Personal Military Photos and Memories

[cvairwerks]

Yep, KTRK-TV, Ch 13 there in Houston. I don't recognize the name. I remember the bombing, I think I was up in our lab kicked back, pulling holiday duty, as the one single guy in the group.

I worked for Jim Truelove, and directly for Sam Browne, there in NYC. Orlando Burgos was my running buddy up there, over on the Network Operations side of the house. Longest remote I ever did was the Faulklands War. Spend most of it in the UK doing sat uplinking or over at 10 Downing supporting a crew there. Killer money, but way screwy hours.

 

[PBPICS]

67 & Columbus. 7 Lincoln Sq… ABC/WABC from '80 through 2007, long enough to earn a Tinkerbell. Not long enough to have gotten a Rolex or 3/4 healthcare in retirement. But who cares…the experiences and the amazing life that I had in the field…I would have paid them (shh don't tell anybody)

Yep, KTRK-TV, Ch 13 there in Houston. I don't recognize the name. I remember the bombing, I think I was up in our lab kicked back, pulling holiday duty, as the one single guy in the group.

I worked for Jim Truelove, and directly for Sam Browne, there in NYC. Orlando Burgos was my running buddy up there, over on the Network Operations side of the house. Longest remote I ever did was the Faulklands War. Spend most of it in the UK doing sat uplinking or over at 10 Downing supporting a crew there. Killer money, but way screwy hours.

I remember Trulove. I think I even remember Orlando too. There were so many big remotes during my 27 years there. First really big and infamous was John Lennon's assassination in front of the Dakota Apartments in 1980. I spent 3 days among multiple locations from outside the Dakotas as he was being put in the squad car, to the hospital, to the pct back to the Dakotas where we did live shots for everyone, east coast, west coast, World News, Nightline, local stations from NYC to California. One of the things that I remember is the restaurant that was next to our truck…coffee and the rest room. Another multi day was Pan Am Flight 800. Spent 3 days in Long Island, the Claus con Buelow trial in Providence, RI that was 3 months. There was a movie made called Reversal of Fortune. Jeremy Irons played Claus, when my wife and I first saw the film we had white knuckles because Irons became Claus. My wife was my reporter, we worked together for almost 5 years. As I mentioned…sooo many!

 

[Thumpalumpacus]

Christmas 1961
It was the day before Christmas in Babenhausen, a small town south of Frankfurt and I had drawn "CQ"- Charge of Quarters. At noon I went on duty in our Corporal missile detachment's orderly room so now I was in charge of everything, including signing out everyone who was going off- post for visiting, partying, or Christmas shopping. One by one they came in that afternoon to sign out, most going into town but some going as far as Aschaffenburg or even Frankfurt but everyone was required to sign in by ten o'clock that evening.
I turned on the radio in the orderly room to listen to AFN Frankfurt playing Christmas carols. This was a big Zenith Trans-Oceanic that we all had clustered around to listen to live broadcasts of Project Mercury rocket launches. Being guided missile men we felt a special kinship to those at Cape Canaveral. Throughout the day on the hour AFN would announce "It is now Christmas in Guam" or wherever, advancing around the globe toward us in Germany.
Soon the sky was dark and as the evening wore on it became colder. In central Europe the climate in winter is cold and damp- the kind of cold that even my field jacket didn't keep out. Our unit work area was an old World War One cavalry building and the heating system was provided by a steam boiler but the German maintenance man went off duty early and without more coal the heat dwindled slowly away to nothing. I wished I had zipped in my field jacket liner but it was too late, that was back in my locker in our barracks.
Slowly the men began to straggle back to sign in. A few staggered in, a bit worse for wear from Michaelsbrau, the local brew. By ten o'clock everyone had returned, signed in, and headed for the barracks and bed. All over the kaserne things began to quiet down. No sound except the radio playing softly. Sitting at the First Sergeant's desk, I tried to stay awake. Sleeping on CQ duty is a serious offense but I also had to be alert enough to pick up the phone promptly if a call came in. Sure enough, the phone rang "157th Ordnance Detachment, Spec 4 Albaugh speaking" and the response was "This is an Alert, authenticate xxxxxxx". I guess someone up the chain of command was making sure that even on Christmas Eve we were ready to go to war. Our mission was to defend the Fulda Gap, named for a small town located on the East-West German border where a Soviet armored attack would probably pass through. At that time the Fulda Gap was the most dangerous place in the world; both East and West had an untold number of nuclear weapons trained on Fulda. Fortunately, the call was only a communications exercise- no real alert and I could hang up the phone and relax.
The time slowly passed, sitting there behind the desk in the semi-darkness trying to stay warm and awake. My feet were cold so I got up and walked into the workshop area where we had our 5-ton operations van, X-15, Captain Hamilton's jeep, and the arms room where our M14 rifles and a stock of fragmentation grenades were kept. We also were issued thermite grenades that even burned steel. If we fired all of our missiles, we would destroy everything and be used as riflemen.
I walked to the orderly room door and opened it to get a breath of fresh air to help stay awake. It had begun to snow! Big soft flakes of snow fell onto the rounded cobblestones outside and slowly melted, the wet stones reflecting the white light of a star that had been placed on the kaserne's water tower. There was no sound at all, everything was perfectly quiet as the snow fell. As I stood there alone in the doorway I thought of my family, thousands of miles away, probably still sleeping soundly in their warm beds, safe and sound. I prayed that it would always be so.
I turned to close the door and glanced at my watch. It was just past 12 midnight.

