Life At NATTC Memphis

We went to classes eight hours every day, more or less, and often studied in the evenings, yet we found time occasionally to look for mischief to get into.  Somewhere Smitty heard of this wonderful beach down in Mississippi where we could swim, loll in the sun, and possibly meet some members of the opposite gender.  It was called Sardis Dam, and that’s about all we knew of it.

It happened that on a nice Sunday afternoon several of us piled into Smitty’s ’47 Merc Coupe convertible to make the trek south to see what it was all about.  We rode for an hour or so until we reached this Sardis place we had learned of.  When we ultimately found the beach area it was completely devoid of humanity.  Nevertheless we donned swimming trunks and went into the water.  It was so muddy you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face.  We didn’t last long there, and understood why no one else was there either.  After hamburgers in a local diner, where we saw few other people, we climbed back in the car and returned to Memphis vowing never to return to Sardis Dam.  So far that vow has not been broken.

There was another Friday evening when Bob McGowan and I caught a bus from Millington into Memphis to take in a movie.  I don’t recall the movie any more, but I do remember buying some wine later, and taking it into an alley for a quick sample.  Back in the alley we met an older colored man who also was partaking of a little wine.  One thing led to another, and a couple of bottles later I don’t remember too much until I woke the following morning with a terrible hangover.  After waking Bob we found a place for an early breakfast before returning to the base.  Thank heaven, although our companion was gone, we still had our wallets and what money still remained.

I finished school there in mid-June, took some leave, and completed my orders by checking in at the Naval Auxiliary Air Field (NAAS) Corry Field, located just outside Pensacola, Florida on July 8, 1956, eleven days short of my eighteenth birthday.

I had taken a Navy-wide test in February, passed, and was selected for the advanced rating of Airman, versus my Apprentice status previously.  When I graduated from school as a Structural Mechanic Airman, my rating was AMAN.  While on leave my mother informed me she didn’t think I was quite a man yet, but I was getting closer.  Finally I was on a Naval Station for actual duty, not in some sort of training status as I had been for nearly a year.