In 1942, despite lacking ROTC experience, Bill Friday, like many of his peers motivated by the Pearl Harbor attacks to serve their country, applied for and received a commission for the navy in the spring. In May 1942, like many young soldiers called into action for their country William Friday quickly married his college sweetheart, Ida Howell prior to his tour. Later that year, Friday began work at the Naval Ammunitions Depot at St. Julien's Creek in Norfolk, VA. Because of his engineering degree, he was promoted to plant operations manager, forcing him into the tense role of constantly supervising a dangerous environment for both himself and his men.

For many men, these assignments meant leading squads of men into dangerous areas at the ripe young age of 22 or 23. About the dangerous work, Friday reflects, "I was scared to death. Here the captain lined all these new officers up and said, "what did you do, what did you do?" and he took one pace forward and he said, "Where did you go to school?" And I told him and he said, "stand aside." I knew that meant trouble. What happened to me was that we were this production facility that had to run seven days a weeks, 24 hours a day. 550 of these highly skilled, highly seasoned civil service employees were in this division and our job was to be sure that all of this moved, and that was a big order when you are dealing with things like black powder and petrol. You knew something about chemistry but you didn't have enough time to learn. You just went and did it."

Racial segregation followed Friday into the Navy as well. Friday watched as African -American soldiers were brought in to be "ammunition handlers". Not only were Black soldiers relegated to separate encampments, they were also prevented from being apart of any entertainment. Any insurrections meant that Black officers would be shipped out overseas closer to battle.

Like many men either on the front lines or working domestically, the precautions of war meant a complete change in lifestyle. "Eventually we were assigned quarters at the base. Right across, not 10 yards, from our front door was this magazine that had 500 tons of high explosives in it all the time. You never strike a match, you wore static proof clothing, you were terribly conscious of fire 24 hours a day and you never ever let up thinking about it. You never carried matches anywhere."

A mere 7 days after being discharged from the Navy in 1946, William Friday moved to Chapel Hill with wife Ida to attend Law School at the University of North Carolina. The flood of veterans into universities at this time led to an "unconventional student bodies" and what fellow veteran Terry Sanford called "an entirely different kind of campus." While all veterans, including Friday, were determined to get on with their lives, the harsh memories remained. As William Friday reflects back to this time at age 81, he still clearly holds many of these experiences close to heart.

"I can remember when I got to law school, seven days after mustering out of service, anytime when anybody would light up a cigarette I would feel myself jumping about that high. Just a reflex reaction until it wore off. It took at least a year to get over that sensitivity. We had 5,000 people doing this and we were dealing in highly secret things during the end such as special fuses and things and it was nerve wracking. Being conditioned helped to come through the Depression and other things. You could take it, you could absorb it. You always said I am here and not out there on the front. You are grateful for the opportunity to serve this way but you were always conscious of the fact that you were living with instant explosiveness." In more ways than one.

The Racial Divide - War Time - The Fight for Free Speech
The Great Depression - The Dawn of Public Television
Education: The New Look of Education