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11/20/08 |
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On Monday, April 28, after working two hours in the coffee shop I skipped Astronomy and began my hitchhike to Lockheed. Arriving on time, at 4:00 P.M., I started working on the "receiving dock", unloading materials from trucks. Hitchhiking home after midnight, I didn't get to bed until 2:30 A.M. This was the beginning of a nightmare that would last through the remaining 5 weeks. |
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I must have been desperate and naive to think that I could combine the new job with my school routine. After two weeks at Lockheed, I was designated as a "receiving clerk". I inspected the incoming shipments, verifying the count and accuracy of each item. For me this was a promotion. I was taken off the hard physical work of unloading trucks. My muscles were still sore from all that heavy lifting. Another break came my way when I didn't have to spend four hours hitchhiking back and forth. I began riding to the plant with J.D. Morgan, my former classmate in Speech. Because he lived in Hollywood I did not ride back with him. Instead, I rode with a Lockheed senior contact engineer who lived in West Los Angeles. With these two rides I gained two hours. I left the campus an hour later at 3:00 in the afternoon and I went to bed an hour earlier at 1:30 A.M. After I got my first weekly paycheck from Lockheed ($21.76), I decided to quit working in the coffee shop. The additional meals that I had stored up on my work-card also extended the time for me to eat there. My last day as a busboy was Tuesday, May 13th. I would now spend those two hours in the library to study and do my homework. I was surprised when Pat, the head waitress, had a little party for me. After enjoying a "special banana split", I received a nice necktie. The manager, Mrs. Kelley, and the waitresses had nothing but praise for the way I worked in the coffee shop. Listening to their glowing comments, gave me the feeling that I was the best busboy ever at UCLA. It was a touching send-off. In saying goodbye, I was both, happy and sad. For the first two weeks, I managed to juggle my classes, skipping one to study for another. Although I took my final in swimming, five cuts had to be made up by next week. My main worries were a quiz in Astronomy, Speech final due on Monday, and a Music make-up quiz on Thursday. Eventually, it all caught up with me on May 15th. I phoned Lockheed that I was "sick". I had shot my wad. That evening I went to the Library, wrote a letter home, did some studying, and then left early to get some sleep. I had to phone in "sick" two more times during my last 3 weeks of school. If my "finals" suffered, so be it. I had to hang on to my Lockheed job. There was no relief until I took my last final on June 6th. My final grades were a "B in Speech, a "C" in Music and in Italian, and a "D" in Astronomy. It was my first and only "D" at UCLA. Overall, I was satisfied. I had 68 units of college credit with 12 grade points over the required "C" average. After emptying my lockers I said goodbye to co-workers and students. I left the campus with no regrets. As much as they were my happiest years, at times, they were also the most trying. And so, my three year rendezvous at UCLA came to an end. As an ex-student my first priority now was to find a suitable room near Lockheed. By hitchhiking to work two hours or so earlier, I was able to scour the residential streets in downtown Burbank before going to my job. After a couple weeks I found my room at 703 East Orange Grove. It was a good spot, just what I wanted -- a place within walking distance to restaurants and to San Fernando Road with a short 3-mile hitchhike to Lockheed. At this address I was also near Bill Cook. My room rent went up to $3.50 per week, more than double the amount I paid to Mrs. Fernding. With Bill Cook's help, I moved on Sunday June 22nd. On that same day Nazi Germany invaded Russia. Listening on my radio, I heard Churchill's speech offering to send aid to Communist Russia. The European war would now spread throughout all of Europe and Asia. Sooner or later, I knew that, our country would be involved. I had already received my questionnaire and had sent it back to my draft board. There was a slight chance that I might get a deferment after turning 28, but that was three months away. In a precautionary move to evade the Army draft, I decided to enlist in the Navy but only through the preliminary applications and to see if I would pass my "physical". I wanted to know beforehand if I was eligible. In the meantime I would stay on at Lockheed. Our large "receiving dock" was continuously jammed with material and goods. The incoming shipments poured in faster than the clerks could check the items and process the paper work. Consequently, we worked ten hours daily, including Saturdays and some Sundays. Even so, catching up on the dock overflow was temporary. There was a significant change on June 28th. I was transferred to the "day shift". That meant I would lose six cents an hour in bonus pay but I didn't mind. It was more than made up by the "overtime" hours at time-and a-half. More important, my eating and sleeping hours were back in sync and my evenings were free again. Looking ahead to the July 4th weekend I wanted to hitchhike to Ft. Ord to see Frank but he thwarted my plan by coming to L.A. Our time together was mostly spent visiting our old stamping grounds, his near Vermont and Melrose and mine in West Los Angeles. Reporting to my draft board on July 25th, I was classified 1-B .That gave me an option to enroll at U.S.C. My Navy enlistment was "on hold" due to tonsillitis, but I would delay surgery until I was ready to leave my job. I still wanted to take the hitchhiking trip to Fort Ord and I got that opportunity on Saturday, August 9th. I awoke early, shaved, had breakfast and left. At Barham Drive and Cahuenga I got an unbelievable ride with Jake Mullins and his wife. Talk about luck, they took me all the way to Fort Ord. My early arrival surprised Frank. After a quick tour of the army base we went into the city of Monterey. We returned to his barracks to sleep. The next morning, amazingly, Frank and I met Harry Hopp, a soldier in one of the barracks. He was my co-worker in the coffee shop at UCLA. A full time employee, Harry was the "sandwich man" behind the counter during the three years that I was a busboy. During my last month at school Harry fixed the sandwiches for my lunch bag when I went on the swing shift at Lockheed. After our Sunday lunch in the mess hall, I said goodbye to Frank. Leaving Ft. Ord, my first ride was only 18 miles to Gonzales, but my next ride, astonishingly, took me all the way to Burbank. What is even more incredible, I was picked up by Jake Mullins and his wife, the same couple that had brought me to Ft. Ord. What fantastic luck! It would never happen again, not in a hundred years.
