Doyle Johns -- World War II on the homefront

Herchel Middleton of Oklahoma, Gene Curry of California, and Doyle Johns of Oklahoma, with in a 1933 coupe at Eagle Mountain Lake, Texas. --submitted photo

When Doyle Johns of Nevada, Mo., enlisted in the U.S. Navy in his home town in Oklahoma on Sept. 23, 1942, he thought he would get to go overseas, be on big boats, and especially go to California.

"My seafaring journey was aboard a hundred foot boat for ONE day. I thought I wanted to go at sea, but after that day, I was glad I was a mechanic on land. It might not have been much of a life for a sailor, but it was enough for me," Johns related. "I was in the service for 38 months and in 10 bases. They didn't set me down for long at a time."

He began his basic training at Great Lakes, Ill., and stayed one month before they sent him to Millington, Tenn., to Aviation Machinist Mate School. He graduated in May and was sent to Oklahoma where he was only 38 miles from his home.

He was at Clinton, Okla., which is 120 miles west of Oklahoma City. "The longest runway in the world was at the base at Burns Flat."

He was an aircraft mechanic.

In November 1943, he was sent to Eagle Mountain Lake, Texas, north of Fort Worth. There he was put to working on big airplanes. "There was a big enough lake that they had planes come in on the water."

Johns had never been a mechanic before he went into the Navy except for work on cars a bit, but they sent him to school and he enjoyed the process. He was next sent to Oklahoma for two months, then to Norfolk, Va.

The next stop was back to Grand Lakes, Ill., where he learned to work on smaller planes for anti-aircraft. The model that they worked with had a 12-ft wing span, but a gas tank that held only two gallons. "It was like a toy. We had a parachute that dropped it into Lake Michigan. They retrieved it out of the lake. Our job was to tear it apart, put it in a hot room overnight, then get it back together -- and hope it would run. It was quite a challenge." During this time he learned to weld as well as be a mechanic.

That was why Johns was on the big boat. They were experimenting with the little airplane and studying it for anti-aircraft. Next, he was sent back to Oklahoma and then to Norfolk for two months until the end of the war. He was sent to Norman, Okla., to get released.

Johns married Sylvia Hileman in Oklahoma in 1944 while he was stationed in Texas. She followed him to Texas and back later to Oklahoma where their son, Ronald was born. Johns said he "had several furloughs because every time he changed bases, he was the first in line to get a leave." His rank when he left the service was AMM2C which is almost the same as a Staff Sergeant in the Army. His pay was $96 a month.

When asked what he thought was the biggest difference in serving then rather than now, he said that now there are bigger airplanes and things to work on, but then he had never heard tell of drugs which seems to be a problem today.

Johns and his wife had a daughter, Donna, after he got out of the service. They moved from Oklahoma to Vernon County, Mo., near the community of Bristow in Badger Township in 1951. He farmed and became a school bus driver and a rural mail carrier.

Summing up his time in the service, Johns said, "I didn't get what I expected, but I learned life-long skills and am glad I served."