Airmen following in great-grandmother's footsteps

  • Published
  • By Stacy Temple
  • TheNewsStar.com
Monroe, La. --  Elsie Peterson Adcock was only 17 years old when she left her hometown of Rayville at the government's urging and headed to Barksdale Air Force Base in Bossier City following Pearl Harbor. 

At Barksdale, Adcock was trained to work on B-24 and C-87 planes.

After training, Adcock was sent to Texas, where she was one of the many women who rolled up their sleeves and did manual labor, building planes while American men were fighting in World War II.

Now, more than 60 years later, this great-grandmother is getting ready to send two of her great-grandsons to train at the very same place in a situation that seems oddly similar more than six decades later. 

Airmen First Class Bradley Bridges and his cousin, Airman First Class Josh Dupont, both 20, are preparing for Basic Military Training.

The two cousins, both Rayville natives and 2005 Riverfield Academy graduates, recently joined the U.S. Air Force Reserves, and once their training is complete, the men will be assigned to the 917 Maintenance Squadron at Barksdale where they will work on B-52H bombers.

Master Sgt. David Beach, an Air Force Reserve recruiter, said history has repeated itself because the men will be working on what Beach calls "the grandson" of the same plane that Adcock worked on when she was around their age.

"She has passed the baton," Beach said of Adcock. "Eventually, we are going to lose the people that can tell these stories because these stories don't always get passed along. Another amazing thing is that both of these men volunteered like she did. Now, there is no draft."

Adcock, who is fondly referred to as "Nana" by her two great-grandsons, said she felt the need to do something after the attacks on Pearl Harbor. 

Because she was too young to join the Women's Air Corps, she boarded a bus for Barksdale.

While there, she trained to be a machinist, while other women trained to be "Rosie the Riveter," a nickname derived to describe female defense workers.

The women were then sent to Waco, Texas, for more training. In Texas, Adcock worked for Consolidated Vultee Aircrafts.

By this time, she was only 19.

But, soon after she began work, Adock had an allergic reaction to the oil used on the aircrafts and was made a dispatcher.

As the war continued, Adcock continued to work, watching plane parts whir by her desk on a conveyor belt.

"We didn't know what was going on during the war except for newspapers and the radio. There was no television," Adcock said.

Back then, people put their names on a waiting list for an automobile, some soldiers were only allowed to send one letter home a month, and even those were censored, and nylons, sugar and gasoline were rationed.

"It was a terrible thing," Adcock said. "We weren't prepared for it when it started."
After deciding to join the Air Force Reserves, the two cousins found out about their great-grandmother's work during World War II and said they felt proud.

"It has been a lifelong dream of mine to join the military," Bridges said. "I started checking into it and I mentioned it to Josh, and he decided to join, too."

Despite joining around the same time, the two men will attend different training.
Bridges leaves on Tuesday for Basic Military Training at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas. Once he completes basic training, he will be sent to technical training at Sheppard Air Force Base in Texas, where he will learn Aircraft Fuel Systems.

Dupont will leave for Basic Military Training Aug. 14 for Lackland Air Force Base. After completing basic training, he will be sent to technical training at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida.

While in Florida, Dupont will train in nondestructive inspection.

Both men plan on continuing their education at the University of Louisiana at Monroe once their training is completed.

Dupont said he also has a grandfather who fought in World War II, and Bridges uncle, Dr. Brian Krier of Rayville, a major in the Air Force, was at his swearing in ceremony.

Both men said they are like their great-grandmother in many respects.
In 1941, Adcock said working on planes was the best opportunity for women at the time.

Dupont and Bridges said after they graduated high school, the military felt like the next step. Both are looking forward to basic training and serving their country.

"They are carrying on a family legacy of service," Beach said. "The service has changed some, they are working on a different bomber than she worked on, but it is still the same."