“...Mr.
Brown is a young man of excellent appearance, apparently sound physical health,
pleasing manners, fine personality, exemplary character, and the highest ideals
of loyalty, patriotism, and devotion to duty.
“Mr.
Brown is an excellent student, keenly intellectual, a very hard worker,
practical, efficient, and capable in all that he undertakes to do. He is never satisfied with ‘good enough’, but
always aims and plans to do his best in whatever he undertakes....”
--Letter
of recommendation from Leroy Allen, professor of religion, Southwestern
College, Winfield, Kans., dated Tuesday, November 16, 1942, in reference to my father’s application to enlist in
the U.S. Navy.
My father chose to enlist
in the Navy, knowing that he would soon be drafted in any case. He enlisted on November 17, 1942, and would
begin his military service in July 1943.
He would later write, “More than high
patriotism, my youthful signing was a maneuver to avoid being drafted into the
infantry when I turned eighteen.” I obtained
this letter by ordering my father’s military service records from the National
Archives (www.archives.gov). You can order military records of a deceased
veteran, if you are immediate kin. If
the veteran separated from the service more than 62 years ago, anyone can order
their military record. (Source: Letter
from my father to Elliott Nickell, March 18, 2001).
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