Dad was 11 years of age when the United States became fully engaged in World War II. Within a few months most of the working age men had gone to train and serve in the Military and many other men and women changed careers to work in the defense industry. As a result, young David found himself in high demand to join the workforce. I believe he first worked with his disabled Uncle delivering the bundled newspapers to vendors, the timeline isn't so clear. Later when he was a bit older, he worked at a pharmacy in downtown Tacoma and told of the "Coca-Cola Addicts" that waited for the store to open to buy a case of the beverage (he hinted at the notion that these addicts may have believed it still had Coca leaf in it even though it is said to have been removed from the recipe in 1903, some 40 years earlier). He had a friend around his same age who was a young Horn Virtuoso. In those days, this friend would sometimes get Dave to tag along after work and go to the Jazz clubs where he was performing. This was when he was between 13 and 15 years of age. It was obvious that these were some very fond memories for Dad.
Vernon Johnson