Hap Harlow graduated from Palm Springs High School with 28 others in 1941, just months before the Pearl Harbor attack.

He enlisted in the Navy shortly after his 18th birthday and completed boot camp in San Diego. He then graduated from aviation machinist school in late December 1942.

Harlow saw combat in World War II while stationed aboard the USS Bunker Hill.

“I had the good luck of being assigned to Fighting Squadron 17, which was to be the first unit to take the F-4U Corsair into combat operating from a carrier,” the Yucca Valley resident said.

Harlow, now 85, remembered the cramped conditions on the ship after picking up replacement Marine and Navy personnel for a hasty trip to Pearl Harbor.

“We left San Diego at 6 on a Tuesday evening and rounded Diamond Head (Oahu) at 10:30 on the following Friday morning,” Harlow said.

“This was a speed record at the time, but it wasn't to be publicized due to wartime security.”

With all of the extra people aboard, he couldn't sleep in his bunk because it was always occupied by somebody else.

“So I slept in the cockpit or the stub wing of the F-4U that I was plane captain of at the time.”

His first day of combat was Nov. 11, 1943, while the ship was assigned to a task force to hit Rabaul, Papua New Guinea.

“For the next year, the Bunker Hill participated in every combat engagement in the Pacific until December 1944,” Harlow said.

The Desert Sun newspaper was delivered to the ship regularly in 1943, he said.

“It used to come by mail” once a week, he said. He read it on the hangar deck when he wasn't on duty.

When he was finished, he'd share it with his shipmates.

“Guys were waiting in line to read it after me. Especially the want ads.”

Harlow said he and his buddies saw an ad that advertised 10 acres of land in Palm Springs for $400.

“We couldn't muster up enough money to buy it,” he said, laughing at the memory.

Harlow served in active duty until 1950.

Later that year, while attending college on the G.I. Bill, he joined the Naval Reserve “to get an extra $27.26 a month to be a weekend warrior,” he said.

He was eventually assigned to another F-4U squadron that was activated when the Korean conflict broke out.