The Army and Navy Academy was located in Carlsbad, CA, right on the beach. The enrollment was small, about 235 students in the lower and upper school. The dress was modeled after West Point, and the thing about this military school was, every minute of the day was scheduled.
Depending on the season, we all wore the same uniform, usually, a gray shirt with black tie, gray trousers with a black stripe down the outside of the leg, black shoes and socks. We wore a garrison cap most of the time with the ANA seal and slogan around the seal, ‘For God and For Country.’
Colonel Atkinson, Colonel Attie we called him, was a southern boy, a gentle, dignified leader of men. His wife died a few years before I came to campus, and Colonel Attie still smarted from that loss. Once a year, we held a tribute to her in the assembly hall. All 235 of us filed in for a half hour of humanity from this wonderful person.
We had rank; I tried hard to get rank, but after six months, I was still a buck private; at the end of the year I was given a Private First Class. When, I came back for my senior year, I forgot about rank and concentrated on sports and reading. I played basketball and ran track. I discovered Ernest Hemmingway and other great authors. Major Guy Peterson was our English teacher, a great motivator and teacher. Our class advisor was Manuel Z. Olbes. He was a wonderful physics teacher but he chained smoked in class! Raymond Ede was the Headmaster and he was the most professional and gentle person on campus. He was a big help to me in many ways. Maybe the best thing about ANA was, all these teachers were approachable.
I was the second cadet ARAMCON to attend ANA. Don Coleman, DH52, preceeded me, then Ralph Allen of Abqaiq was third.
I learned how to take care of myself and meet the clock at ANA. I could manage money, pass inspection, and except for a few scrapes with the Commandant of Cadets, I was a good, average cadet. There were 26 in my graduating class and I was number thirteen! How much more middle of the road can you get?
I made some good friends. I liked Jim Jeske, Allan Gasho, Chuck Palmer, and Phil Fricker. I learned a lot from each of them. I used to wonder what brought the five of us together. I knew I was in this school because of choice, but many of the students might have been there because their parents needed them to turn out better than public school products. I never found a clear answer to this question. Some parents just wandered around Europe and elsewhere for business and leisure; thus, a few of us were there because the parents needed a surregate.
The ANA dances were fun. The Commandant of Cadets wife was the social hostess. She matched us up by class, height, etc. These were blind dates for most of us first year cadets. I had two blind dates before I found my own dates, ARAMCONs Betsy Ford and Mary Pat Singelyn. Their parents brought them down from somewhere in CA. There was always live music and everyone was dressed to the nines! The cadet corps was so well behaved on dance nights!
The Academy was known for its music department! Capt. Al was a gem. He even tried to teach me saxophone, which I loved but my score reading was slow to nil. Each assembly was accompanied by a small contingent of band members playing as we filed into the gym. Spencer Dryden was our drummer and he was great, Phillips was on trumpet and Baar was on sax. Others sat in from time to time. Sometimes we had music during meals too. When we fell into ranks before the evening meal, the companies would form in front of the Administration Building, right in front of the flag pole. As winter came to a close, the band would lead us down to the mess hall. It was spine tingling to hear that beautiful march music. I was the guide on for the first platioon of A Company. I would look over my shoulder at Carl Morris. He would be hollering marching commands at the top of his lungs but the band was so loud, I had to read his lips to step off.
My accomplishments at ANA were to help Phil Fricker get the lower school cadets to Sunday Services, Color Guard during public parades, and making the Lettermens’ Club. Phil and I took the lower school to church on Sunday. These boys were young and I think they looked upon Phil and I as their pseudo-parents. As we marched them in ranks through parts of Carlsbad, the tailenders would try to slip away into the oleaners, then reappear down the street. I took the back end and Phil held these kids together at the front. By the time we got to church, the cadets had cleaned up their act and slipped into the rear pews like angels- good boys done with the lark.
In my senior year, I dropped basketball in favor of afternoons to concentrate on personal activities like woodworking, model making, and reading. I was still immature enough not to commit to academics. I passed but I did not value the benefit of education. Other cadets in my class excelled in academics. I was still happy just to have a good time.
At graduation, we had a religious leader tell us, ‘The world is waiting for you with an axe!’ I was glad he was not a regular speaker, but his remarks stuck with me; when I had academic problems in college, the good reverand’s words struck home- finally. Some seniors broke down in tears as we got our diplomas. Some of them had been at ANA since 1951, five years. For me , graduation meant getting back to Dhahran, my real home. The next day I put on my civvy suit, finished packing my suitcase, caught a bus down to San Diego, and then a plane to New York, on the way to Dhahran. I had no idea where I was headed after that. I was so short sighted and naive.