 Proudly, We Hale. From New York City, where the American stage begins, here is another program with a cast of outstanding players. Public service time is made available by this station to bring you this story as Proudly We Hale, the United States Air Force. It takes a lot of men to make an Air Force, radio operators, mechanics, truck drivers, photographers, a lot of men working at more than 400 different specialties. In today's story, entitled The Sky over Haddensville, we salute one of these, a remarkable combination of news reporter, fact bureau, and troubleshooter. The information specialist. But first, here's the important news for all ex-servicemen. You may be qualified to enlist in the United States Air Force at a higher grade and higher pay than you may realize. Yes, the United States Air Force has instituted a new policy that offers big new benefits to veterans of all the armed forces. The Air Force needs men who are experienced in critical skills required to keep America's air defense strong. If you have training in these skills, the Air Force wants you. And they'll put you right on the job. For full details, write or visit your nearest Air Force recruiter right away. Ask him for the folder for prior servicemen. You'll see how you can put your service gain skills to work to your best advantage. Remember, you've earned credits toward a fine retirement in the service. So protect your initial investment as an airman. Today and tomorrow, you're better off in the United States Air Force. And now, your United States Air Force presents the proudly-we-hail production, The Sky over Hattonsville. Hi. This is Hattonsville. And that's a familiar sound in the sky over Hattonsville. Over a lot of other American towns, too. But I have a special interest in this particular chunk of sky because I'm stationed at Magruder Air Force Base, which adjoins the town of Hattonsville. Oh, my name's Jim Monroe. I'm in first-class duty assignment information specialist. As I say, the sound of jets overhead is a familiar thing in Hattonsville, but it wasn't always a welcome thing. For me, it all started the day I reported for duty at the information services office out at Magruder about six months ago. I'll say, Sergeant... Yeah, what can I do for you? Hey, Joe Wheeler, what are you doing here? Wait, Jim Monroe, you son of a gun, what are you doing here? This is the information service office, isn't it? Yeah, yeah, that's right. Well, I'm assigned here. Now, wait a minute, wait a minute. Slow up a little. I didn't even know you were in the Air Force. Well, it was you that gave me the idea in the first place. Me? How do you mean? Well, look, if I'm going to tell you the story of my life, do you mind if I sit down? Oh, for gosh's sake, take this chair, Jim. So surprised I've forgotten my decent upbringing. Now, but look, I still don't get it. What did I have to do with you being in the Air Force? Well, you remember when you were on leave back home a couple of years back? Well, sure, you just graduated from high school, as I remember. Right. Remember I was thinking about going on to college to study journalism? Yeah. Well, I guess you haven't heard, but Dad had a pretty bad fire at the shop and the insurance didn't cover the damage. Not completely, anyhow. Turned out the finances of the family wouldn't take the strain of a son in college for a while. Oh, no, I hadn't heard. I'm sorry about the shop, Jim. Is everything okay now? Yeah, pretty much. But when college seemed out of the question, I got to thinking about you. You know, your job in the Air Force as an information specialist sounded good. No, it's like most jobs. Good if you like it. And I've got to admit, I do. Uh-huh. Well, it was the nearest thing to a career in journalism I could think of. And I want to make a long story short here I am. Where do I hang my hand? Oh, oh, now. Let me get my breath. Tell me, when did you finish information school? About six months ago. Let's see. You got your orders with you? Right here. That's how it is. Well, it's no mistake. That's all right. Come on, we'll go see the boss. Now, you leave your stuff on that desk there. It'll probably be yours anyway. And this was the same old Joe Wheeler I remembered. He didn't like to waste time. Well, the boss, as Joe put it, was Captain Peterson. Captain Peterson, have you got a minute, sir? Oh, sure, Joe. What can I do for you? Sir, this is Airman first-class Jim Monroe. He just arrived this morning, assigned to the office. Oh, yes. Glad to have you with us, Monroe. I guess you're replacing Simmons. That's right, sir. By the way, Jim's an old friend. He's from my hometown. Well, that'll make it all the better. You two will be working together