After his preliminary education at Spray and Woodbury Forrest School at
Orange, Virginia, he spent a year in the University of North Carolina,
and in 1912 went to the University of Virginia, from which he received
the degree of bachelor of science in 1916. He was active in athletics,
and a member of the D.K.E. and other organizations. He was with the
Leaksville Woolen Mills at Spray, when he enlisted in the First North
Carolina Field Artillery (113th) as a private, and had been promoted to
Sergeant at Camp Sevier, Greenville, South Carolina, when he decided to
enter the air service, upon which he declined a commission, went to Park
Field, Memphis, and, after training, was commissioned Second Lieutenant,
receiving a pilot's license on March 22, 1918. He was soon detailed as an
instructor at the field at Americus, Georgia, in which capacity he served
until the armistice.