It was Christmas, the loneliest one I ever experienced.

If you're not a writer, you should be. In a thread devoted to photos, your post, devoid of pictures, painted one in my head all the same.

 

[manta22]

If you're not a writer, you should be. In a thread devoted to photos, your post, devoid of pictures, painted one in my head all the same.

You are too kind. Being an engineer, I wrote lots of reports, instructions, and data sheets but none of those even made "The Readers" Digest".

 

[special ed]

NAVY SHOES:
The grey wet winter, where glue and paint don't dry on balsa models, has allowed reflections/thoughts of an old man on events of his youth, that those of military background might understand. Because I wanted to fly since age 12, and of course be a fighter pilot, the creation of the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1956 at Peterson Field, Colorado, became a goal. Before that, in 1955, I joined the Civil Air Patrol as a cadet, which provided the means to learn the military way, proper uniform wear, drill etc. The Kahki uniforms and black dress shoes, collar brass insignia were bought from Abe's Surplus. Eventually a second pair of shoes was need for National drill competition. These were spit shined to excess over the normal shoes. This was long before the patent leather uniform dress shoes appeared. All these shoes were USN surplus which were very slightly different from USAF shoes and were made in Poland which I thought unusual in 1955. Some may remember small tubes of liquid named "Spit-Shine" sold on or near bases. These second shoes were only worn during actual competition. June 29,1959, I reported to the newly finished permanent USAFA near Colorado Springs. The drill shoes came with me in two pairs of heavy wool socks. The first days there are learning trivia, military knowledge, and basically every thing I learned as a CAP Cadet for the previous three years. In ranks, the First Classmen (Class of 1960) acted as drill instructors to the "dooleys" (Fourth Classmen, class of 1963). The First Classmen were especially unpleasant because they were held over due to deficient grades in their last year and did retakes that summer. My first five days in ranks had gone fairly well since most of the other "dooleys" had no idea what was happening to them and they attracted the attention. However, the fifth day Cadet Jon Day walked around each man and when he bent down to examine my shoes, yells, "Mister, what kind of shoes are those?"
"Sir, those are Navy shoes."
"Gimme twenty"
Fortunately, I had five days to prepare the issue shoes with the "Spit-Shine" I brought with me.
Any curious about my AF reserve duty, the commitment at appointment to the Academy is for a six year term. Since I failed differential equations and analytical calculus, I was separated from active duty and assigned to the USAF Reserve.
I would have been a great fighter pilot, except for my grades.
LOL

 

[Greg Boeser]

Manta22's mention of FNGs reminds me of my FNG moment.
I was reporting in to my first permanent duty station after 2 years of passing through several training bases. It was a hot summer day in Ft Stewart, GA and after getting directions from the gate guard, I parked my car, grabbed my orders and bustled at my accustomed quick time pace toward the battalion offices. As I approached the building, a large, rather rotund, black E7 emerged, saw me and said: "Soldier! Where you goin' in such a hurry?"
I pulled up to attention. "Sergeant! Specialist Boeser reporting for duty with Alpha Company, 124th MI!"
He looked me up and down. "Where you from?"
"Sergeant! Minnesota, sergeant!"
He nodded thoughtfully.
"Boy, you need to slooow down. You gonna kill yourself!" And with that he moseyed off.

