Gene R. Collins:  

Unfortunately, because of family difficulties, I could not continue to attend school and was not able to graduate from Whitmell Farm Life High School. Over a period of three years I made numerous attempts to remain in school, but finances for the basic support of daily life made it impossible. I finally dropped out of school in 1952 and began work on local farms to support myself and assist my mother in the support of my three younger siblings. In these later years of my life, in an attempt to and in the hope of locating former Whitmell classmates, I joined "Classmates" and entered the year that would have been my graduation year, 1954. On 23 September 1955, I left Virginia and the arduous ways of farm life as a farm hand and entered an entirely different environment. I joined the United States Navy and entered an establishment of a rigorous daily military life in the Aviation Branch. I served for twenty-two years in various positions in a number or aircraft squadrons at numerous United States naval air stations including one air force base and on numerous aircraft carriers during extended deployments throughout the oceans of the world. During the first half of my career, I served as a member of maintenance crews and as an In-flight Radio/Radar Operator Trainee at the nav...Expand for more