Editor’s note: This is another column in Bill Boyd’s new series, “The Way It Was,” about growing up in Marysville. Bill continues to work with the Union County Historical Society to obtain information for his stories.
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I was in the Air Force during the Korean War, but the closest I ever got to Korea was Denver Colorado. I never saw a shot fired in anger.
At the same time, one of my best high school friends, Bud Hoffman, was in the army, and he spent some time in Korea. When we both got out of the service, Bud had a few “war stories” to tell, but I didn’t have a single one.
The only time I carried a weapon during my four years in the Air Force, was a couple days in 1953. I was a radar instructor at Lowry Air Force Base near Denver, Colorado. One of the perks for instructors was a chance to go on a “prison chase’ near his home. You see, every now and then, an airman would leave his post and go AWOL. Maybe he got a “Dear John” letter from his girlfriend, and he took off to patch things up.
They would eventually be arrested and held in the nearest Air Force stockade. Then the Lowry air police would send a couple instructors to pick up the prisoner and return him to the Lowry stockade. I signed up to go on a chase if they had one going to central Ohio. And within a few weeks I got the assignment. It was a chance to spend a couple days at home, compliments of the US Air Force.
I didn’t know my partner in the prison chase. The first time I saw him was the morning of our departure. They had a military flight scheduled from Denver to Wright Patterson Air Force Base, and we just hitched a ride on a B 25 bomber. My partner was a little guy, maybe 5 foot 6 inches tall. He looked a lot like Mickey Rooney. I don’t remember his name, so I’ll just call him “Mickey.”
I really enjoyed those two days in Marysville with my parents. Then as our orders indicated, Mickey and I reported to the Wright Patterson stockade around 8 a.m. on the departure day. The captain who was in charge of the stockade gave both Mickey and me handcuffs. He said the prisoner must always be handcuffed to one of us. Then he strapped a 45-caliber handgun on both of us.
I don’t know if you have ever seen a 45-caliber bullet, but it’s big enough to take down a grizzly bear. The officer never gave us any instructions on when to use the handgun. Surely he didn’t expect us to shoot that guy if he tried to run away. But neither Mickey nor I said anything.
Then the officer told us that there were no military flights going to Denver, so we would be booked on a commercial airline. But no commercial airline would take us, because they wouldn’t allow anyone aboard to be handcuffed. So they booked us on a train. Oh man, instead of being handcuffed to the prisoner for two hours, we would be handcuffed to him for two days, or maybe more.
Mickey and I took turns with the handcuffs. We worked three-hour shifts. When it was my shift, it didn’t take long until I got to know the prisoner pretty well. I think he had some sort of learning problems, and he was unhappy in high school. So he lied about his age and enlisted in the Air Force shortly after his 17th birthday.
It didn’t take long until he realized that his enlistment had been a mistake, so he went AWOL. I asked what his punishment would be, and he said they would put him behind bars. Then he said that as soon as they let him out, he was going to go AWOL again, and he would keep doing that until they let him out of the Air Force.
Oh boy, this was clearly a pretty mixed up kid. I tried to tell him that would be a big mistake. He would end up with a dishonorable discharge, and that would be on his record forever. It would make his life a lot more difficult. It would be harder to get a job and things like that.
But the kid just wouldn’t listen. His mind was made up. When Mickey and I turned him over to the Lowry Air Police, I felt sorry for him. Over the years I have often wondered what happened to him. I hope he turned things around in his life, but I wouldn’t bet on it.
Those wishing to contact Bill Boyd can e-mail him at
williamboyd514@gmail.com