First Things First...

Hopes of becoming a pilot aside, the reality for Daddy in 1941/1942 was that he had to finish high school, and would not be 18 years old until August of 1942, which put him at the mercy of his parents.  He had to continue his education, I'm sure they told him.

He was not one to cross his parents and would not run away to join the military.  They probably hoped he could somehow miss this world war that the United States had just been drawn into.  That would not be the attitude of most able-bodied young men in those times.  "Remember Pearl Harbor" became a well known motto; there was even a movie of that name released in May of 1942.

He did graduate high school, and I'm sure it was difficult to keep those young minds focused on school and not on the events overseas.

The Rising Sun of the Japanese empire was covering a broad area of the Pacific by the summer of 1942.  Pearl Harbor was not the only location attacked on December 7, 1941.  Also attacked (either by sea, land or air) were : Manila, Midway, Hong Kong, Thailand, Shanghai, Wake, Guam, Singapore, Dutch East Indies, Malaya, and Burma.  Allied forces where overwhelmed by superior equipment and numbers of troops.  The quickness and skillfulness of the Japanese assaults made them seem like they were everywhere at once...islands and territories in the Pacific fell like dominoes:

• Guam : December 10, 1941
• Wake : December 23, 1941
• Hong Kong : December 25, 1941
• Manila (Philippines) : January 2, 1942
• Singapore : February 17, 1942
• Bataan : April 9, 1942
• Corrigedor (ending all resistance in Philippines) : May 7, 1942

Hitler's Nazi German forces had invaded Russia in 1941 and during this same time frame, they continued their dominance in Europe.  France had already surrendered and Great Britain was next on Hitler's list.  With things moving so rapidly, it is no wonder Daddy's generation thought they might "miss" the war.  With no other choice, however, he applied for, and was accepted to Millsaps College in the summer of 1942.