WW2 B-17 Pilot Remembers School Days during Great Depression
Chuck Childs was born in 1920 in Arnegard, North Dakota, but now lives in Rapid City with wife Grace. Later in life he wrote about his experiences growing up during the Great Depression. Each of his teachers was special in his book The Wayward Kid.
At 14, times were getting tough for the family, and he took to riding the rails across the country. With few options, he enlisted in World War II and worked his way up to become a B-17 pilot in the European theater, with 37 combat missions against the Third Reich and earning two Distinguished Flying Crosses. After the war, he flew in the Berlin Airlift, then saw combat in the Korean War, finally retiring as lieutenant colonel in the Air Force.
Childs remembers that kids weren’t coddled during the Great Depression, but they were treated with love by parents. Families were close. No one had extras. Going to school was a good part of life. Teachers had low salaries, but were doing what was almost a calling. Paper, pencils, and books were the everyday learning tools that students looked forward to, the source of fun and intellectual growth.
But there were also times for pranks, and he recalls playing hooky one cold day:
I skipped school one day with Edwin Sovig. We planned to do this for several days and we picked the worst day to go. We were out for recess and ran into the huge Russian olive tree hedge and hid.
Then we ran down the road past the town and followed the railroad tracks to the cattle corral next to the railroad. There was a haystack at the corral and, since it was very cold, we crawled into the 
haystack to keep warm and stayed there until we thought school was out.
The next day we were called into the Principal’s Office and the principal took us up to the third floor. He picked up a paddle and said, “Who’s first”? Edwin went first and every time that he was hit on the rear end he would jump and yell and make a complete 360 degree turn. When I got home I got another paddling.