on your priority project. I was hoping you'd say that, sir. Yes, sir. That suits me fine. And you've got a lot of work ahead of you, Jim. I'll let Joe brief you, since he's been working on the program full-time the past few weeks. Right, sir. I'll take him in tow. Oh, by the way, sir, have you got anything for me this morning? Yes. One thing for you. I found a friend in town who could be a lot of help. Mr. George Marston, president of the Junior Chamber of Commerce. His next bomber pilot, so he knows the importance of air power. I've told him that you'll be getting in touch with him. Well, that's great, sir. We can use all the friends we can get. And I'll just jot that down. Now, J.C. president George Marston. Is that right, sir? Mm-hmm. Anything else, sir? No, that's it. For your end. Give me up to date on your progress. Right, sir. I, uh, hope you can keep up with this fellow Monroe. Thank you, sir. I'll try. All right. Good luck with the job. Joe took me in tow, all right? We went for Joe, and while we ate, Joe started filling me in. So you were saying about some problem with the town? Yeah, that's right. You came through it on your way here, I guess. Hattonsville? Yeah, yeah. It looked like a nice town to me. Oh, it is. But being right adjacent to the base here, it's also building up as... Well, it's building up as something of a problem. Ah, sir. Well, McGruder is one of the air bases that was deactivated after World War II. And it was just reopened about a year ago. Yeah, I know. But why the problem? Somebody from the base getting in trouble in Hattonsville? No, nothing like that. It's a good deal more complicated. And for that reason, maybe a good deal harder to clear up. Well, suppose you give me the rundown as soon as you pass the butter? Oh, oh, sure. Hey, uh... Thanks. Are you a saying? Well, take a town called Hattonsville. The year 1947. The air base is deactivated and things start getting quieter down again. I'm listening. The people of Hattonsville go back to their peacetime lives. No more planes taking off. Things are, well, they're like they were before. Nothing around to remind them that there ever was a war. Sounds fine. Okay, just wait for the rest. A few years of this and then what with the Korean thing and pressure building up all over the world, the decision is made to put Magruder Air Force Base back into business as a jet base of the Eastern Air Defense Force. I'm with you so far. Cream and sugar? Oh, sorry. Here. Now, the base is reopened and the peace and quiet is being split open every day by a new sound. Not the old props anymore. Jets this time. And the people don't like the noise. Now, that's what shows up on the surface. Well, why not reroute some aircraft to take some of the traffic up from over the town? Oh, they did. And it cut down the noise in Hattonsville, but not the opposition to the base. Things got worse instead of better. Now, what you're saying is the noise wasn't the only thing bothering them. Right. And I've got a theory. Hey, this is good coffee. What's the theory? Well, look it this way, Jim. During that space of years when the base was closed, things dropped back into the old peacetime pace. You'd be surprised how people can try to forget that there ever was such a thing as a war. Well, that's natural. Sure. But then the bases reopened. Things start to remind the town of the war days. Planes overhead at odd hours, men in uniform. What do you see what I'm getting at, Jim? We become a sort of a symbol. The air base, I mean. This is getting interesting. Go on. Look, we're a jet base. We're here to defend the continent of the United States from surprise air attack. We're a reminder of something pretty uncomfortable. Namely, that in the jet age of this cold war should become a hot one. It wouldn't just play itself out over there. It'd be just as hot right here as anywhere. You've been thinking about this, haven't you, gentlemen? Yeah, I sure have. You mean the people are sort of pulling the covers over their heads, making a big thing of their peace and quiet because to them it means peacetime. No more war, business as usual. Ah, that's the way it looks to me. Oh, I don't think many people in Haddensville would see it that way yet. But, well, I think it's there just the same. Well, it adds up. It counts for why the reduction in noise didn't really help much. The base was trying to treat just the symptom instead of getting at the cause. That's about it. And it's our baby. It looks like we've got our work cut out for us, doesn't it? It sure does that. Jim, the pinch is that we can't take a lot of time getting results either. This kind of thing is like a snowball rolling downhill. You have to stop it early