Air Force Recruit's Service is Fond Memory

First-Class Experience

Air Force Recruit’s Service is Fond Memory

PRESENTED BY: Centurion Consulting Group centurion.net

By:Bill Moakley

Martha Higgins

Martha Higgins walked by an Air Force recruiting office in 1951, two years after graduating from high school. She was impressed enough with the office in Erie, Penn., so she stepped in and talked with the recruiter.

“I had been looking for a job,” Higgins said. “I passed by the federal building and they had all these flags out and fliers about what the government could do for you. I was so excited. I went in and the recruiting sergeant made it sound like paradise. He sold me.”

After hearing about benefits such as the GI Bill and a pension, Higgins signed up, took her military oath and boarded a train headed to San Antonio for basic training. “They sent me first class and I thought, ‘Wow, if my friends could see me now.’ The porter would make the bed for me and get it ready at night. The waiter would come through and get my meal order. They treated me right.”

Arriving in San Antonio, Higgins immediately liked what she was experiencing during her training days, finding a closeknit community among her fellow cadets.

“You form a sisterhood and I loved that,” she said. “You cannot do basic training by yourself. You need that support from others. We wanted to help one another, so we could finish together.”

Higgins graduated from basic training and received orders to join the Air Defense Command in Colorado Springs as a financial officer.

“The government trusted me to handle the money,” Higgins laughed. “I had a lot of friends because I handled the paychecks.”

From Colorado Springs, Higgins’ next stop took her around the globe to Incirlik Air Base in Adana, Turkey, just outside Istanbul.

While in Turkey, Higgins worked as a data entry officer, ensuring classified data was delivered securely. Everything she entered was in code, as were the destinations to which the information was being delivered. She recalled going down to the Mediterranean Sea and using binoculars to look for the U.S. flag flying from passing ships.

The sight of other items from home was also welcomed.

“We’d go to the mess hall and see a can of Campbell’s Soup or a box of Kellogg’s Corn Flakes, and we’d get so excited,” Higgins said. “Anything to remind us of home.”

After leaving the Air Force in 1954, Higgins joined the U.S. Postal Service as a mail handler, filling route bags for carriers and making sure mail made it into postal boxes. She would later work for Sears running credit checks on credit card applications.

A formally trained vocalist, Higgins performed as an accomplished alto member of the Columbus (OH) Symphony, as well as the Erie Philharmonic. She loved performing, however, she discovered that her young children were not as interested.

“I’d get them ready and fuss all over them when we had a concert, and we’d get there and they’d sleep through the whole thing,” Higgins said.

In addition to singing, Higgins has also served as a parish organist for numerous churches and she lends her talents to the Norman Veterans Center, where she has lived the past five years.

“I do the chapel service here on Sundays when the regular organist isn’t here,” she said.

A native of Florida and a graduate of Florida A&M University, Higgins’ late husband and two sons were career Air Force officers. A third son owns and operates an air conditioning company in Oklahoma City. - 19SM