GUARDIANS OF FREEDOM
Saluting Those Who Served in the U.S. Army Air Force
Women In The Army Air Force
Helen Patricia (Stein) Holliday In World War II, Part 2
by Janis Stein

Join in the continuation as Pat (Helen) Stein finds work at Packard Motor Car Company in Detroit, before making her way to Basic Training during World War II at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia.

At Packard, Pat first worked as a general laborer, stenciling numbers on metal tubes, taping the tubes to keep them clean and dipping the tubes in fluid to free the tube of oil residue. Pat also worked as a general sales clerk before advancing to a machine operator. Day after day, Pat made her way to work to operate the thread-milling machine that cut threads on bolts.

After Pat completed her shift, she attended night-school in Royal Oak; the extra education would complement the eighth-grade diploma she had earned back in Huron County. With the city’s opportunities at her fingertips, Pat also studied music – the violin – one night each week at the Conservatory of Music in Detroit.

While Pat went about the business of living, she thought daily of her dear brother Leo, who had joined the Army Air Force and was stationed in Texas. Something else occupied Pat’s thoughts, too – her father – not her adoptive father, Edward, but her birth father. From Edward, Pat knew that her birth father had been in the service.

With the war on, Pat thought she’d do a bit more to serve her country: She left her Rosie the Riveter position and joined the United States Army Air Force – maybe she’d even find her military father. She also had an idea that if she could get her hands on Hitler, she’d take care of him herself.

Pat Stein traveled to downtown Detroit to enlist on April 3, 1944, entering into active service on April 20, 1944. Like many young women, Pat’s orders landed her at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia. During Basic Training, Pat did just fine at the rifle range, and she learned what every soldier needed to know to pass the many and varied inspections. Officers would walk through the barracks, inspecting each soldier’s bed. Pat quickly learned how to tuck the bedding in so tightly she could bounce a quarter on it.

Standing at attention while the officers inspected the soldiers’ clothing also offered some challenges. One of the women always seemed to say something just loud enough for a few others to hear and, inevitably, someone giggled – much to the dislike of the officers. Pat, too, had a difficult time keeping a straight face, but the officers’ discipline proved to be good incentive.

Pat had heard horror stories about Basic Training, however, she was pleasantly surprised to find she had two wonderful captains to train her; both were equally jolly. Soldiers rose at 5 a.m. for a rigorous round of calisthenics before breakfast. Pat found the most difficult part of her training was running up and down stairs. Each time the whistle blew, she knew she needed to move.

That dreaded whistle seemed to blow nonstop. Pat’s bed was located on the second floor of the barracks. No sooner did she run up the steps, she’d hear the whistle being blown signaling another class, so back down again she went. Along with the basic schooling the Army offered, Pat and some of her fellow soldiers were informed they would need to learn Spanish. Pat would soon be sent overseas and the United States Army wanted their soldiers prepared in case some of them landed in Spain.

From Georgia, Pat’s next orders had her boarding the ricketiest of trains, bound for a base in New Hampshire. Days were filled with talk of the war and what the allied troops faced on every front. Pat’s time in New Hampshire was short, and soon she took the train once more, this time headed to a destination in Florida. From there, Pat and her comrades made preparations to leave the country: Pat was going to Africa.

On October 3, 1944, approximately 40 women boarded the Army Air Force plane on the flight across the ocean, onward to Africa. Pat, overcoming her childhood shyness, made her way to the cockpit to speak with the pilots. Pat wanted more than anything to join her brother Leo at his Air Force base in Texas. The cockpit of this plane would be as close as she could get.

In Africa, one of Pat’s first tasks was to deliver the mail by way of jeep. It took a bit of doing for Pat to remember to drive on the left side of the road. From there, Pat moved into engineering, but working with all those bolts and screws wasn’t the best fit for her skills. Instead, the Army moved Pat into Air Transport Command, where her chief duty was to check the arrivals and departures of allied planes. American planes steadily delivered food and necessary supplies to U.S. troops.

Pat informed the officers of all flight times. Working in the hangar, Pat was always prepared to hold down all the papers on her desk. The plane’s propellers blew away all items not secured.

For fun, many of the women on the base played baseball. Pat, though, cared not for Africa’s hot sun, seeking instead the cooler temperatures of the day room where she enjoyed reading a book or writing letters.

Pat practiced at the rifle range and continued to learn new things; the Army gave her a typewriter, and she learned how to type. Pat also gained a different sort of education, seeing firsthand the differences in cultures and in the people who lived in this country so far from home. Often, the natives brought Pat and her fellow soldiers bananas. The natives were thrilled with the bit of change they received in turn, and the fresh bananas made for a tasty, healthy treat. In an effort to maintain healthy soldiers, each morning all the soldiers also took a malaria pill to ward off the disease.

Be sure to look for the conclusion next month as Pat (Helen) Stein fights to heal herself after learning about the death of her brother, Leo.

©2009 Stein Expressions, LLC