before it can build up momentum and get out of hand. Well, at least the base recognizes the importance of it. Oh, clear to the top they recognize it. A lot of our people live in Haddensville. Bad relations can cut morale and cut the efficiency of the base. The base commander is backing us up, Jim, all the way. Are you finished with your coffee? Yeah, I guess so. Good. Then let's get over to the barracks and get you squared away. We've got a lot to do. The next morning I discovered I had a bear by the tail. When Joe Wheeler gets rolling, he rolls at a dead run. Hey, take it easy, Joe. The office will still be there. Jim, you have one morning in which to get the whole picture on what we've done so far in this thing, and then we've got to figure out where we go from here. Yeah, but it's 60 miles an hour. You just keep picturing that snowball I mentioned rolling downhill. Anyway, here we are. Well, I'm glad of one thing. Yeah, what's that? I'm glad it's not a mile from the barracks over here. Keeping up with you every morning, I'd be shot before we got started. Yeah, you just relax. You get used to it. Here, pull your chair over and you can rest while I spread this thing out for you. All right. Yeah, pull it around where you can see it. What's that? Well, on this graph paper, I've got laid out everything with regard to the Hattonsville program that's in the work so far. Now, right here you see the news release column. We put out regular news releases for local papers about base activities. Looks like a good percentage is getting into print. Not much effect from it so far, though. And look over here. Now, here's something that can't help doing good, but it takes so much time to set up and maybe too much time at this point. You mean they are under the heading organizations? All right. Captain Peterson is setting up dates for the base commander to speak to local organizations like the Kiwanis, Rotarians, Lions, and so on. Give them the story first hand. It'll help because the Colonel's a man that's sold on his job and on the mission of the base. And, Jim, he speaks straight off the cuff. No double talk. That sounds good. That's the kind of thing that will melt that snowball of ours once we get it stopped. What, meantime? Meantime, the Colonel's first speaking date is six weeks away. We can't wait that long. Well, it looks like you're figuring all the angles. We've got to. Jim, we've got to reach these people, and they can be reached. Once they face up to the fact of why the base is necessary and how necessary, then they'll be hard to stop. Uh-huh. The problem is how to get the information across to them without wasting any time in the process. You got it. Or rather, we got it. The big question mark is, what are we going to do with it? The next few days moved so fast I had trouble keeping track of the time. But I was catching on. I began to see the pattern of what we had to do. And then the ideas began to come. Hey, Joe. Huh? Oh, yeah, hi, Jim. What's up? You got a minute? Yeah, sure. Pull up. Come on, what's on your mind? An idea. An idea? Shoot, go ahead. Well, look, we need a way to get to the families of Hattonsville. I mean, more than just to the civic leaders, clubs and so on, into the homes. That's what we need. What's your idea? First, a question. How many families in Hattonsville have children of school age? Well, I don't know offhand. Plenty, though. But we can get the figures if you want them, why? Try this on for size. School classes have regular field trips, right? Libraries, city hall, or planetarium. What have you? Finding out firsthand about how their community works. Right. So, if it was set up so that school kids of Hattonsville could come out here to the base as a regular field trip and see the whole thing at first hand. Yeah, yeah. I'm beginning to see the light, Jim. Go on. Well, suppose we furnished transportation. Air Force buses to pick them up and take them back to school. They'd see the base and the operation for themselves. They'd hear the reasons behind the operation. Not only that, but when they went home at night, they'd tell their folks what they'd seen. Shall we try it out on Captain Peterson? Right after lunch. Unless he can find some hole in it that I don't see. Oh, Jim, boy, I think that maybe you've got something here. You are listening to the proudly we hail production, The Sky Over Hattonsville. We'll return in just a moment for the second act. Today and tomorrow, you're better off in the United States Air Force. Right now, plenty of former servicemen are discovering the truth of that slogan. They're taking a look at the new advantages available under the Air Force's liberalized re-enlistment policy, and they're signing