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 ...