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

Manta22's mention of FNGs reminds me of my FNG moment.
I was reporting in to my first permanent duty station after 2 years of passing through several training bases. It was a hot summer day in Ft Stewart, GA and after getting directions from the gate guard, I parked my car, grabbed my orders and bustled at my accustomed quick time pace toward the battalion offices. As I approached the building, a large, rather rotund, black E7 emerged, saw me and said: "Soldier! Where you goin' in such a hurry?"
I pulled up to attention. "Sergeant! Specialist Boeser reporting for duty with Alpha Company, 124th MI!"
He looked me up and down. "Where you from?"
"Sergeant! Minnesota, sergeant!"
He nodded thoughtfully.
"Boy, you need to slooow down. You gonna kill yourself!" And with that he moseyed off.

That's how I felt when I got to my first unit in Germamy after graduating AIT. There were three of us that arrived that day. Our unit was in the field , but platoon Sergeant was back at the airfield at the time. I was still gung ho after going through basic and AIT. I soon realized Aviation is much more layed back.

Our platoon Sergeant took us to the barracks to let us get settled in. A few hours later in the evening he comes back by to check on us. After a few minutes he was like "Something is wrong here. Follow me." "Yes Sergeant!" We jumped up and ran after him. We walked down the street to the Class 6 and he bought us a rack of German beer and took us back to the barracks. "Welcome to Germany."

 

[Thumpalumpacus]

You are too kind. Being an engineer, I wrote lots of reports, instructions, and data sheets but none of those even made "The Readers" Digest".

I write as a hobby, and am an avid reader. What you wrote was damned good. It conveyed experience, imagery, and most importantly emotion. Getting all three into one piece is much more difficult than it sounds, and you did exactly that.

 

[PBPICS]

I write as a hobby, and am an avid reader. What you wrote was damned good. It conveyed experience, imagery, and most importantly emotion. Getting all three into one piece is much more difficult than it sounds, and you did exactly that.

Amen!

 

[DBII]

No, they were concerned about liability! What our instructor did do was show us a film of a tethered goat exposed to nerve gas…the poor goat only lasted a few seconds. That was … an eye opener, a wake-up call, a scare the heck out of us moment, ergo…getting our hazmat suits on in record time. Thankfully we never needed to
"go" towards…

I got tagged to be the NBC officer as an additional duty while in Germany. I scored a free 2 weeks outside of Nuremberg for a school. We watched several black and white films on the events of different agents on animals. Also information from WWI and film showing the results of the bomb drops on Japan. Very intense stuff. The highlight was practicing using the decontamination equipment. Since it was the spring, it ended up being a wet Tshirt contest for the females in the class.

 

[manta22]

Reinforced Concrete Building Near Atom Center, Hiroshima 1948.

 

[NVSMITH]

-Here's a tale (TANS) of when I was in the armament platoon of a helicopter company long, long, ago and far, far, away.
-In addition to working on the small arms and rocket systems we were also responsible for storing and issuing ammunition. Most of the stuff was kept in CONEX containers, These were steel shipping containers that were used to get most of our equipment from Ft Knox to the Delta. They were about 6' wide, something over 6' high and around 8' long. They had locking doors and were pretty weather resistant if intact. They were also HOT so we placed pallets sideways around them and then piled sandbags alongside the pallets. The ventilation through the pallets helped.
-We also stored ammo for some detachments in our area: advisors, MAAG houses, Special Forces (SF) compounds, etc. I got detailed to do an inventory of the non-unit CONEXs; a real fun way to spend a few days. One CONEX resulted in an immediate call to the Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) guys as it was full of British stuff left over from when the Brits moved into IndoChina to take the surrender of the Japanese and hold the fort until the politicians decided what to do with the French colonies. In addition to .303 ammo we had mortar ammo and grenades. Some of the stuff was WW2 White Phosphorus, now at least a dozen years old and residing in a tropical climate. The EOD guys were NOT amused; at least they couldn't blame us.
-It was one of the SF CONEXs that provided the biggest thrill. I cracked it open and was dumbfounded: explosives and detonators in the same CONEX!! Looking further I found a case of satchel charges. These are fabric bags containing blocks of explosives linked together with detonating cord and a friction igniter: put a blasting cap on the end of the fuse, stick the cap into a block of explosive, tie the bag shut, pull the igniter and get rid of the thing quickly as most of the fuses run about 8 seconds. As with hand grenades, once the pin is pulled, Mr. Satchel charge is no longer your friend.
-These were older satchel charges. I could tell because they had blocks of military TNT instead of the more modern Composition C4. Korean War maybe?
-I found something else interesting: mice, or rats, like to eat TNT. Yup. There weren't any nests in the cases but multiple blocks had been chewed and there were droppings all over the place.
-I didn't bother inspecting anything else or attempt to inventory the CONEX. I called for the Captain who was allegedly our leader/supervisor and showed him what I discovered. He turned pale and scurried to his Jeep saying: "Take care of that, Smith!" Great guy; he is one of the two officers I based my later leadership style on. Whatever those guys would do, I did the opposite (I hope...).
-Phone calls in Vietnam were fun. (No radios near explosives.) I finally got an SF supply Sgt and asked him to meet me; couldn't say why over the phone. He made it out later that day, said a few choice words in languages I'd never heard, and asked me to help do a little safety stuff. We found an inventory sheet and removed the number of blasting caps that the sheet said were in the CONEX. We moved them over to a burn pit and GENTLY put sandbags over them. The Sgt left but came back the next day with a couple of trucks and some men to unload the CONEX, sort the types of explosives for segregation on the trucks, and drove off to who knows where. SF never stored stuff with us after that.
-The Captain came back two days later. I don't think he was happy being in a combat zone.

