Memories of Millington

My memories of Millington Tennessee cover a period of more than four years. I went to Aviation Electronics School there for six months and later went to Advanced Aviation Electronics School, Instructor Training and then taught there for three and a half years. My memories there were all good ones, at least at this point in my life.

My first trip there was on a train after boot camp I had orders to Millington for schooling. Riding the train there an old porter sat down beside me an hour before the train got to Millington. He asked me where I was going, even though he knew. I said I was going to Millington. He then told me the train did not stop there and I would have to find my way back from Memphis. I was nearly out of cash after my leave and did not know if I had enough money to catch a fare back to Millington. He had the answer though, for two dollars he would have the conductor make a brief stop in Millington, but I could not tell anyone about the quick stop there or he would lose his job and he had kids to feed. I fell for the ruse, hook, line and sinker. I was awaiting new classes to form there in January when Millington had their first real snowstorm in history. There was 14 inches of snow and I was assigned to a working party to clear parking lots, with brooms and dust pans. No one had ever needed a snow shovel in past history, so there were none to be found. Joyce and I were married in Millington that January and started housekeeping in a little half duplex that rented for $40 a month, including furniture. I was only making $75 a month so things were tight. I did get commuted rations and a family allotment which was not much, but it carried us through. We had just enough to rent a TV for $10 a month. A friend of mine had a 56 Ford he parked in our empty driveway. He went back to Texas on the weekends, but during the week I had use of the car. I only used it once to take Joyce to a movie and after the movie the battery would not turn the engine over, so I pushed the car and Joyce popped the clutch to get it started. We never used it again.

The next trip there was four years later after I had re-enlisted in the navy. We had a car and more money so life was less primitive. We had a nice apartment during my training and when I found out I had orders to stay as an instructor, we bought a brand new 12X60 mobile home and moved in that December. The first night I hopped in the shower and turned the water on, there was some kind of black sealant in the water lines that pelted me all over my body. It took me a half hour to scrub all of it off my face, chest and everywhere else. The first week in the mobile home was nightmarish because all of the fumes from its construction made us wheeze and our eyes burn. That same December was our first Christmas tree. I had been in the navy five years, but that was our first Christmas together.  After Christmas when it was time to remove the tree, the branches had opened and drooped out to the point we could not get out the door. We had no tool supplies to saw the branches, so we tried using a serrated knife that did nothing; I ended up shoving it forcibly out the door, which caused a blinding storm of dried needles to spread all over the living room. We were still finding an occasional needle from that tree years later. My grandfather came down with us after that Christmas to get away from the cold of Saint Louis. It turned out it became colder down south than it was in Saint Louis. We had a frozen water line and grandpa and Joyce had to crawl under the trailer to unfreeze it. I got home and went to the hardware store to get a heat tape to keep it from freezing again. The Hardware store guy did not tell me that I needed to also buy insulation with it, so the next morning it was frozen again.

We had some legendary parties during those years in Millington. Good friends, good liquor and great times were had. Everyone was navy or Marine Corps, but we all got along well. One party started on a Saturday afternoon in a nearby park. It was a nice family get-together. Every one of the 30 or so men, women and children had such a good time that no one wanted it to end, so it did not end. I invited everyone back to our mobile home and everyone accepted. We went to KFC and bought buckets of chicken and partied until the sun came up. The kids were stacked like cord wood on the beds while the grownups partied all night long. Millington always brings back fine memories.