Okay… ready for another yarn from the Geezer?

I ever tell you about me and General McNarney?   He’s the guy who replaced General Eisenhower as commander in Europe when Ike returned to the US at the end of WWII.   Mitchell Field, NY was an important Air Force base back then, lots of big houses for big brass back in the Forties.  Me?  I was a sedan driver in Mitchell’s motor pool… I was 17 years old and serving in the U. S. Army Air Corps, predecessor to today’s USAF.

When General McNarney flew into Mitchell Field in 1945 it was a weekend and I was the duty driver.  The motor sergeant dispatched me to base ops to pick up McNarney with this caution: “Button, dammit.  He’s known as 30 miles an hour McNarney.  You drive any faster than that and it’s your ass”

When I picked up McNarney at base ops he was with another general: none other than Jimmy Doolittle.  They ordered me to drive them to the Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York City, a 30 mile drive.

No big cross-island parkway in those days… had to take Horace Harding Boulevard with traffic lights on damned near every corner.  New York traffic lights back then went from red to green — no yellow middle light like today.

I’m headed west on Horace Harding Blvd in fairly heavy traffic.  The generals are talking to each other, ignoring me. 

Slowly I gained speed… 35, 40, 45, 50…   

All of a sudden, the green traffic light turned red.

I slammed on the brakes and heard two big thumps as two of America’s famous WWII generals were dumped on the floor of the ’42 Ford sedan.

By now I had slowed to just under 35 mph…  We continued on in silence… neither general said a word.

At the Waldorf Astoria I pulled their luggage from the trunk and handed it to the doorman.

“Thanks for the ride,” said General Doolittle… “A little bumpy, but we made it.”

McNarney said nary a word.

And there was no courts martial waiting when I got back to the motor pool.  McNarney never turned me in, probably because General Doolittle joked about it.