IMPACT OF THE KOREAN WAR ON MY MUSICAL CAREER AMBITIONS
Walter L. Elden, P.E. (Ret)

In early 1951, during my second semester at the University of Miami, I began getting vibes that the local Draft Board was getting close to calling up my name to go into the Army, for service in Korea. At that time, the winter in Korea had been extremely hard on the Allies and the situation there was turning bad on the battlefield. Some of my high school friends had been serving there and killed. By early May, I had decided that I did not want to go into the Army, even for just 2 years, so, I enlisted in the US Navy instead for 4 years, after consulting with an uncle who had retired from the battleship arm of the Navy as a full Chief Petty Officer. He pointed out that in the Navy, I could receive excellent technical training as they had a great set of training schools.

During enlistment processing, I was subjected to a battery of apptitude and intelligence tests, the results of which guaranteed that I would serve in the Airborne part of the Navy and was guaranteed to go to its electronics training school.When I was in the NavyThe net result was that
out of the 4 years of service in the Navy, 1 1/2 years of that was served attending various airborne and electronics training schools. I went through Recruit Traiing at San Diego, CA for 3 months. We attended a lot of classes, teaching us the traditons, military conduct and history of the Navy. I learned to take good class notes and began to do well on tests. After San Diego, I was transferred to Airborne Preparatory School at NAS Jacksonville, Fl for 4 months, followed by 28 weeks of Airborne Electronics School in Memphis, TN.



Nashville and The Grand Ole Opry Country and Western Music

While in airborne electronics training in Memphis, TN, once a month, I would travel to Nashville for the weekend to visit former classmate, Robert Sherrill. He was attending a Christain college there. We arranged it so that we would get to attend the All Night Sing on Friday nights and then the Grand Ole Opry, in the original Ryman Auditorium to hear first, good gospel singing and then great Country and Western music and singing. Nashville, as you know is the center of Country and Western music. If you recall, my high school band Director J. Howard Reynolds introduced me to Country and Western music when he demonstrated the first High Fidility music system to me in his home, Beleive it or not, to this day, I still enjoy it. The music is great and you can understand to lyrics.



Ryman Auditorium

The Ryman Auditorium - Home of the Grand Ole Opry

Airborne Electronics Training and Class Standing Determines Next Duty Station

In the airborne electronics traning, there were both lab and class training in electronics at the Airborne Electronics School. At the end of each week, we were tested on that segment of the training. I learned early, that the higher we ended up in class standings at the end of training, the better duty station would be our pick. This really motivated me to study and I did extremely well on tests, and had a very high standing when it was completed. This enabled me to select my next duty station on land, in the US, and not go to sea on an aircraft carrier. I was therefore transferred to a squadron at Sanford NAS for 3 months, then finally my last station in an Anti-submarine Development Squadron, VX-1, Key West NAS, Boca Chica, FL. Once there, I received an additional 12 weeks training in shipboard and airbone SONAR. I maintained all of the squadron's LORAN, Radar Altimeter and IFF equipments for a variety of aircraft, as depicted the the photos.

     Naval Aircraft        Naval Aircraft

     Naval Aircraft        Naval Aircraft

   Naval Aircraft       Naval Aircraft

     Examples of VX-1 Naval Aircraft Whose Electronics Were Maintained, Once Trained
     (Not bad for one who had been majoring in music at the U of Miami 1 1/2 years before)

One really fortunate aspect of serving in the Navy, was that I was transferred to and served the final 2 1/2 years at the Key West Naval Air Station, at nearby Boca Chica. It was only a 3 hour drive from Miami, my home. There, I maintained some of the airborne electronics equipment installed on a variety of planes, blimps and helicopters, all intended to hunt and destroy enemy submarines. Through the work I did, maintaining airborne electronics equipment and working with a Field Service Engineer, one Frankie Lane, in conjunction with the G.I.Bill, caused me to change my career objective from that of becoming a Music Conductor to that of becoming an Electronics Engineer. I saw this strictly as a matter of economics. I knew I could earn a better living as an engineer than as a music conductor starting out in a high school. I made the correct choice, looking back, even though to this day I regret not having been able to achieve my original first reat goal, to be able to conduct music.

In my spare time, I took electronics courses, built various electronics kits, and improved my personal high fidelity system. I even acquired a full TV/AM/FM/Record Playing system, that was defective, and worked on it until I got it fully restored, then presented it to my parents as their first TV set. Unknowingly, I was continuing to marry my newly acquired electronics skills with my previous love of music.

Music Experiences While Serving in the Navy

At Christmas time, I would sing in a choir. We would provide music at Midnight Mass. Several times, I would play a violin solo performing Guno's "Ave Maria". A few times, I volunteered and organized a combined churches choir and directed it. The photo shows some of these activities as they were performed then.

Directing choir in Navy
                             Directing a Choir at Mass While in the Navy, 1955
                                      (His brother, Guy, is on the left, in choir)

Violin solo at Midnight mass        Sang in choir at midnight mass
    Played Violin Solo (Ave Maria) at Midnight Mass       Sang in Choir at same Midnight Mass in 1954

On one occasion, I learned that the Boston Pops orchestra, under the direction of Arthur Fiedler, would perform in Miami. So a friend and I got tickets and drove to Miami and heard the performance. It was just great.

When I Built My First High Fidelity Audio Music System

During my service in the Navy, I began to apply two things I had picked up along the way, to augment that fact that I was no longer pursuing a music performing career. When I was stationed outside of Memphis, TN, at the Millikan Naval Air Station, I attended 28 weeks of electronics school. Early on, I used to go into Memphis on weekends and I found where the new 33 1/3 rpm record players were being sold. I bought one, took it home, and with my new knowleged in electronics, began to merge that knowledge with my love of music. I found a way to hook up the Long Playing record player to my parents radio system at home, resulting in my first attempt at creating a high fidelity system, somewhat like what my high school banc director, J. Howard Reynolds, had showed me of his at his home.

This also began my purchasing of LP recordings, which was the start of a new record collection of classical music. Then, as I would get moved to new duty stations, I would eventually end up in the Post Exchange, looking for and buying more LPs recordings, adding them to my collection. At that time, a company named Heath, located in Benton Harbor, MI, sold all kinds of electronic building kits. I bought one and built my first high fidelity amplifier system. Later, I purchased a kit and assembled a large bass reflex speaker system. Playing a LP player through the amplifier connected to the speaker gave me a true high fidelity system, one I would have been pleased to match against my former band direstor's. Thus, I was finally able to marry my newly acquired knowledge of electronics with my continued love of music. Wonderful. It all fit.\

My High Fidelity System

The High Fidelity System I Built, Along With the Start of My Record Collection, 1955
(Amplifier and Speaker Enclosure Were Built From Kits)

Finally, on May 5, 1955, Cinco de Meyo day, I was discharged from the Navy, back to civilian status. Life could resume now I felt. On to college to become an electrical engineer at the University of Florida and my future.

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