 

[Thumpalumpacus]

-I found something else interesting: mice, or rats, like to eat TNT. Yup. There weren't any nests in the cases but multiple blocks had been chewed and there were droppings all over the place.

Their farts had to be most interesting.

 

[manta22]

I don't think I've mentioned this before, but if so, I apologize for the duplication.

In 1962 our missile unit was stationed in an old WW I German cavalry Kaserne in Babenhausen. We received a FNG transferred into our unit due to a typographical error on his orders. A clerk typist had transposed two numbers in his MOS so that a small arms repairman became a missile guidance repairman! Bill Dolan was an older guy who was "prior service", having been formerly in the USMC as well as Army so he was pretty much on his own while waiting for the paperwork to be resolved.

It quickly became clear that Bill had artistic talent and that he never forgot a joke that he had ever heard in his life. I had taken some pictures and had picked up the prints from the PX but made the mistake of leaving them laying in the day room. Bill got a hold of my pictures and added captions; some will be funny, others... well, you had to be there to understand what he was talking about.

Bill made up a very well drawn poster with a painted can sitting in front. That poster showed an innocent cherub-faced baby sitting with the skeletal hand of Death reaching out to touch him. The title said "GIVE! Stamp out the dreaded childhood killer Enuresis!" Quite a few $ were collected by sympathetic troops until someone looked up that word- it was "bed-wetting".

Bill went on serving in the Army and apparently went to Viet Nam, as I have seen his drawings in military publications from that era. I lost track of him a long time ago, but if you ever read this, Bill- here's to ya pal!

 

[manta22]

A few more...

 

[manta22]

Here is another little military tidbit. I just read a hand-written letter from my great-grandfather written in 1862, and transcribed it so it's easier to read.

He was Watson Morgan Bunten, from French Creek, WV but served in the 40th Illinois Volunteer Infantry. He was wounded at Shiloh and again at Missionary Ridge in Chattanooga. He was First Sergeant and later a Lieutenant. The brother he refers to, James, died in Andersonville later in the War.

One thing that struck me is his saying that they had not been paid since December 1861- almost a whole year!

Letter to Sarah November 24, 1862

Dear Sister Sarah I received your kind letter a few days since and will scratch a few lines to you tonight as we will leave here soon. I was glad to hear your health was good also to hear the boys stood soldiering so well. I will write to James the first opportunity. O how I wish I could see them again. I am glad that Loomis is their Capt for I think him one of the best young men in the service. I wish I had him for my Capt. I have not been paid since last December and consequently am out of money and stamps so I shall mail this franked and send it as I believe you should rather pay three cents than not get a letter from your soldier brother. This is the second letter that I have had franked since I came out but I may have to get more if we are not paid soon. It will be bad on us to march without any money but I suppose we will be provided for in some way. Write soon and direct as you have been doing and they will follow up. Give my respects to all the friends and tell Uncle A I have not forgotten him. I must close this is the third letter that I have written tonight.

From your brother
Sarah Moore W M Bunten

 

[manta22]

Another Civil War letter from my great Grandfather. He refers to having been seriously wounded at Shiloh. His unease about his brother Walter was well-founded; Walter was later captured and died in Andersonville.

