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Corps, the C.C.C. but I wanted to be free to return to school each fall. Mr. Pinson, the local Forest Ranger, advised me in this matter and I have always been grateful for his advice. I earned about the same wage as the CCC boys, thirty dollars a month but I was free to come and go as I desired. My duties were many and varied. I did everything from doctoring screw worms to hoeing gardens to repairing fences. I also did regular cowboy work, herding, branding, marking, de-horning and castrating calves. When September came I was right back in school where I thought I belonged.
Floyd did ranch work very reluctantly. He just did not like it but there was no other employment available in Young. Dad sent him to high school in Globe. He stayed in the home of the Rice family and he and the Rice boys played hookey every school day so he failed all his subjects. Dad ordered him home where he stayed for a short time and then joined the Navy. This was in 1928 when there was a "Peace Time" Navy so it was very difficult to get promoted to a higher rating. However, he was a genius on anything mechanical and during his four-year hitch he worked up to Machinist Mate First Class and became very proficient on lathes and boring mills. At the same time he learned a great deal of mathematics. Most of his time was spent on the Navy repair ship, Medusa where the motto was, "we repair anything from a watch to a battle ship."
The Navy experience was really the only education Floyd received but that was enough to allow him to go as high as Assistant Plant Manager at Air Research during his working career.
Victor did ranch work very successfully and also did well in the cavalry during World War II where he became Master Sergeant. He served with the Mars Task Force in India and Burma. This Force was dropped by glider behind the Japanese lines in India and survived for eighteen months supplied only by air. His outfit was responsible for re-taking the Burma Road. Vic's handwriting improved but he never felt confident in any academic area. He spent some years at Air Research in Phoenix and was known as a very valuable employee.
