Editing James Dickey (section)

==Early years==
Dickey was born to lawyer Eugene Dickey and Maibelle Swift in [[Atlanta, Georgia]], where he attended [[North Fulton High School (Georgia)|North Fulton High School]] in Atlanta's [[Buckhead]] neighborhood.{{r|LATimes_Obit_1997}} After graduation from North Fulton High in 1941, Dickey completed a postgraduate year at [[Darlington School]] in Rome, Georgia. Dickey asked to be dismissed from the Darlington rolls in a 1941 letter to the principal, deeming the school the most "disgusting combination of cant, hypocrisy, cruelty, class privilege and inanity I have ever since encountered at any human institution."{{r|Hart_2000|pages=[https://archive.org/details/jamesdickeyworld00hart/page/47/ 47{{en dash}}51]|quote= I was there one year, and a more disgusting combination of cant, hypocrisy, cruelty, class privilege and inanity I have never since encountered at any human institution. The school is such an insipid place that it really shouldn't call forth reactions as strong as the above, but when the functionaries of a place whose memory I so thoroughly detest come to me, quite literally, hat in hand, asking me for money to help ''support'' such a bastion of snobbery and privilege, such emotions do arise, perhaps unfortunately but quite authentically.}} In 1942, he enrolled at [[Clemson University|Clemson Agricultural College of South Carolina]] and played on the football team as a tailback. After one semester, he left school to enlist in the military. During [[World War II]], Dickey served with the [[United States Army Air Forces|U.S. Army Air Forces]], where he flew thirty-eight missions in the Pacific{{nbsp}}Theater as a [[Northrop P-61 Black Widow|P-61 Black Widow]] radar operator with the [[418th Tactical Fighter Training Squadron|418th Night Fighter Squadron]], an experience that influenced his work, and for which he was awarded five [[Bronze star|Bronze Stars]].{{r|Dickey_2005_P61|page=[https://archive.org/details/onevoiceofjamesd00dick/page/2/mode/1up 2]}} He later served in the [[United States Air Force|U.S. Air Force]] during the [[Korean War]]. Between the wars, he attended [[Vanderbilt University]], where he was elected to [[Phi Beta Kappa]] and graduated ''[[magna cum laude]]'' with a degree in English and philosophy (as well as minoring in astronomy) in 1949. He also received an M.A. in English from Vanderbilt in 1950.