Montie joined the Army Air Corps in 1 Nov 1942, not so much because of "duty to his country," but because, at 34-years-old, he was going to eventually be drafted [the draft had originally considered him too old."]

When World War II began Montie C Rowe and his wife Elizabeth May Eubank decided to play a game of gin rummy to a million points.Elizabeth forgot how far they had proceeded by August 1945, but she recalled that she was 17,000 points ahead at the time.

Montie was in the Quartermaster Corps (issuing military ordnance), so he always got first pick at uniforms, etc. His uniforms were always first line, and Elizabeth altered them to fit, so he always looked especially well-tailored in his uniforms. He was originally given the duty of loading bombs, a duty which permanently injured his back. One day a call for him came through from the base shoe-repair shop. A boot stitcher was broken and no one knew how to fix it. One of the soldiers remembered that Montie had had experience with this machine and called for him.

When he arrived at the shop, he discovered that the "problem" was a simple broken needle. However, he tinkered and played with the machine for quite a while before "miraculously" getting it to work. He was forthwith transferred to the Quartermaster corps and mad head of the repair shop. Because all of the other soldiers working there were much younger than he (and of higher rank sometimes), Montie was promoted and eventually became a Tech Sgt (3 up, 2 down).

Late on the night on Christmas Eve 1944 Elizabeth was alone in her room as Montie worked late at the base (Webb Air Force Base, Big Spring, Texas). It was cold and her only heat source was a radiator in the room which barely worked.She was wrapped in only a cotton house robe. Cold and alone, she turned on the radio. She listened as a band played “Silent Night,” and she cried herself to sleep.

When the end of the war came in August 1945, Montie was already on a train bound for San Francisco, California, the disembarkation point for the Pacific. He was called back before embarking.

Montie and Elizabeth were stationed at Webb Air Force Base in Big Spring, Texas, a school for bombardiers. Montie recalled seeing the pilot and navigator of bombers carrying in the Norden bomb site from the planes at the end of the day’s practice.Each one carried a side arm intended to destroy the bomb site if it were compromised.The Norden bomb site was one of the best kept secrets of WWII.

The favorite pastime of people during WWII was movies.Contrary to modern “escapism” movies, they were especially fond of movies about the war.