John Glenn Jr Essay Research Paper John

John Glenn Jr. Essay, Research Paper

John Herschel Glenn Jr. was born on July 18, 1921 in Cambridge, Ohio. He was named after his father John Glenn Sr. John Glenn Sr. had fought in France during World War I, and his hearing had been impaired as a result of the fighting. After the war he started a plumbing business and managed to make a comfortable living for himself and his family. John s mother Clara Sproat Glenn wanted a large family, two of her children died while they were infants. After John was born, the family adopted a young girl named Jean. Clara told her children that each person is placed on Earth for a purpose. Her strong sense of work and duty influenced John throughout his life. John s family life was strict but he enjoyed a happy and carefree childhood. He played stickball and hockey. People could see that John was a natural leader. He was involved with boy scouts in his community but since they moved they did not have a troop because his town was too small. John started a group of his own called Ohio Rangers.

John was always interested in airplanes. He read many aviation books and built small wooden models in his room. His childhood hero was Charles Lindbergh, who in 1927 became the first person to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. John and his father were invited by a friend to join Charles in a short airplane ride. After this experience John decided on a future career as a pilot.

In 1935 John entered New Concord High School. He earned high marks in all of his classes and lettered in football, basketball and tennis. While John was a little boy he had made friends with Annie Castor. Annie Castor in high school became his first high school sweetheart. After high school John and Annie both stayed home in New Concorde and attended Muskingum College, which John entered in the fall of 1939.

In 1939, when Hitler ordered the invasion of Poland, World War II began. John Glenn decided to follow in the footsteps of his father and great-grandfathers by defending his country. Glenn dropped out of college, enlisted in the Navy Air Corps, and was assigned to a naval air base in Corpus Christi, Texas in early 1942. Glenn began his own navy flight training in PBY seaplanes, designed to take off and land on water as well as dry ground. He practiced flying the planes, took classes in navigation and airborne weaponry, and patrolled the Gulf of Mexico for enemy submarines. After he finished his training, Glenn graduated as a lieutenant and was notified that he qualified for enlistment in the Marine Corps.

April 6, 1943 John married Anna Margaret Castor. A reception was held at the brides home followed an informal ceremony. A wedding photographer took pictures of John in his Marine uniform and Annie in a frilly white dress.

Glenn s first Marine Corps assignment was to Cherry Point, North Carolina. He looked forward to future training in combat planes-fighters and bombers. There were many more pilots than there were planes. Glenn got very little flying time. From Cherry Point, he was transferred to Camp Kearney, California. He was assigned to fly transport planes. From there, he was moved to El Centro Air Station in California. There he trained in fighter planes.

In February 1944, Glenn was shipped out on the cargo ship Santa Monica to Midway Island in the Pacific Ocean. This small island was located at the northwestern edge of the Hawaiian Islands, served as a U.S. air and submarine base. In June 1942, Midway had been the site of a huge naval battle, the first in history in which air power and aircraft carriers had played the most important role in the outcome. In the spring of 1944, Glenn flew patrol missions in the area, keeping lookout for Japanese ships, planes, and submarines. That summer John saw his first fighting in the Marshall Islands, located in the central Pacific Ocean. Suffering from heavy losses while trying to defeat the Japanese on the ground, U.S. commanders decided instead to bomb the enemy off the islands. Glenn flew dozens of bombing missions in Corsairs, attacking infantry and antiaircraft positions. He flew fast and low to avoid antiaircraft barrages at higher altitudes. August 6 and August 9, 1945 the United States dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cites of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. August 14, the war in the Pacific finally ended. At this point John had to some important decisions to make. He could retire from the military and return to Annie and his parents in New Concord. Since he had had a good stint as a military flier, Glenn had other options as well. He could fulfill his childhood dream of becoming a commercial airline pilot-or he could make the Marine Corps his career. John decided that he did not want to leave the excitement of military flying behind him. He knew that skilled pilots would be needed to test-fly new planes. He looked forward to the challenge and accepted an offer to stay in the Marine Corps.

In 1945, Annie had given birth to a son named David. On March 15, 1947, while John was stationed in Okinawa, Annie gave birth again to a daughter named Carolyn. They usually called Lyn. Although the birth itself went well, Annie contracted an infection and a life-threatening fever soon after she returned home. She then returned back to the hospital. John soon found out about Annie and her condition and got emergency medical leave and flew home. His trip home took him three days; by th