 He was the youngest graduate, at age 18, of his class at the Aero Club of America when he received license #639.In September 1917 he went to the Georgia School of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia where he was an instructor in motors and planes at the government ground aviation school.During World War I, he served in the United States Marine Corps as a United States Naval Reserve aviator from August 18, 1918 until February 24, 1919.