Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Editor’s note: We asked area World War II veterans to recount their memories.
Steve Owen
Date of birth: Jan. 10, 1918
Dates of service: 1942 through 1945
Branch of service: Air Force
Hometown: Clovis
Current city: Clovis
Location of service: Southwest Pacific, Australia, Biak Island
His memories: Owen spent most of his time serving in areas close to the equator. In the heat and humidity he worked on airplane engines in overhaul shops like the one located in Townsville, Australia.
While he was never in combat, his time was spent ensuring that the Air Force combat forces could operate smoothly. The military would ship airplane engines down to Australia for Owen and his squadron to overhaul. They would work on the aircraft engines, and since he was in the inspection department, he would go through every part of the engine to ensure it was fixed properly. They’d reassemble them, put them on the test block, and then run the engine.
After Australia, Owen served on the island of Biak which is just north of New Guinea and south of the equator. He worked on airplane engines there until WWII ended and he was able to return home to Clovis just in time for Christmas.
Carl Richardson
Date of birth: July, 7 1921
Dates of service: 1941 through 1945
Branch of service: Coast Guard
Hometown: Clovis
Current city: Clovis
Location of service: Stateside
His memories: Richardson was a freshman at Eastern New Mexico University in 1941 when Pearl Harbor was bombed. He and four friends hitch-hiked to Amarillo to enlist with the Navy. A farmer came by in a pickup and drove them in. When they got to the enlistment site, the Navy office was closed but the Coast Guard was still there so they all signed up with them.
He performed routine service in the United States during WWII in Galveston, Texas. He did bootcamp in New Orleans and then was transferred to San Diego and San Francisco.
When the Japanese surrendered, Richardson remembers hearing the news while heading home on the San Francisco Chief, which was a passenger train that ran from the West coast to Chicago.
Jim Warnica
Date of birth: July 31, 1926
Dates of service: 1944 through 1946
Branch of service: Navy
Hometown: Portales
Current city: Portales
Location of service: Western Pacific
His memories: Warnica was a radar operator on a ship in the Western Pacific, where he and another soldier would keep track of combat air control. His ship was stationed off shore during the invasion of Okinawa on April 1, 1945, and they stayed there for 2 1/2 months. He said Japanese suicide planes were flying day and night at that time.
When they left Okinawa his ship headed to the Philippines so that the crew could get some rest and relaxation. While they were there, Japan surrendered and the same day their ship immediately left for Tokyo.
As the surrender papers were being signed on the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay, Warnica’s ship was docked in the same harbor.
He remained in the military nine months after the war was over. During that time his ship was hauling service members from Hawaii to San Francisco. He remembers the ship being filled with as many people as possible so they could get them home quickly.
When he did get discharged, Warnica found himself at a receiving station with three other friends from Portales that he hadn’t served with.
Warnica said something many people don’t know is that all of the Navy ships carried beer on them during WWII. When they were allowed to go ashore for recreation each person was allowed to take three cans of beer with them, but they had to pay for the beer before leaving the ship.
Hubert Qualls
Born: July 12, 1922, in Curry County
Hometown: Clovis
Current city: Clovis
Branches: Army Air Corps, Air Force.
His memories: Qualls enlisted, and was part of the Ninth Service Command. He served time in England and France.
“I was in the Army Air Corps for about 3 1/2 years,” Qualls said.
“I came home in January of 1945. It was work, work, work. I heard guns going off all day and night.”
He said most of the people in his unit were from New York, but there were a few from New Mexico and neighboring states. Much of the work he remembered involved patching holes in the wings of aircraft.
“My experience as a whole was good,” Qualls said.
Lynn Martin
Born: May 1, 1924, in Floyd County, Texas
Hometown: Goldthwaite, Texas
Current city: Clovis
Branch of service: Marines
His memories (through his wife, Marian Ruth Martin): Martin signed up because he wanted to do his part and didn’t want to wait for the draft. He was supposed to serve in Okinawa, but never went due to transport. His service was largely in Hawaii and Washington, D.C. He had four brothers who also served, and two of his brothers recalled nightmares for the rest of their lives.
“They never knew what was behind the door,” Marian said.
“They’d never know what they would face.”
Marian recalled an amazing time of unity for the country. A neighboring family lost a son to the war, and a messenger first went to a neighbor’s house for help because he didn’t want the family to be alone after the horrifying news.
“The patriotism, you could not believe,” she said. “Everybody loved everybody, everybody was trying to pull together. It was a time of caring.”
Clyde Davis Sr.
Born: July 27, 1926, in Carnegie, Pennsylvania
Hometown: Carnegie
Current city: Clovis.
Branch: Navy Air Corps.
Time of service: 1944- through 1946.
His memories: After training in Jacksonville and Memphis, Tennessee, Davis was part of a patrol bomber unit stationed in Corpus Christi, Texas. The unit was trained to look for submarines in the Gulf of Mexico, but never came across any.
“When they dropped the bomb on Hiroshima, you never saw anything stop as quickly,” Davis said. “They didn’t know what to do with us, so they sent us all back (home). I had to go back to Philadelphia. They put us on short patrol. We were all little kids, comparably speaking.
“With little or no training, we were put on streets of Philadelphia to keep sailors in line. It was mostly walking a beat, so to speak, to make sure they didn’t get into any trouble. All we had was a billy club. We never got into any real trouble.”
Davis said his time was mostly peaceful, and the war ended before his unit was slated to go to the South Pacific.
“I cannot emphasize too much that I was fortunate,” Davis said.
“My older brother, Ralph, had been in the Battle of the Bulge. He’s the one who guided me into the Navy and to get all the schooling I could. Things were comparatively quiet wherever I was.”
