Editing Gene Roddenberry (section)

==Early life and career==
{{main|Early life and career of Gene Roddenberry}}
[[File:Gene Roddenberry 1939.JPG|thumb|left|upright|Roddenberry during his senior year of high school at LA Franklin High. (1939)]]
Gene Roddenberry was born on August 19, 1921, in his parents' rented home in El Paso, Texas, the first child of Eugene Edward Roddenberry and Caroline "Glen" ({{nee|Golemon}}) Roddenberry.<ref>[[#alexander1995|Alexander (1995)]]: p. 10</ref> The family moved to Los Angeles in 1923 after Gene's father passed the civil service test and was given a police commission there.<ref>[[#alexander1995|Alexander (1995)]]: pp. 15–17</ref> During his childhood, Roddenberry was interested in reading, especially [[pulp magazine]]s,<ref name=alexander34>[[#alexander1995|Alexander (1995)]]: p. 34</ref> and was a fan of stories such as ''[[John Carter of Mars]]'', ''[[Tarzan]]'', and the ''[[Skylark (series)|Skylark]]'' series by [[E. E. Smith]].<ref name=alexander37>[[#alexander1995|Alexander (1995)]]: p. 37</ref>

Roddenberry majored in [[police science]] at [[Los Angeles City College]],<ref name=alexander48>[[#alexander1995|Alexander (1995)]]: p. 48</ref>{{refn|Studio biographies have erroneously credited Roddenberry as taking pre-law at Los Angeles City College, before switching to a major in engineering at the UCLA.<ref>[[#alexander1995|Alexander (1995)]]: p. 47</ref>|group="n"}} where he began dating Eileen-Anita Rexroat and became interested in [[aeronautical engineering]].<ref name=alexander48/> He obtained a [[pilot licensing and certification|pilot's license]] through the [[United States Army Air Corps]]-sponsored [[Civilian Pilot Training Program]].<ref name=alexander49>[[#alexander1995|Alexander (1995)]]: p. 49</ref> He enlisted with the USAAC on December 18, 1941<ref>{{cite web|title=World War II Army Enlistment Records Transcription|url=http://search.findmypast.com/record?id=usm%2fwwarmyenlist%2f2020307|publisher=[[Findmypast]]|access-date=April 28, 2015|url-access=subscription }}</ref> and married Eileen on June 13, 1942.<ref>[[#alexander1995|Alexander (1995)]]: pp. 54–55</ref> He graduated from the USAAC on August 5, 1942, when he was commissioned as a [[second lieutenant]].<ref name=alex59>[[#alexander1995|Alexander (1995)]]: pp. 59–61</ref>

He was posted to [[Bellows Field]], Oahu, to join the [[394th Bomb Squadron]], [[5th Bombardment Group]], of the [[Thirteenth Air Force]], which flew the [[Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress]].<ref>[[#alexander1995|Alexander (1995)]]: pp. 62–63</ref>

On August 2, 1943, while flying B-17E-BO, ''41-2463'', "Yankee Doodle", out of [[Espiritu Santo]], the plane Roddenberry was piloting overran the runway by {{convert|500|ft|m}} and crashed into trees, crushing the nose and starting a fire as well as killing two men: bombardier Sgt. John P. Kruger and navigator Lt. Talbert H. Woolam.<ref name=alexander82>[[#alexander1995|Alexander (1995)]]: pp. 81–82</ref> The official report absolved Roddenberry of any responsibility.<ref name=alexander82/> Roddenberry spent the remainder of his military career in the United States<ref name=alexander83>[[#alexander1995|Alexander (1995)]]: p. 83</ref> and flew all over the country as a plane crash investigator. He was involved in a second plane crash, this time as a passenger.<ref name=alexander83/> He was awarded the [[Distinguished Flying Cross (United States)|Distinguished Flying Cross]] and the [[Air Medal]].<ref>[[#hamilton2007|Hamilton (2007)]]: p. 14</ref>

In 1945, Roddenberry began flying for [[Pan American World Airways]],<ref name=alex85/> including routes from New York to Johannesburg or Calcutta, the two longest Pan Am routes at the time.<ref name=alex85>[[#alexander1995|Alexander (1995)]]: p. 85</ref> Listed as a resident of [[River Edge, New Jersey]], he experienced his third crash while on the [[Pan Am Flight 121|Clipper ''Eclipse'']] on June 18, 1947.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Freeze|first1=Christopher|title=Clipper Eclipse|url=http://www.check-six.com/Crash_Sites/ClipperEclipse-NC88845.htm|website=Check-Six.com|access-date=September 6, 2016|url-status=live|archive-date=24 September 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160924104855/http://www.check-six.com/Crash_Sites/ClipperEclipse-NC88845.htm}}</ref> The plane came down in the [[Syrian Desert]], and Roddenberry, who took control as the ranking flight officer, suffered two [[Rib fracture|broken ribs]] but was able to drag injured passengers out of the burning plane and led the group to get help.<ref>[[#alexander1995|Alexander (1995)]]: pp. 91–95</ref> Fourteen (or fifteen)<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=gL9scSG3K_gC&dat=19470620&printsec=frontpage&hl=en "Clipper Plane Crash Kills 14"], ''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette'', June 20, 1947, p4</ref> people died in the crash; eleven passengers required hospital treatment (including [[Bishnu Charan Ghosh]]), and eight were unharmed.<ref>[[#alexander1995|Alexander (1995)]]: pp. 97–98</ref> Roddenberry resigned from Pan Am on May 15, 1948, and decided to pursue his dream of writing, particularly for the new medium of television.<ref name=alex103>[[#alexander1995|Alexander (1995)]]: pp. 103–104</ref>

Roddenberry applied for a position with the [[Los Angeles Police Department]] on January 10, 1949,<ref>[[#alexander1995|Alexander (1995)]]: p. 110</ref> and spent his first sixteen months in the traffic division before being transferred to the newspaper unit.<ref>[[#alexander1995|Alexander (1995)]]: p. 114</ref> That became the Public Information Division, and Roddenberry became the Chief of Police's speech writer.<ref name="Alexander 1995 p. 115">[[#alexander1995|Alexander (1995)]]: p. 115</ref> In this position, he also became the LAPD liaison to the very popular ''[[Dragnet (franchise)|Dragnet]]'' television series, providing technical advisors for specific episodes.  He also did his first TV writing for the show, taking actual cases, and boiling them down to short screen treatments that would be fleshed out into full scripts by [[Jack Webb|Jack Webb's]] staff of writers, and splitting the fee with the officers who actually investigated the real-life case. He became then technical advisor for a new television version of ''[[Mr. District Attorney]]'', which led to him writing for the show under his pseudonym "Robert Wesley".<ref>[[#alexander1995|Alexander (1995)]]: pp. 135–137</ref> He began to collaborate with [[Ziv Television Programs]]<ref>[[#alexander1995|Alexander (1995)]] p. 145</ref> and continued to sell scripts to ''Mr. District Attorney'', in addition to Ziv's ''[[Highway Patrol (U.S. TV series)|Highway Patrol]]''. In early 1956, he sold two story ideas for ''[[I Led Three Lives]]'', and he found that it was becoming increasingly difficult to be a writer and a policeman.<ref name=alex148>[[#alexander1995|Alexander (1995)]]: p. 148</ref> On June 7, 1956, he resigned from the force to concentrate on his writing career.<ref name=alex151>[[#alexander1995|Alexander (1995)]]: p. 151</ref>