VOLUNTEERS FOR JANUARY DRAFT
22 Out of List of 27 Offer Services For Armed Forces
Twenty-seven men left Sunday for Fort Crook, Neb., to be inducted into the armed services of the United States. Of this number 22 were volunteers, four coming from Beacon Airways.
Those selected for service in the Army will give the regular three weeks furlough and those taken by the Navy will have a week to get ready for service.
Five men were transferred to the local board for induction. Four of the group were flight instructors at Beacon Airways. They are:
Gordon O. Harper, LeMars
Clifford P. Adkins, LeMars
Kenneth C. Jeffrey, LeMars
Thomas D. Pomeroy, LeMars
Source: LeMars Globe-Post,
January 24, 1944
Other volunteers transferred to the local board are: Gordon O. Harper, Clifford P. Adkins, Kenneth C. Jeffrey, and Thomas D. Pomeroy, all of Beacon Airways.
Source: LeMars Globe-Post, January 27, 1944
***Further Research:
Clifford Paul “Cliff" Adkins was born May 15, 1917 to Paul and Mary Elizabeth Vannatta Adkins. He died Oct. 26, 2010 and is buried in Milltown Cemetery, Milltown, SD. He became interested in aviation at an early age and performed his first solo flight in 1939, receiving his private pilot license in 1941 and later received his commercial pilot license, flight instructor rating and A&E license.
As an instructor for the War Training Service, he taught Army combat and glider pilots and Navy primary and secondary fighter pilots. In 1944 he enlisted in the Navy where he served as a Flight Engineer and Co-Pilot on Martin B-26’s. After his discharge, Cliff opened a flight school in O’Neill, NE.
Source: Obituary - Oct. 28, 2010, Yankton Press & Dakotan
