Reprinted With Permission of the Alvarado Post Newspaper
By TRACY CHESNEY
Post staffs writer
DESOTO — He was trained how to use a rifle, but never had to fire a round of bullets and take someone else's life. He knew how to protect himself if there was a need, but he was never in combat.
There came a time, however, when he found a treasure that he's kept for more than 60 years.
When Howard Mayer was 18 years old, he already had more than two years of college. But, Pearl Harbor had been attacked. Young men were being drafted. Many of his high school classmates had already died in battle.
Mayer had to make a decision, however. He did what he had to do because he knew what was coming up. Soon, it would be his turn to go to war and face going into combat and having to use that rifle to kill people he didn't even know.
"So, I volunteered to be drafted into the United States Navy in June of 1.944," he said. "If you volunteered to be drafted, you got to choose which service you wanted to go in. Otherwise, you would have to go to wherever they sent You. I joined the Navy because it appealed to me."
Mayer said it was a common practice during the war for the
soldiers' families to drape a piece of cloth across the window if they had a son fighting in the war. The number of stars on the cloth represented how many children they had in the war.
"You saw that all over the neighborhoods," he said. "My mother was sad to see me go and she did the same thing —she put that piece of cloth in the window. She wasn't too worried, though, because she knew the war was just about over."
Born and raised in New Jersey, Mayer went to boot camp in Illinois and then started pre-radio school in Chicago, where he lived in a public school building.
"There were cots everywhere and-they were bunked three rows' You didn't get to choose which cot you wanted. It was assigned to your. and I got the top bunk," he recalled With a laugh.
After four months there, Mayer went to primary school in Carmel, Calif., which he said was a pleasant change. He went for more training in Treasure Island and later was sent to San Diego.
"While going through Navy schooling, I studied radio, sonar and learned about the radar," he said. "We continued the training in preparation to be shipped to the Philippines. The war was over by the time we got there. I was in the Construction Battalion and we were sent there to dismantle all the tents. We spent 14 months there."
Classified as a radio technician third class, Mayer said his whole military experience was meaningful, but what he treasures most was what he found on Treasure Island —a friendship that's lasted for more than 60 years.
"The highlight of my career was when I met Tom McMahon," he said. "We were only on Treasure Island for three months. You met people because you were bunked alphabetically. I only met Tom because our last names started with the same letter. If we didn't have names that started with an `M,' I probably would have never met him."
Both men were single and, whenever they had the opportunity, they would go out on the town, Mayer recalled.
"We would go to USO dances and go out on double dates," he said. "We bunked near each other and exchanged addresses. Then, we went our different ways.
"He went on board one ship and I was sent to the Philippines. During our time in the Navy, we never saw each other, but we still corresponded. Even when we were discharged from our service, we still corresponded with each other," he said.
Both men went back to college, with McMahon meeting his wife, Phyllis, at college, and Mayer meeting his wife, Jeanne, when he went to work at General Electric.
"The men engineers sat on one side of the building and the women engineering assistants sat on the other side," he said. "My desk was facing the ladies' room, so I saw a parade go by every day. I would watch them walk by until I finally picked out the one I was going to ask out. You could say I had the best seat in the house," he said with a grin.
"I narrowed it down to her. She had a nice figure and she was pretty. And she would always stop and talk to, me.
Iworked there for three months before I met her," he said. "I finally asked her out and planned the date for three weeks ahead of time, so that she couldn't come up with any excuses. We got married 14 months later. And, I sure picked out the right girl."
Married for 57 years, the Mayers have four children, eight grandchildren and twin great-grandchildren – a boy and a girl.
Mayer still remains in contact with McMahon and the two families get together at least once a year.
"He had been talking about Tom so much, that I figured he knew him for years, but they only knew each other for three months," Jeanne said. "They developed this tremendous bond."
"Each segment of my career was meaningful," he said. "But, making a friend for life is what I treasure the most."
E-mail Tracy at tracy.chesnev@wninews.coM |