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He kept the trucks running
Johnny Preston enlisted in the United States Army under the buddy system in 1963. He and his buddy were sent to Ft. Leonard Wood where they saw each other once while there and parted ways completely after that.
After eight weeks of basic training at Ft. Leonard Wood, Preston was sent to Ft. Belvoir, where he was sent to the Corps of Engineers and trained to work on heavy equipment. He worked on electric generators, diesel trucks, and the Hawk missile.
"The Hawk had three buttons on it and once an unidentified aircraft came on the screen. They had pushed two buttons before the aircraft identified itself. Otherwise, it would have been blown up," Preston said. "They didn't fool around with them."
Preston was at the base in Virginia and was sent to Washington, D.C., when President Kennedy was shot. "Security was as bad as, or worse, than it's been since 9-11."
He was sent to Hanau, Germany, where he spent the most of his time working on vehicles. He served with the 59th Artillery Brigade and earned the ranking of specialist fourth class.
"Once a sergeant was going around looking for people to enter in a driving contest and asked me if I could drive. I told him yes so he entered me in five different categories. I won first place in all five. I won a three day pass to Frankfort, Germany, so I kinda liked that."
The driving competitions were for recreation between the different companies and battalions. Preston entered in driving a 1/2 ton jeep, 3/4 ton pickup, 2 1/2 ton truck, 5 ton truck, and a wrecker. He got first place in every contest he entered. He worked his way up through the battalions and brigades until he was slated to enter the World Truck Driving Contest which was in Texas. However, the 7th Army was slated to come home and he "was more interested in coming to Missouri than Texas." He decided he had enough medals for his uniform anyway.
One of his duties, besides working on vehicles, was driving a lot of prisoners to the Manheim Stockade.
His driving training was useful in more ways than one. One time the ammo trailer was in a field on top of a mountain when a big snow came up and the driver was afraid to drive it down the mountain. They were standing around discussing how to get it down when his motor officer remembered Preston. When asked if he could get it down, he said he could. They told him if he got it down to the bottom of the mountain, there was a big hole where people were getting stuck. He brought the trailer down slow and when he got to the bottom, he put it in a gear he knew wouldn't power out -- and went through the mud hole.
Once he was working as Kitchen Police and was called out to go up in the mountains to a missile site. It was cold, it was snowing, and he would be staying in a tent. The diesel electric generator that provided power for the missile wouldn't work. He spent three days and three nights taking parts off other equipment until he finally got it operating. "I never had so much diesel on me in my life. But I didn't have to pull KP or guard duty after that."
He was slated to be home in time for Christmas in 1965, but a guy went AWOL and he caught him and had to turn him in, therefore, he had to be a witness at the court martial. Finally he was flown to New York, then to Kansas City where he took a bus home on Jan. 15, 1965. They had kept the Christmas tree up for him and he got to see his new son who was three months old.
Preston "wouldn't take anything for the experience, but wouldn't want to do it again."
One of the things that particularly gripes Preston is the number of people who won't stand up when the flag goes by. He went to a veteran's reunion and even the amputees stood. He thinks maybe every citizen of the United States should be given a tour of duty and they would better appreciate what their flag stands for.