Early Years

 

On the Farm

 To be perfectly correct, my adventure started on December 24th, 1922 in a small rural town in Indiana called Kewanna. That was the day I was born into this great adventure called life. Of course I didn't know it at the time, but there lie ahead a life experience that would give me a new understanding and appreciation for life, God, and freedom. 

I was third in the line of seven children belonging to Carrow and Leona Sunshine Garman. In financial terms, we were poor, but we had everything we needed. Looking back I see that we were actually quite wealthy in terms of what really matters in life. Our house was filled with love and the spirit of seven healthy children. Life in Kewanna was the magical time of discovery that it should have been: endless summer days playing ball with my friends and attending classes in a very small rural consolidated school. 

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Move to Mishawaka 

I was eight when we moved to Mishawaka, Indiana. Kewanna, with only 600 residents, lost over 1% of its population on that day. I went from my small school to a large city school in Mishawaka, attending fourth grade. The transition was easy, however, because I enjoyed sports and made friends easily. My primary education was filled with the normal activities of school: the friends, relationships, and gaining of new perspective on life. Graduation from Mishawaka High School occurred in June of 1940. Although there was a growing war overseas, the thought of the U.S. actually going to war was far from anyone's mind. I know I was too busy playing softball and doing what young people do in their first year out of high school. This is the year that I met Mary Beth. I played ball with her brother, Bob Newcomer. I had actually wanted to go out with her sister, but she wasn't available and Mary Beth was, and so we got to know each other.

 

Post Graduation 

I knew that I needed to find a job if I wanted to continue my education. My first work experience came in a field hoeing weeds from five acres of horseradishes for ten cents an hour. It was January of 1941 when I found a much higher paying job working at a large factory in Mishawaka called Ball Band, owned by the U.S. Rubber and Woolen Manufacturing Company. This was a footwear company whose claim to fame was Red Ball Jets tennis shoes. In addition to its regular production, the company was producing electrically heated boots and self sealing aircraft fuel tanks for the overseas war effort. My job was to check out raw materials as part of the quality control program. One day, I rejected a new lot of Thiokol because it did not meet specifications. Thiokol was a synthetic rubber that was impervious to gasoline and a critical component of the self-sealing fuel tanks. My supervisor supported my rejection, but his judgment was called into question by his superiors. They told him that they wanted to him to approve the lot because it was close to meeting the specifications. They were concerned that the line would have to be shut down because this was the last roll of Thiokol in the plant. My supervisor refused to give in, saying that one of his men might be flying in one of these aircraft one day and he was not going to use an inferior product that might put their lives in jeopardy.  His superiors eventually supported his rejection, and a new lot was ordered.  I admired that supervisor's decision to remain steadfast against his superiors. Little did I know that day, my life would depend on the integrity of those gas tanks.

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During this time, we suspected that the United States would eventually be drawn into the war. But we didn’t dwell on those thoughts; instead, we spent our free time playing softball, football and basketball. I had dated Marybeth Newcomer a couple times, but nothing serious was brewing.

On December 7, 1941, the war hit home as the Japanese air force bombed Pearl Harbor. The nation was in shock over what had happened but wasted no time in preparing for the war that had just been declared. Up until this time, the United States wanted to continue its isolationism and did not want to get involved in what was happening in Europe. That mood ended with the bombing of Pearl Harbor. The Japanese had awakened a sleeping giant. A tremendous wave of patriotism swept the country as the war machine switched into high gear to prepare for the training of thousands of men and the incredible mass production of the tools of war. The president's warning of shortages in consumer goods became a reality, but everyone looked at the rationing as doing their part for the war effort.

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