MY TIME IN THE US AIR FORCE 1965-1969

    This is a brief synopsis of my time in the US Air Force from 1965 to 1969.

   In 1962 when I was a freshman in high school I did my career portfolio on becoming an Air Force Officer. I “interviewed” John Sullivan, a friend from St Mary's (he was the assistant organist at the church) and cousin of Bobby Alton. John (or Jacky as I knew him) was in the Air Force ROTC at Duquesne at this time. I still have my portfolio and the Interview Sheet from John. He emphasized "leadership, and having a moral and honorable character" as requirements for success. Unfortunately, while in high school I never properly prepared myself for college, at least not from an academic point of view.

    The seed for entering the service came from my Dad's military service of which I was always very proud. While my initial intent was to go to college at Duquesne University, I came to realize this was not a good plan. My grades in high school were a strong C (well, maybe just a C) so I knew that I was not well prepared, nor did I really know what course of study I wanted to follow. I talked with my Dad and Mom about joining the service and they were very supportive. My Dad pointed out the training opportunities, particularly in the Air Force. And the GI Bill would be available when I got out. It was really a pretty easy decision

    At this time, 1965, young men coming out of high school had two choices. Go to college and get a 4-year deferment from the draft. Or go into the military. If drafted, one would go into the Army for 2-years, receive infantry training, and upon completing training do a likely tour in Vietnam. By enlisting one could chose the branch of service that you would enter. Enlistees into the Air Force and Navy would first receive specialty technical training, then be assigned to a stateside base to develop your technical skills, then possibly assigned overseas to complete your 4-year enlistment.

    I entered the Air Force on 16 August 1965 a couple months after graduating from St. Mary of the Mount High School.

    I remember my family and a couple friends being with me at the Pittsburgh airport on the day that I left for Basic Training at Lackland AFB in San Antonio Texas. While I had some fears about leaving home for the first time it was actually very exciting although I probably had little idea of what was ahead.

    I flew from Pittsburgh to Chicago, to Dallas and finally to San Antonio where I reported for my basic training at Lackland Air Force Base.  A lady who was sitting next to me on the plane struck up a conversation and wanted me to write to her daughter. She took this Polaroid photo and gave it to me. I don't think I ever wrote! 

    After about 4 weeks of Basic Training in San Antonio, Texas, I was assigned to Keesler AFB in Biloxi, Mississippi for Aircraft Radio and Radar Maintenance Specialist Training. Biloxi is located on the Mississippi gulf coast and was a good place to be stationed. It is 60 miles from New Orleans (to the west) and about 90 miles from Pensacola Beach FL (to the east). Our week-end passes were restricted to 100 miles from base.

    I made friends there quickly. One Saturday morning three of us decided to go to New Orleans for the weekend. Since no one in training had a car, we would hitchhiking from Biloxi to New Orleans for the week-end. One of the guys was Ken Cook who was from Richmond Virginia and had a heavy southern accent. I don't remember the other guy’s name but he was also from the south. Anyway, while just outside the base a guy stopped and we all jumped into the car only to find the guy was extremely drunk. We preceded down the road a short ways and came to the toll booth for US 90. The guy proceeded to drive through the toll gate then came to a stop. The three of us jumped out of the car, went back to the other side of the toll booth, and eventually got a less exciting ride across US 90 to New Orleans.

    At Keesler I was assigned to Radio and Radar maintenance training and eventually completed the 32 week program for an Aircraft Radio Repairman, Air Force Specialty Code (AFSC) 30130. I remember getting home on leave around Christmas, 1965, then flying back to New Orleans and taking a bus back over to Biloxi. The technical course required some study and the class and labs ran for 6 hours per day, 5 days a week. I was on the 6:00am to noon course - the various courses at Keesler ran over three shifts to support the large influx of people into the military at this time. I completed my course on 27 May 1966 and was assigned to the 1004th Communications & Electronics Maintenance Squadron at Andrews AFB in Camp Springs Maryland, just outside of Washington DC.

    Andrews AFB was a great place to be assigned, from June 1966 through May 1968. Rather than having open bay barracks as was the case at Lackland and Keesler, I was assigned to a room with two roommates, Ray Seese from Baltimore and Dave Robinson from Atlanta. Both were also Aircraft Radio repairmen so we also worked together. Ray and I became good friends and I often went home with him to visit his Mom and sister in Baltimore. "Robbie" was hardly ever around as he had relatives in Washington DC.  At Andrews I was assigned to flight-line duty, which meant that I worked on the aircraft, as opposed to working in the shop where you repaired the radio hardware. Flight-line duty was much more exciting than shop work. We would do pre-flight checks (of the aircraft communication systems) as well as post-flight maintenance after the aircraft returned and had reported a problem. But the most exciting part was when the pilot was already sitting in the aircraft, with engines running, and encountered a problem with the radio system. The job then was to quickly troubleshoot the problem. It generally required a removal and replacement of the faulty piece of hardware.  I worked on a variety of relatively small aircraft - mostly T-33 jet trainers, C-54 and C-118 cargo planes, the T-39 executive jet trainer and the U-3, which was a small utility aircraft. The mission at Andrews centered on travel needs for Pentagon personnel and allowing the flight officers working in Washington to get in their required flying time each month to maintain their proficiency rating.