up for a profitable, interesting tour of duty with the Air Force team. You see, the new Air Force policy offers a choice of U.S. and overseas assignments, plus a paid 30-day delay in reporting if requested. And listen, even before you enlist, the Air Force may be able to guarantee you technical training in critical skills. In some cases, this guarantee can be made even though you've been out of the service for more than a year. So remember, veterans, regardless of your former service, or how long you've been in civilian life, you'll do well to find out about the new liberalized re-enlistment policy of the United States Air Force. Talk it over now with your nearest Air Force recruiter. You are listening to Proudly We Hail, and now we present the second act of The Sky Over Hattonsville. Eight days later, the first busload of school kids arrived at McGridder Air Force Base. I tagged along with that first group and listened as an airman named Carter conducted the tour. Okay, okay, hold it up here, kids. Children, now stay close to Airman Carter and me, and don't go too near the air place. Thank you, Miss Miller. All right, now kids, this is called the flight line. Now, on a nice day like this, you'll find mechanics out here, checking over the aircraft, as you see over there. Making sure they're ready to go at any time. And there's a good reason for that, which I'll show you a little farther along. So just follow me now. I followed as we moved along the flight line. I knew where the tour was taking us next. All right, here we are, kids. Now, this is called the alert shack. Now, we won't all try to go inside. There wouldn't be room. But you can see through the window that half a dozen pilots are sitting in there with all their flight gear handy. Now, anybody know why? All right, all right, I'll tell you. 24 hours a day, these men or men like them are sitting here waiting for that horn to blow. See the horn up over the door? Well, now, when that blows, it means there's something in the part of the sky that we have charged of, which isn't identified as friendly aircraft. When the horn blows, you don't want to be standing in front of the doorway because those pilots come out of there fast. Excuse me. Yes, Miss Miller. Do you mean to say that those men are ready for actual combat? Exactly that, man. See those jets over there on the ready strip? They're fully armed, rockets, ammunition, everything, loaded for bear. Have you ever had to use them? The rockets and the bullets? Not yet, ma'am. The aircraft, yes. We've had as many as three and four scrambles a week. Scrambles? Well, when control sends downward that there's something unidentified in our sector, the horn blows. I see. In a minute or two, these jets are in the air on the way to intercept the unknown aircraft. Now, isn't that a little overdramatized? I mean, have they ever found anything dangerous up there? No, ma'am, not yet. Airliners, off course, private planes, not supposed to be in the area, things like that. But if they aren't identified as friendly, somebody capable of destroying them has to be up there, just in case. Well, all I can say is it must cost a lot to keep those pilots sitting here and then sending up all those jet planes at all hours. It makes an awful lot of noise, too. Yes, ma'am, it does. Now, truthfully, is this all really necessary? Kind of like a firehouse, I guess. A firehouse? Yes, ma'am. You wait and you stay ready and you chase false alarms. But when the bell rings, you can't afford not to go, because one time it might be the real thing. There's one big difference, though. What is that? Kind of fire we're guarding against doesn't burn up a house. I hope the other men conducting tours knew their jobs as well as Carter. But we'd have to wait a few days before we could start calculating the results of the tours. Hey, Jimmy, you got a minute? Yeah, sure. Sit down. Oh, the pleasure is mine. My feet have had it. What's new in the information business? That's what I wanted to see you about. Your idea with the school kids has paid off. Oh, that's great. I was saying has paid off up to a point. We've slowed up that snowball of ours, but we've still got work to do. And to tell you the honest fact, I'm fresh out of ideas. Well, we need reinforcements. Hey, what about that contact of Captain Peterson's in town? Ooh, I knew there was something else I wanted to see you about. Look, get on a clean uniform this afternoon, because Captain Peterson set up a date for us to talk to that very gentleman. Oh, what's his name again? President of the Junior Chamber of Commerce, isn't he? Yeah, that's right. Mr. George Marsden. Mr. Marsden? Right. He must be Sergeant Wheeler. Yes, sir. And this is