But then fate intervened: the Korean War was on, and Uncle Sam wanted him. So much for his prospects. So much for Hollywood.
At Mom’s suggestion, in 1951, Dad proactively enlisted in the air force to avoid conscription into the army, where the odds were greater that he might find himself in combat. He excelled at basic training at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio. The military brass even offered him an opportunity to attend Officer Candidate School. But he had no aspirations to become an officer—he just wanted to put in his mandatory four years of service and be done with it. He requested to be assigned to Special Services, the entertainment branch of the U.S. military. Hank Fonda, Joshua Logan, and Leland Hayward wrote letters of recommendation to the sergeant in charge, attesting to Dad’s suitability. That did the trick.
AS WARTIME ASSIGNMENTS went, life in the Special Services was as good as it got. The assigning sergeant helpfully advised Dad to put in for off-base housing. This allowed him and Mom to find their own place and receive a living allowance—a small sum, but one that gave them the freedom to lead a semicivilian life while Dad served. His job played to his strengths: he was in charge of staging shows on the base to keep his fellow airmen in good spirits. Better still, Dad would never see combat or travel overseas.
Still, he was tremendously frustrated. He was finally getting somewhere in his acting career, and he would forevermore maintain that his four long years away from the business derailed whatever professional momentum he had built up. What’s more, he was already a grown man, and he bristled at the enforced loss of individuality that the air force demanded. During basic training, he couldn’t believe that he had to spend hours upon hours of his day marching in formation. His drill instructor barked out the commands: “Flight, forward march! Flight, halt! Flight, about face!” （A flight was a group of sixty airmen.）
Dad viewed this period as a regression into an earlier part of his life. Legally, he was still Harold Beckenholdt, and he winced at the sound of his birth name, especially when it was mangled by his commanding officers. One drill sergeant, who had both a strong Boston accent and some kind of speech impediment, would shout, “Breckenbruck! Keep ya tums lahng da teems ah ya trou-sahs!” Dad looked at the man blankly, which only prompted a more furious recitation of the command: “Gah-dammit! Tay an’ keep ya tums lahng da teems ah ya trou-sahs!” It took Dad three weeks to figure out that the sergeant was saying “Try and keep your thumbs along the seams of your trousers.”
Dad had lots of other funny stories about the air force. He respected his peers and recognized the benefits that many of them reaped from this regimented way of life. But he never romanticized his military service. He considered it a duty, not a passion.
That said, he was not totally bereft of passion in his air force years. A year into Dad’s time in the service, he and Mom received the news that their first child was on the way.
3
Becoming Californians
CLINT
On January 31, 1953, Dad was on duty at the Service Club at Chanute Air Force Base, outside of Champaign, Illinois. He and Mom lived in a little rental bungalow in the nearby town of Rantoul. Mom called Dad to report that her water broke, and that she needed to get to the hospital in Champaign ASAP.
Dad was excused from duty and immediately picked up Mom, who already had her bag packed. They calmly drove to the hospital, where the orderlies wheeled Mom in. And then Dad waited. And waited. And waited. In those days, fathers were kept away from the delivery room, in suspense. Dad’s mother had told him that she was in labor for a day and a half before he was born. So, while he was antsy, he wasn’t particularly worried.
But late that night, Mom’s doctor came out to the waiting room and struggled to find his words. Finally, he put his hand on Dad’s shoulder and said, “I’m sorry. I just couldn’t get that boy of yours to breathe.”
Dad’s first impulse was to ask after Mom. She was fine, the doctor said. When Dad reached her room, she burst into tears at the sight of him. She already knew.