Samuel P. Goddard Interview -- Meeting Barry Goldwater


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PS = Pam Stevenson - Agave Productions

SG = Sam Goddard



PS (Interviewer): How did that happen, why did you end up in the Army?


SG (Goddard): Because there -- I had a lot of very helpful elderly folks who came in and -- one guy was a Colonel in the First World War. Yeah, I guess it was. And he said, "Sam, get in. Fast." And I did. And I'll never regret it either because first, I went down to, uh, I got a chance to use the electronics I learned at Scott Field. In many ways. But it wasn't long before I had a crack at, uh, OCS in Florida, and, uh, (clears throat) we have (clears throat) 10,000 guys took the exams. But that's not fair, we'd just gotten out of college (clears throat). Out of 10,000 applicants, there were seven of us they picked to go down. But they were all seven -- were college graduates (laughs). And we went to OCS down there and they were very careful to tell us how careful they were in selecting the men for different jobs in the Air Force -- Air Corps. And, uh, so what happened when we graduated, the Gs in my squadron were all sent to a place called Newcastle Army Base, which just opened -- brand new. Near Wilmington, Deleware. And the guy that met me when I went in, who was the best friend of my squadron commander, was Barry Goldwater (laughs). That was the first time I had any connection with Arizona at all. Was meeting Barry in the Army Air Corps.