Tom: Just a matter of weeks I went from practicing law to peeling potatoes at Fort Mac. They just got me.
And I had to go in for a year. I had a chance to go for commission and everything, but I had to sign up for three years and I said I don’t want to do that, so I’ll just put my year in and get on out of there. So in my seventh month, that’s when Pearl Harbor hit.
A friend of my daddy’s said “Ben is — he’s not going to take a commission, I’ll send him to, see he gets a permanent post rather than one of these outposts, these camps.” So they sent me to Fort Barrancas, and that’s in Pensacola, Florida. And so that was a permanent post.
I left down there after a few weeks to come home and visit and then go back, but I couldn’t get back on time. So my lieutenant, he said “Forkner, you got promoted to PFC, but you’re late getting back so you’re broke again.” [laughter]