Three Sailors

From the Record Stockman, a faded article about Red Hutton, circa 1944, copyright Jim Craig.

"Three Sailors"
The young sailor on the plane had a picture of his half bred saddle horse, Black Prince. Said he, "At camp I sit around and look at that picture a lot." He was D. S Goodwin, Lascar, Colo., ranch worker and former rodeo hand.

One of his friends, also just out of "boot" camp, was Bob Mizer, Denver, former bakery worker, getting back to see his wife and youngster.

The third of the sailors was Red Hutton, farm boy from Kirk, Colo., whose folks didn't realize he was coming by plane and would be somewhat late in picking him up.

If these three were a cross-section of the young men in the services and if their reactions at coming home are to be the normal reactions of all our boys when they return, then it would seem that the thing which will happen is a turn to normal haunts and habits as rapidly as possible.

The sailors boarded the plane at billings. They had planned to reach Denver by train, but those 15 days between "boot" camp and assignment are so short that they saved one by transferring to the plane.

Mizer looked the writer over at the Western Air ticket window in billings and said, "I've seen you somewhere before." When Denver was revealed as the address and when Red Hutton found out that this writer had been at the Wagner Hereford Ranch sales at Kirk, and when Goodwin found that there was a mutual acquaintance with Hugh Bennet, Falcon, Colo., there were plenty of things to talk about. And it didn't take long for the well-thumbed picture of Black Prince to pop out of Goodwin's pocket.

The boys were on their first plane ride. Their frankness and good nature made hits all the way around. Hutton said to the stewardess, "Do you suppose I could look thru up there into the cockpit?" when she said. "Why, I think so," he was as please as a 4-year-old with a new, wooden train.

A lot of the spirit of America was seen in these three young men, a lot of the stuff that has made America the envy of the world, and the target for those who are covetous of the riches which we have. What they don't savvy, perhaps, is that our greatest treasure is the wide-awake, fun-loving, hard-working, hard-playing people of the stamp of these sailors.