The very first local recruits to be inducted, processed and returned to Selman Field to be part of the Permanent Party included Roy Gates. His group was sworn in at the Monroe Post Office on Jackson Street, taken to Fort Humbug at Shreveport for induction on October 8, 1942 and on to Camp Beauregard for processing -- uniforms and inoculations. Then on October 12, 1942, back to the A.A.F. Navigation School at Selman Field as the first local group to join the Permanent Party. Here, they underwent basic and specialized training.
This first group were also used as "poster boys" to encourage local recruitment -- as shown by the accompanying picture -- they set off a wave of enlistments The picture taken in front of the Post Office on October 19, 1942, shows a large group set to follow in the first group's footsteps -- which would lead them to Selman Field to join the Permanent Party.
Left to right, standing: Privates Roy B. Gates; Barney J. Wiley, Frank A. Poole; and Spurgeon S. Suttle. Kneeling: William W. Sullivan; Clifton J. Greenlee; Charles C. Cascio; and George E. Womack. Missing from the picture is Charles S. Eby.
Women in the service at Selman; WASPS, WACS and WAVES
Reproduction Team