my partner, Ammon, first-class Jim Monroe. Glad to see you both. When you sit down. Thank you. Thank you. Now, what can I do for you? I'm not sure yet, sir. First off, you know Haddon'sville pretty well, don't you, Mr. Marsden? I was born here. For college and the war, never spent much time anywhere else. How would you account for the town's feeling toward the base, sir? Well, first you want to realize that there are probably a lot of people in town who are on your side. I'm just one of them. The thing is, you don't hear from them. You hear from the other side. Yeah, we've been hearing quite a bit from them. And it's been on the increase. Well, maybe if these people are to really accept the fact that the base is needed, they'll have to take a good look at the dangers that make it needed. That can be an unpleasant step for some people. But necessary, sir. The sake of the town as well as of the base. I couldn't agree more, Jim. I have been following the program you've always been working out to. Who thought of getting the school classes out to MacGruiter? Oh, that was Jim's idea. Good one. How about results? Oh, well, sir, just say good but insufficient. Mm-hmm. Haddon may take something of a jar to make people really take notice. Something to make them see the situation, the light of hard facts. If all of us got a little bit of ostrich and usually take something dramatic to wake us up. I think maybe you've got something there, Mr. Marsden. I don't understand. No, what you just said. Something dramatic. Something to bring the possibilities we're guarding against home to everybody. Now, you're talking in riddles, Jim. I'm sorry. My idea is this. A radio show. What do you think, Joe, Mr. Marsden? Radio show? Well, like what, Jim? Well, Mr. Marsden said we need something dramatic. Suppose we let the people of Haddon'sville listen in to the sounds of voices, commands, the whole action that would take place if an enemy blip showed up on radar heading in out of the Atlantic. You know, that might... Go ahead, Jim. How would you work it out? Well, we'd have no trouble getting actors for one thing. They'd be the airmen and officers themselves. Their lines would be things they already know by heart. Their own flight and combat procedures. Right down the line. How much time would you need? It shouldn't be too long. Short and to the point. We'll save 15 minutes on the Haddon'sville station. Oh, I'm sure Captain Peterson could sell the idea upstairs. Look, I know the management down there. They'll donate a half hour of public service time, and I think they will. Jim would write. And I can handle the legwork and advance promotion. I hate to be optimistic, gentlemen. This might just work. And I'd like to see it work for the town's sake. If you can swing that public service time, that would be a terrific first step, Mr. Marsden. Meantime, let's get some of this down on paper while it's hot. Here's my note pad. You got a pencil? Yeah, thanks. Now, let's see. We all got fired up over the idea. George Marsden almost as much as Joe and me. Before we left his office, we had the basic problems talked out. Rough requirements of personnel and format for the show were down on paper. And we had a gold mine in George Marsden. He agreed as president of the Junior Chamber of Commerce to make a closing statement on the show. An appeal to Haddon'sville from a native son. We were on our way. Hello? Oh, hi Ed. Yes, I called earlier. Look, about that radio time I spoke to you about. You can? Fine. Believe me, you're doing a ton of stuff. Captain, I'm sure we've got something good here. I've already spoken to Lee, the radio man. And if you can get him assigned to us... Thanks a lot, Major. We can just get tape recordings of some of the sounds involved in a scramble. It will help. There were other things to attend to as well. Things like running an ad in the local paper, spot announcements on the local station concerning the special program coming up. We purposely gave few details so as to arouse curiosity as to what we were up to. Joe handled most of this and I was working on the script. Hi, Jim. Oh, where's a chair? Buddy, I am bushed. How's it going with the legwork? That's just about all set. A good thing, too. How about the script? Well, I just got to get these closing remarks typed in over to George Marsden for his approval. He'll change anything that doesn't fit his way of speaking. And we're ready. Two days will tell the story. Two days? What happens to the time around here? Today's Wednesday. Friday night at eight o'clock. We go on the air. The next two days were spent rehearsing. A lieutenant from special services volunteered to direct. It took us two full days to do what a crew