifestyle.

He was interested in playing poker.  There were several back room poker games in Jeffersonville, Indiana.  Jim’s uncle ran one of the games and hired him to work weekends.  He cleaned up the place and was a gopher.  He would go after sandwiches, beer, and almost anything that the players wanted.  Sometimes, when one of the dealers went on a break, Jim would run the game.

He was sitting in for a dealer that had gone to dinner.  His timing was terrible.  The door was knocked down by a battering ram, and cops were all over the place.  Everyone was arrested and hauled off to the courthouse.

Jim and his friend, Carl, were ordered to appear before the local judge.   Standing in front of the judge was not a real pleasant experience.  The judge told them that they should join the military.  It just happened the judge was Carl’s uncle. The alternative to joining service and leaving town was not fully explained.  Jim’s imagination was running wild.

He and Carl left the courtroom and went to the nearest recruiting office.  Jim’s first encounter with the military was the navy recruiter, Warrant officer Harry Egan.  He had stripes running all the way up and down his uniform sleeves.

Harry almost lost Jim and Carl when he informed them about the huge amount of money they would be making.  Just imagine, $ 37.50 twice a month.  WOW.  Jim showed warrant officer Egan his payroll check stub for the previous two weeks.  He was earning over $ 100 a week.

The navy man began explaining the travel benefits.