Ernesto Calderon WW2

Ernesto Calderon was just 18 years old and living in Central Texas in 1946 when his life took an unexpected turn. Eldon and Lloyd Adams, two brothers, asked him if he wanted to go with him to the drive-in theater at the Circle, a well-known part of Waco. "On the way (to the drive-in theater), he (Eldon) said he had just joined the 11th Airborne Division and would I be interested in going with him," Calderon said. "And I mean, just like that, I said sure and I agreed to it." During the movie, Calderon had second thoughts, but concluded that the military might be better than working as a migrant farm worker. "I guess by that time a lot of us my age had come to the conclusion that there wasn't a damn thing in Waco for us... the military was our way out," Calderon said Calderon, who was interviewed last October in his South Austin home, would go on to serve a total of 20 years before being discharged. As an adult, he would become interested in Chicano history and would get a master's degree from a now-defunct alternative university in Austin. Since his retirement in 1967, he has worked in the public and private sectors. EnlistingCalderon and Eldon Adams went into the 11th Airborne in April of 1946, about eight months after the end of World War II. "We went to Dallas where they had the induction center and as it turns out I was too light to go into the 11th Airborne," Calderon said. "I only weighed 128 at the time and the minimum weight for the Airborne was 135, and there was no way they would waive that." Calderon and his friend Eldon Adams went into the U. S. Army Air Corps and took their basic training at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio. "I remember our drill sergeant was a guy by the name of Sgt. Brown and I admired the guy because was a veteran of World War II," Calderon said. "He had been in combat and taught us the importance of learning how to take care of your weapons. He was a real influence from that stand point on me and I guess on all the rest of the guys." After his basic training in San Antonio, Calderon was stationed at Grenier Air Force Base in New Hampshire from July 1947 until February 1948. In 1948, he was sent to the Philippines and was stationed at Clark Field where he served in the 25th Liaison Squadron until 1950. "It was right after World War II and in the Philippines there was still a lot of things that were visible which were the results of World War II," Calderon said. "You could see holes in buildings that had been shot at, holes in the ground where bombs had landed." Calderon even encountered a few Japanese soldiers in the jungles. "From time to time, would go into the jungles looking for them and find them (Japanese) and you know tell them the war was over and a lot of the times they wouldn't believe you," Calderon said. From 1950 until 1959, Calderon was assigned to train Air Force pilots in Waco, San Marcos and San Antonio. While stationed in Waco, Calderon met Ruby Trevino, who would become his wife. In 1959 Calderon was stationed in Spain where he served for three years in the military assistance advisor group of the U.S. Embassy. After his time in Spain, Calderon returned to Waco and he retired from the military in 1967. Since then, he has had several jobs, including working as a human resources director, office manager for a brewery, computer operations manager, and Editor of Publications as well as the Financial Aid Officer at Juarez-Lincoln University, In addition, he also received his Master's Degree in Education in 1976 from Juarez Lincoln University in Austin. Juarez-Lincoln was a learning center of Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio. Antioch is an independent nonsectarian liberal arts college that blends practical work experience with classroom learning and participatory community governance. Early Years Prior to his entrance into the U.S. Army Air Corps, Calderon came from a family of migrant workers that harvested crops in Central and South Texas. Since his family struggled financially, they were on welfare and the one thing Calderon remembers the most about this time were the clothes they received from the county. "If people saw you wearing the clothes they knew you were on welfare," he said, referring to the color of the clothes. "The best way that I could describe the color of them, the coveralls, cause they were coveralls, was a piss burnt brown color, kind of a yellowish brown." Calderon said. "People could see a mile away that you were on welfare."