The moving finger writes, and having writ, Moves on:
Nor all your Piety nor Wit, Shall lure it back to cancel half a line, Nor all your Tears wash out a Word of it.
A new day on a new year and a new day on a new post. Slept 12 hours on New Year's Eve while the rest of the boys were celebrating at the Officer's club indulging in tie cutting and beer throwing.
Spent the day writing letters and heard U.S.C. beat U. of Wash. 20-0 in Rose Bowl. Processing starts tomorrow - turned over my new plane to base for modification. Won $30 tonite playing poker.
1.01.2008
12.28.2007
FOREWORD
Bill - he was born in Palco, Kansas, August 5, 1921, the fourth child born to Gracia Ann (Scott) & James Henry Callison. His siblings were Bob, Helen, & Jim. Nan & Betty were born later. He attended one year of school in Palco, & the family _ by this time with 6 children - moved to Eastern Washington in 1927. He completed elementary school & Palouse High, before enrolling at WSC for 2 years (1939-1941), majoring in Physics.
In the Fall of 1941, with some friends, he drove to California - to San Francisco - at that time. He & his friends wanted to get good jobs, save their money, & attend California schools. He did find a job, and was working. Then circumstances changed their plans.
After Pearl Harbor was attacked & the U.S. entered the war, Bill and friends had decisions to make. The rule became: Go to school full time, or be drafted. Whether pragmatic over his choices or not (which branch of the service to enter), he obviously preferred life in the Air Corps as a pilot. That he loved adventure, always, & chose "life in the fast lane" is a good bet.
Eventually finding his birth certificate (after much searching), he took his physical & enlisted in the Air Corps. He trained at several locations in California as well as in Arizona, Kentucky, Florida, & South Carolina. His training continued wherever he was sent.
Bill visited home on leave once or twice before his flight abroad. One of his last Christmas gifts, 1943, was a diary, in which Mother Callison had marked family occasions with her favorite poetry. Thus the diary came about - January to August, 1944.
Whatever else he did or failed to do, Bill had always somewhere to go, people to see, & a restless craving for activity. He disliked wasting time, & acing "out of character." But his spirit - what kept him going - was stubborn determination. He would, as the British say, "carry on."
In the Fall of 1941, with some friends, he drove to California - to San Francisco - at that time. He & his friends wanted to get good jobs, save their money, & attend California schools. He did find a job, and was working. Then circumstances changed their plans.
After Pearl Harbor was attacked & the U.S. entered the war, Bill and friends had decisions to make. The rule became: Go to school full time, or be drafted. Whether pragmatic over his choices or not (which branch of the service to enter), he obviously preferred life in the Air Corps as a pilot. That he loved adventure, always, & chose "life in the fast lane" is a good bet.
Eventually finding his birth certificate (after much searching), he took his physical & enlisted in the Air Corps. He trained at several locations in California as well as in Arizona, Kentucky, Florida, & South Carolina. His training continued wherever he was sent.
Bill visited home on leave once or twice before his flight abroad. One of his last Christmas gifts, 1943, was a diary, in which Mother Callison had marked family occasions with her favorite poetry. Thus the diary came about - January to August, 1944.
Whatever else he did or failed to do, Bill had always somewhere to go, people to see, & a restless craving for activity. He disliked wasting time, & acing "out of character." But his spirit - what kept him going - was stubborn determination. He would, as the British say, "carry on."
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