Before Pensacola, before Korea, Ken was flying Corsairs at El Toro, California.  John Wayne came down to the squadron and asked the squadron commander if he could borrow all of  the 1st and 2nd Lieutenants that weren't married (he didn't want any one that had a family to end up getting killed)  to fly in a movie he was making:  Flying Leathernecks.  The government furnished the planes and fuel, called it a training exercise and the Lieutenants got to have fun.  War movies were very popular at the time, so Ken flew in three or four of John's movies.

He said the best part was that every day after they were through flying, and shooting film, John would invite all of them to a party.  Everyone would be there.  John, the film crew, the extras, and starlets--who thought the Marine fighter pilots were cool.  I didn't hear all that from Ken.  Years later the guys would sit around our kitchen table and tell stories--that got bigger and better every time they told them.

Surely he had a lot of opportunities to find someone.  But that "list" he had in his head….  She had to be a Christian.  She had to be a Baptist (preferably--what with being a Baptist himself and having a Baptist preacher for a father.  Also,  using that wisdom he had been endowed with, it's just easier if you've been raised alike. ) She had to be smart (so much for the starlets).  And on and on…

James 1: 5-6, 8 "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and doesn't upbraid; it will be given to him.  But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering.  For if you waver you are like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.  A double minded man is unstable in all his ways. "

He was not double minded.  I never in my life met anyone more sure of himself than Ken.  He was quiet, confident, good looking and cocky.  Have you ever met a Marine fighter pilot that wasn't???
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