After the weekend at Fort Ord, I had to wait for Labor Day to get another day off. I spent that holiday with Mrs. Fernding and Maude. We had dinner together and we talked about "old times". I also got to see Jack, the shoemaker. Registration Day at USC was September 15th. With tuition at $290 per year, I had already saved enough. But I wasn't too keen on giving up my job or my savings, nor did I want to be a busboy or caddie again. I wondered about taking one or two classes in the evening. That would be one way that I could hang on to my job at Lockheed. With this train of thought I decided to move near Hollywood Blvd and Vermont, an area midway between Lockheed and USC. From this location I could hitchhike to work or school in 20 minutes. I scoured the residential streets for a good week before I found the ROOM FOR RENT sign hanging in a window at 4525 Melbourne Ave. My hope for this room was dashed immediately when I inquired. 0pening the door, the landlady revealed her disappointment when she said; "Oh I'm sorry, the room upstairs is for a woman". And she explained why. The renters upstairs have to share the bathroom. Her other two renters were women. Without saying anything, I merely nodded like I understood. I'm sure she noticed my disappointment. An exchange of small-talk followed. Giving her my name, I told her I was Italian, had been at UCLA and was now working at Lockheed. She and her family were from Brooklyn and they, too, were Italian. She then gave me this glimmer of hope. She would talk to her husband and the two women. She would have a "yes or no" answer for me tomorrow. With the odds not in my favor, I was really surprised that all of them had accepted me. The room rent was $4.00 per week, fifty cents more than my room in Burbank. I moved into my room on Sunday, September 21st. This white stucco, two-story home was just a block and a half to Vermont and to Pucci's Italian restaurant, the Los Feliz Theater and a large food market. Best of all was getting the room with the Savetier family. Millie and Louie had two daughters, Cora 18, Margie 13. I was readily accepted by "Cappy", their collie dog and by Mrs. Doermann and Elsie, the two women upstairs. At Lockheed, Bob Rust my lead man asked me to help out in "Stationary", an enclosed area in the building. I went to the new department reluctantly since it had been in a mess for a long time. After two weeks, however, everything changed. Bob asked me to take charge of Stationary. Taking over on October 1st, I began to reorganize the department. Stationary was the receiving area for supplies and materials, such as: paper, pencils, desks, chairs, books, office equipment, small appliances, medical supplies and photographic material and anything else that was not an integral part of building the airplane. With 40,000 workers, and the plant still expanding fast, you can imagine how fast the materials and supplies were pouring in on the receiving dock and into Stationary. No wonder it floundered. With extra help we managed to process most of the shipments that were lying around for weeks. Those with missing packing lists or with no visible order numbers could not be processed. I stacked them in the bins and on the shelves. After checking the incoming shipments and processing the paper work through the office I was responsible for delivering the merchandise to the department that ordered it. My two delivery men each had a large 4-wheel cart that they pushed through out the plant. We were working every day, seven days a week in order to build the Bombers for Britain. One Wednesday night instead of going to sleep, I sneaked into Lockheed at 11:00 PM. Without punching my time card I went to work in Stationary. I didn't want to be paid nor did I want to get in trouble. It took eight hours, without interruption, for me to examine and sort out all the "dead shipments" that had accumulated over many months. At 7:00 AM, I returned to the time clock to check in for the day shift. I told Bob Rust what I had done. With his help the "crud" was delivered or disposed. In a letter home, dated October 13th, let me paraphrase what I had to say-- I have an interesting and responsible job at Lockheed. It's like play and I love it. In the morning I look forward to going to work. The hours go so fast I hate to leave in the afternoon at 3:30. However, it's no snap. I'm on my toes for the whole eight hours. Sometimes, I work right through my lunch hour. I'm happy at work, just like in the coffee shop at UCLA; I'm again "working with love". Working those long hours, daily and on weekends didn't faze me a bit. I was making good money, banking most of it, but I wanted to save a lot more to repay Vito and Frances. After checking the night courses in Cinema and monitoring a class in photography, I decided not to enroll for any evening class. There was no doubt about the path that I should take -- stay at Lockheed, wait for my draft number, and then go into the Navy. Hugo P. Cipriani |
