ABSTRACT
I was born in Manning, South Carolina on February 5, 1912, four years before America’s entry into World War I. My father was a druggist, and my mother had been a school teacher. Both were in their early twenties. By the time I was five and a half, we had lived in Marshall, North Carolina, Columbia and Lydia, South Carolina before moving to Florence. At that age, I entered the grammar school there and graduated from Florence High School in 1928-the year I entered The Citadel. There was no overriding reason for me to go to The Citadel: The choice was made by my mother because she had loved going to the Saturdaynight dances at the military college. But, I am getting ahead of myself again.
