Once Up On A Time In America
Remembering The 
52-20 Club
"Forest Gump's Quote ... On Life"
The 52 - 20 ($20.00 per week for 52 weeks) club was set up to help discharged WW II GIs while they were waiting for a job, school, and etc. I would every week get my $20.00 and spend it on beer, whiskey, and women. Living with my parents (Muskogee, Ok .. I was 19 - 20 years old) really made being a Bum easy and less tiring then finding a job. My Father let me have the use of his car. After all I was a Veteran and I suppose he thought I deserved it.....I received my Navy discharge in June 1946 and immediately joined the Club. In September I dropped out and took the GI Bill college, Northeastern College, Talhequah, OK (1946 - 47). I rejoined the Club the summer of 1947. I immediately went back to the old habits that I enjoyed the Summer 1946. I Spent my days and nights at the local beer and dance halls, and drinking pitchers of beer and hanging out with the Southwestern Bell Telephone Operators (girls)..... I was hoping this would last forever, but like all things in one's life it came to and end. My parents were now getting a little tired of me and my foolish ways. So looking for more excitement I enrolled in Hardin Simmons University, Ablene, Texas. I knew this was a mistake the first day there. Being young and foolish, I made another mistake and joined the US Air Force as a PFC (Private First Class). By this time my Father was so dissappointed in me, that he could not bring himself to even mention my name. In November 1947 I was stationed in Occupied Japan.
Sometime in April/May of 1950, I received my orders to depart Japan and report to AACS Hdqtrs, Tinker AFB, OKC, OK. I was to take a thirty day leave and be discharged in September of that year. (The Discharge did not happen, but that is another Story.) Corporal McEntee and I departed Yokohama aboard a troop transport ship. I remember looking back from the ship to the harbor and city, and thinking that I would never be back this way again. I would never again live the life of a soldier in a conquered land. My days of living the life of a Roman Conquerer were Gone..Gone Forever.
While in Japan I received a letter from the US Govt that I owed approximately $800.00. It seems that according to their records, I had been receiving $20 per week for 40 weeks. I wrote back and told them that I had not. Til this day I do not know how the govt knew my address in Japan. Well like all things in Life this too came to an end. I was extended a year of service for the Korean War and was finally discharged September 31, 1951. In the Summer of 1952 I received a Check from the Govt for serving in the Korean War. My Korean Bonus check was minus approximately $800.00 for the money that I owed the Govt for being in the 52 - 20 Club. I wrote the Govt another Letter and I am still waiting for the answer. I enjoyed my time in the 52 - 20 Club, but as it turned out it cost me more money than I received...... "Life is just not Fair" ~ Oklahoma SandScraper 3/C As I Remember Songs that were Popular during 1946 - 1947 "La Vie En Rose" |
for the Allied Occupation Forces' entertainment. There was a twelve o'clock curfew (be off the street) and there was to be no fraternization with the Japanese women. The twelve o'clock and no fraternization rules were broken daily. These rules of human behavior could never be fully enforced.
Jukebox
"To Each His Own"
Jukebox
"Peg Of My Heart"
Mamselle
Near You
Forest Gump Theme Song - Midi
"World War II - The Reason For Mortal Combat"