My Trails into the Past

This is my third year working on this year-long prompt, hosted by Amy Johnson Crow. I will write each week in one of my two blogs, either Mam-ma’s Southern Family or at My Trails into the Past. I have enjoyed writing about my children’s ancestors in new and exciting ways. George J. Gorrell, born in 1915, grew up in Webb City, Missouri. He worked a lot of small jobs in the area and then in 1940, he went to Glendale, California to enroll in an aircraft mechanics course for a year. Here is a photo of the Kidder’s OH shop, where George wrote on the back that he “witnessed a major fire due to carelessness.” He finished the training in July of 1941 and accepted a Junior Mechanic job at the Sacramento Air Depot (later McClellan Air Field) in Sacramento, California. It had a yearly salary of $1680. He wrote that he stayed first at “the YMCA in downtown Sacramento, then stayed at a boarding house at 819 16 th Street (which has long gone) near the old Governor’s Mansion....

This is my third year working on this year-long prompt, hosted by Amy Johnson Crow. I will write each week in one of my two blogs, either Mam-ma’s Southern Family or at My Trails Into the Past. I have enjoyed writing about my children’s ancestors in new and exciting ways. This is a continuation of the story of George J. Gorrell’s service during World War II in the Army Air Forces. Previous posts: George J Gorrell Served in the Army Air Corps During WWII US Army Air Corps Base in England Where George J Gorrell Served Letters Home, Using V-Mail George J. Gorrell enlisted in the Army Air Forces on 27 July 1943 in San Francisco. [1] He was part of the group of men who were already working at air depots doing maintenance on airplanes. He was told he would be doing the same work. [2] In 1941, he had trained at Curtiss-Wright Technical Institute in Glendale, California and was awarded a diploma as Master Aviation Mechanic. [3] He also received training at the Sacramento ...