of professionals can do in a couple of read-throughs. But Friday night at the station, we were ready. Joe and I joined the director in the control room. Well, Joe, cross your fingers. How do you feel? Ask me later. Relax. It's out of your hands now. It belongs to the man over there, the one with the stopwatch. Oh, that's right. I forgot. Well, if the show's a clam, I can always blame the director. Who does he blame? Neither. Who else? Oh, hold it. Hold it. There's the standby light. When the standby light flashes on, all activity stops. When the second hand touches the hour, a sign flashes on the air. The director points to the sound man. The sound man releases his turntable. And the sound of a jet bomber fills the studio and floods into the living rooms of Hattonsville. It's not a comforting sound. The director gives it time to sink in. Then cues the announcer. You are listening to the sound of a bomber in flight. It is over the Atlantic Ocean, bearing eastward. It is not one of ours. In its belly, it carries a single black device, which is capable of destroying a city in the time it takes you to blink your eye. Step by step, we were taking the citizens of Hattonsville through the progress of an air attack. The first warnings from offshore radar planes and stations. The vital decision made in split seconds to which units are best placed for the job. The signals are scrambled jets at Magruder Air Force Base and our aircraft taking off to intercept the incoming bogey. Our real-life actors do their parts well. The show unfolded rapidly, as it would in actuality. And so finally radar eyes guided our jets and their missiles in for the kill, bringing home to Hattonsville this fact. There was a good chance that the destructive force carried by the bomber was doomed to plummet into the Atlantic, but only because an awful lot of people had been ready for it. The sound of the crash brought me back to the present and I realized that George Marsden was already into his statement closing the show. As you've discovered, in the age of jets, the sky over Hattonsville isn't so private anymore. It's an unpleasant fact, but a fact just the same. Planes launched into the sky over an enemy town could in short order be in the sky over Hattonsville unless we have a means of making that too great a risk, too great a risk for them to take. Fortunately, we have that mean. You've heard it in action this evening. Thank you for listening. Good night. This program was brought to you as a public service in cooperation with the United States Air Force. It was over. Joe and I looked at one another, stepped into the hallway outside the control room. Well, that's that. It went off well. Now we just wait to see. Hey, Wheeler of Monroe. I've just been in the station manager's office. Phone calls started coming in minutes before the show was over. Switchboards still jammed with incoming calls. How do they stack up, sir? Oh, heavily in our favor. Oh, we've still got to press our advantage, but we're over the hump now. And I'll make a prediction. From here on in, we're going to be more welcome in the skies over Hattonsville. That's good to hear, sir. Good job. Both of you. I'll see you at the office tomorrow. I want to catch Marsden. Thank you. Good night, sir. It looks like our snowballs come to rest, huh, Jim? Yeah, it looks like this one anyhow. Now maybe we can slow down a little ourselves on that hundred-yard dash to the office in the morning, huh? Friend, tomorrow morning I'll personally carry you in piggyback. Come on. I'll buy coffee. If you're an ex-serviceman experienced in a critical skill and needed to keep America's air defense strong, you're in luck. The Career Incentive Act opens up new opportunity in the Air Force to veterans of all the armed forces. Yes, if you possess one of the skills the Air Force needs, you may qualify for the United States Air Force and in a grade that will be a pleasant surprise. The Air Force... ...fields. So put your service-earned experience to work to your best advantage as a member of the Air Force team. Take the credits you've earned toward a comfortable retirement pay-off. For complete details, write or visit your Air Force recruiter. Ask for the special prior-serviceman's folder. See what a return to the service as an airman can mean to you. Today and tomorrow, you're better off in the United States Air Force. This has been another program on Proudly We Hail, presented transcribed in cooperation with the station. Proudly We Hail is produced by the Recruiting Publicity Center in New York for the United States Air Force. This is Ralph Roland inviting you to tune in this same station next week for another interesting story on Proudly We Hail.