"He was pretty much a footlocker guy."

Richard C. Collins' description of fellow radio operator Johnny Cash when they were both stationed in Landsberg, Germany from 1952-54 while serving with the U.S. Air Force's 6912th Radio Squadron Mobile. Their job was intercepting messages transmitted from Russian aircraft. From today's absolutely riveting piece in the Charlottesville Daily Progress by its finest writer, David Maurer. Alas, the Progress is called the "Regress" for a reason: its articles take days, weeks, or forever to get online, and this one's no exception. Too bad, 'cause this piece could run on op-ed pages nationwide, it's that good. More:

"'Johnny and I were good friends,' said Collins, professor of urban environment planning in the architecture school at the University of Virginia. 'We worked the same trick [shift] and, as radio operators, we had positions just a few feet apart. We were the guys who copied the Morse code messages. Johnny was an excellent radio operator, one of our best. He didn't drink much, but I remember he was always stoked on coffee and cigarettes. He was pretty much a footlocker guy, meaning he spent a lot of time sitting on his footlocker, learning how to play the guitar.'"

"After graduating from Dyess High School in Dyess, Arkansas in 1950, Cash went to work at the Fisher auto body plant in Pontiac, Michigan, where he lasted only one month. He hightailed it back home and on July 7, 1950 enlisted in the Air Force for four years. After going through basic training and radio school at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas, he was sent to Germany, where he met Collins."

"'In those days Johnny was Mr. Clean,' Collins said. 'He was pretty much a barracks guy as opposed to a traveling guy who wanted to go places and see things. His closest friends were guys from Arkansas and Tennessee who helped him learn how to play the guitar. It was clear that even though he wasn't the experienced musician, he was the talented one. Even then his voice was distinctive and there was a certain charisma about him.'"

"Collins remembers Cash as a guy who was constantly writing poems and making sketches. One of his drawings was so popular it hung on the walls of the barracks for months. 'The drawing was titled "Custer's Last Stand,"' Collins said. 'He had drawn a picture of this mound of dirt with some bleached bones around it. Rising up out of the mound was this single digit. The drawing was kind of typical of his sense of humor. I have sometimes wondered what happened to it. It was the only thing I can recall being on the wall. He must have signed it. It would make a great piece of memorabilia now, but it probably just got thrown out in the trash.'"

"Collins said,'One of my fondest memories of him is sitting with his buddies on those footlockers, strumming his guitar, playing around and shooting the bull.'" After Cash was sent back home and discharged, Collins never saw him again.

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