Fort Pickering Memphis Tenn Oct 14th 1862

Dear Sister

Your ever welcome letter came to hand a few days since and I improve the present opportunity to answer it. You've found me in poor health as I have been for some time. I do not have any disease but have a part of many which creates general debility. I have done but little duty since I returned to the army and fear I shall not be able to perform much soon. My wound at times is quite painful but there is no indications of its breaking out again ------ I think it will. I am glad to hear that the great panic caused by Jenkins has in some measure subsided and sincerely hope the cause may not happen again be found among you but should it prove yourself to be not only the Mother of a Soldier and stick to your home. I am glad the boys have shown that they are willing to fight for our gallant old flag yet they are quite young to be thrown up on the world and exposed to camp life. No one who has never been a soldier really knows the amount of fortitude necessary to resist all the evil influences brought to bear against the soldier.

Written on the vertical edge of the letter: Please send the enclosed to Margaret M.

Page 2:

Many thanks dear sister for the little bunch of flowers sent in your letter. O how I have sat and gazed at them trying to imagine who planted, cultivated and picked them. Was it you my sister or had one of those little pratlens that I imagine grown to be good sized girls since I saw them. Or were they cultivated by the hand of a stranger. These and many other thoughts have filled my mind as I looked on the --- lifeless flowers before me. We are hearing good news from the Western Army now Gen Rosecrans has utterly annihilated the combined forces of Price, Sevill and Van Dorn. One boat load of the prisoners were at the wharf here yesterday. I did not see them but the boys who did represent them in a deplorable condition. Many of them without other clothing than a shirt and pants, both of which were in tatters. None of theirs had shoes and many were bareheaded & they represent this as the condition of the entire army. We are expecting to hear of another great battle in Va. I was glad to hear from Walter as I felt very uneasy about him. You will excuse this short letter as I do not feel in a writing humor today. Give my respects to all inquiring friends. Write soon and believe me as ever your brother.

Sarah Moore Watson M Bunten

 

[DBII]

Wish I remember stores to tell. Guess I am old. Winter of 85, I got to escort a couple of Dallas Cowboys Cheer Leaders to OP Alpha for their VIP Tour. We road up in a TMP bus. They were taken around the OP and the Tower. Us Lts never got to do much more than make sure they got inside the 5k zone without any trouble.

Regt Boarder Ops did the actual VIP tours. I hung around the place and kept out of the way. The OP was a dull duty after your first rotation. The troops loved it as a two week vacation from insanity of the post. Anyway nothing exciting happened that trip and we returned to Fulda. The only thing I can tell you is the winter is cold and the cheerleaders uniform does not keep them warm in Germany. They smiled and laughed though it all. They enjoyed the attention they were getting. All the troopers where trying to get some time with them. It was me. the bus driver and their handler all the way back. Cannot remember anything about the handler. Wish I had my camera.

The next year I had to hang out with the USO group. Pictures somewhere. Two girls were unattached. We all went to the movies and to the pub. I saw my girlfriend's sister at the movie and one of the girls wanted to kiss me in front of the sister for fun. That would have gotten me into real trouble. O the life of a Cavalry officer.

 

[manta22]

Wish I remember stores to tell. Guess I am old. Winter of 85, I got to escort a couple of Dallas Cowboys Cheer Leaders to OP Alpha for their VIP Tour. We road up in a TMP bus. They were taken around the OP and the Tower. Us Lts never got to do much more than make sure they got inside the 5k zone without any trouble.

Regt Boarder Ops did the actual VIP tours. I hung around the place and kept out of the way. The OP was a dull duty after your first rotation. The troops loved it as a two week vacation from insanity of the post. Anyway nothing exciting happened that trip and we returned to Fulda. The only thing I can tell you is the winter is cold and the cheerleaders uniform does not keep them warm in Germany. They smiled and laughed though it all. They enjoyed the attention they were getting. All the troopers where trying to get some time with them. It was me. the bus driver and their handler all the way back. Cannot remember anything about the handler. Wish I had my camera.

The next year I had to hang out with the USO group. Pictures somewhere. Two girls were unattached. We all went to the movies and to the pub. I saw my girlfriend's sister at the movie and one of the girls wanted to kiss me in front of the sister for fun. That would have gotten me into real trouble. O the life of a Cavalry officer.

Good story, LT. "Guess I am old." ...probably not as old as I am. I can sympathize with its being cold in Fulda in the winter. When I was there, '62-'63 we never saw any cheerleaders or USO groups.

 

[ARTESH]

Some really cool memos! Thanks for sharing.