Marshall Ralph Doak Chief Pharmacist's Mate United States Navy

Before the Navy

I graduated from Buchanan High School in 1938, having played all four sports, and being raised on the wrong side of the tracks. The depression was in full bloom. The c. c.c. (Civilian Conservation Corps) camps were in operation for the young. WPA was starting for older workers. We rented our home for $15 a month. There was no telephone or refrigerator and no central heat, our cooking stove was a wood burner. The meat we ate was rabbit, squirrel and pheasant that I hunted during the fall and winter school year going to and from school with my shot gun that I stored in my school locker during school hours. This was permitted. Without a telephone we had to walk to talk.

How times have changed. I did not have much to look forward to as far as college or work, but I did have a scholarship to Rutgers University of all places. I never knew who recommended me. One day I decided to go. They said they would give me a scholarship and work to do, so I packed a little plastic bag and started hitch-hiking. I hiked into Canada and got to New Jersey. US Customs wouldn't let me into the United States. So I was sent back to Windsor and my folks had to come and pick me up. They drove an old 1932 Ford and it was quite a trip. It was the only way I could leave Canada, and my folks had -to pick me up and bring me home. So that was my endeavor of trying to go to Rutgers.