MORGANTOWN — John Reckart, Charles “Skip” Livengood and Carl Rhodes have been friends for a very long time.
The three Preston County men were drafted together in the United States Army, and on Wednesday, they celebrated both Livengood’s and Rhodes’ birthdays at Screech Owl Brewing in Bruceton Mills.
Livengood and Rhodes turned 86. Reckart’s birthday follows shortly after in December.
When the three friends were drafted, they spent 16 weeks at Camp Breckinridge in Kentucky together before being separated for specific training. However, the trio found their way back to each other before they headed off to Germany, transported on the same ship.
“That was an experience,” said Reckart.
The Merchant Marines were in charge of this ship, where Reckart said meals were served cafeteria style — a method that left “a lot to be desired.”
“The problem was the ship would rock, so you’d take a bite out of your tray and the ship would rock and here’d come this fellas tray and he had puked in his,” said Reckart.
Reckart and Rhodes, who had gotten in good with some of the Merchant Marines, made a bargain: If they kept the Marines mess hall in shape, the two could dine with the Merchants — a deal that was strictly against the rules. Their sergeant found the two soldiers eating there, and asked their names.
Reckart said that Rhodes was always the leader, so when asked for their names and Rhodes gave an alias, Reckart followed suit.
“The only thing he had was our name and there was probably 3,000 people on that ship. The boy’s name we gave, they suffered for us and we still got to eat with the Merchant Marines,” said Reckart.
The three were on that boat for 11 days together before landing in Germany.
They were split up again after hitting land, but were stationed within 50 miles of each other. On the weekends, they would visit each other. Both Rhodes and Livengood were Corporals and Reckart was a Sergeant, which the other two liked to give him grief for.
“You had to outdo us, didn’t you?” asked Rhodes, jokingly.
The men were in Germany from 1952-’53.
Reckart recalled a time when Rhodes was showing his other two friends his bike and a German picked a fight with him. Shortly after, the Military Police came and dragged the guy away.
“We were in a bunch of trouble, but we got out of that OK,” he said.
Reckart said the three had a lot of fun, but “wouldn’t give a plugged nickel to do it again.” After the three came back from overseas, they remained buddies all through life and followed different career paths. Reckart said thankfully, they did not end up involved in the Korean War (1950-’53) which was going on when they returned home.
Reckart said he is grateful for his friends and all the time they’ve been lucky enough to spend together. Rhodes said it is a joyful day when he’s able to spend it with his two nearly lifelong friends. Livengood also said he felt great sharing the occasion with his buddies.
“I just thank the Lord to give us another day alive,” he said.
