Education and Military Service
Faulk enrolled in the University of Texas in 1932. He became a protégé of J. Frank Dobie, Walter Prescott Webb, and Roy Bedichek, enabling Faulk to hone his skills as a folklorist. He earned a Master's degree in Folklore, with his thesis "Ten Negro Sermons". He further began to craft his oratory style as a part-time English teacher at the University 1940–1942, relating Texas folk tales peppered with his gift of character impersonations.
He was originally unfit for service with the United States Army, due to an eye problem. In 1942, Faulk joined the Merchant Marine for a one-year stint. In 1943, Faulk spent the year in Cairo, Egypt serving the American Red Cross. World War II had caused the United States Army to relax its enlistment standards, and Faulk enlisted in 1944, serving at Camp Swift, Texas as a medic. It was during this time period Faulk also joined the American Civil Liberties Union.
Read more about this topic: John Henry Faulk
Famous quotes containing the words education, military and/or service:
“Meantime the education of the general mind never stops. The reveries of the true and simple are prophetic. What the tender poetic youth dreams, and prays, and paints today, but shuns the ridicule of saying aloud, shall presently be the resolutions of public bodies, then shall be carried as grievance and bill of rights through conflict and war, and then shall be triumphant law and establishment for a hundred years, until it gives place, in turn, to new prayers and pictures.”
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“Let not the tie be mercenary, though the service is measured in money. Make yourself necessary to somebody. Do not make life hard to any.”
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