    Another great thing about the assignment at Andrews was that our office (shop and flight-line office) was located next to the Air Force One (Presidential) hanger, as well as the four planes used as the Flying Command post. Just about every day I would see Air Force One (a VC-137, tail number 26000) parked a couple hundred yards away. When the president boarded the plane it was moved to another area but it was exciting to see it taxi to the runway and take off. Lyndon Johnson was president at the time. The 1001st Air Base Wing, then referred to as the Flying Command Post, also used this hanger across from us.  They had four C-135 aircraft (military version of the Boeing 707). One aircraft was always airborne with an officer having the secret codes in case of an attack on Washington. A second plane was always sitting just outside, near the taxi-way, ready to leave on a moment's notice. Needless to say there were plenty of armed security guards around the area.

    Outside of work I had lots of chances to get to know Washington DC and took advantage of it. I spent a lot of time in and around the city, including the Smithsonian, all the monuments, East Potomac Park, Georgetown, Arlington. It was also close enough to Pittsburgh, about a 6 hour drive, so that I could make trips home on a weekend. A neighborhood friend from Bigham Street, Jacky Bridgeman, was stationed at nearby Fort Meade so I would usually let him know when I was going to Pittsburgh and he would ride along with me. When my sister Carol and Doug got married (1966) I flew home from National Airport on a small plane. I remember having to use the 'vomit bag'. It was a bumpy flight.

    Around 1967 I got a part-time job working at the Safeway grocery store in Seat Pleasant, Maryland. This was just outside the district line. I worked part-time in the evenings and on Saturday's stocking shelves and running a cash register. Running the cash register and dispensing "green stamps" was great training for doing math in my head. I remember the pay was pretty good ($2.35/hour) as I had already belonged to the Retail Clerk Union from working at the Thorofare Store in Mt Washington when I was in high school.

Flight-line work was exciting and at times could be challenging. We rotated between day shift and afternoon shift. There were about 5 or 6 repairmen on each shift, along with a shift boss. Two people manned the shop on midnight shift but generally it only required babysitting in case of an unexpected call.  Each shop (radio, radar, instruments, engine, hydraulics etc.) basically worked out of a truck, each person carrying his own tool bag. The radio maintenance truck call sign was COMM 2 and the radar truck call was NAV 4. Urgent jobs were dispatched to us from Control Center. They would tell us the location and type of the aircraft (we had about 50-60 planes assigned there), brief description of the problem, and the level of urgency.

     So we would go to the location, get into the plane, talk to the pilot or crew chief to understand the problem. Then check it out ourselves. In this case the solution may just be to replace the headset, or possibly the problem was in the connector plug in which case we might find a broken wire that needed soldered. Once repaired you would always do a live check - i.e. call the radio tower and confirm the communication. Then you sign off the aircraft maintenance log [Form 781] and note the corrective action taken. Wave good-bye, jump back into the truck and on to the next job. It was a satisfying job!

    In addition to the urgent problems we also had a schedule of pre-flight checks and other scheduled maintenance to do. The urgent jobs generally came early morning when most aircraft was departing.  Sometimes they could be stressful when the problem solution was not obvious but there was usually a few more experienced guys around who could help.

    There was also a repair shop where the technicians worked day and night doing repairs and calibrations on the equipment. The repairs that we did were pretty basic as we had checklists and test kits that that pretty much guided you through the check-out and repair of the particular piece of equipment. Once certified, the repaired unit would then be put back into the supply stock so when the flight-line guys needed a unit quickly he could check one out of supply.

    Around the end of 1967 I decided it was time to move on so I volunteered for an overseas assignment. My friend Ray Seese had recently been re-assigned to Vietnam (Camranh Bay).  On 31 January 1968 I received my orders to report to the 54th Weather Reconnaissance Squadron at Andersen AFB in Guam.  After getting my shots and necessary security clearance, I went home for about a month leave, then traveled to Travis AFB near San Francisco from where I departed for Guam on 2 May 1968. Before departing, I did a couple tourist things in San Francisco, including the Japanese Gardens and a tour of an aircraft carrier that was in-port.  The trip over to Guam on a military charter was LONG with stops in Hawaii and Wake Island. You cross the International Date Line which also creates some confusion about what time or day it is.  Guam is in the Mariana Islands, 4 to 8 miles wide and about 32 miles long. The air base is located on the northern end of the island, with a very high cliff at the end to the sea. There is also a US Naval base on the southern end of the island.

    I made friends at Guam quickly. My roommates were Pete Bonney, who was from upper New York state, and Larry Weaver from Philadelphia. Both were Radar repairmen. Pete had a private pilot license and I eventually got a couple chances to fly around the island with Pete which was really great. 

    The picture below show Pete (white tee shirt) and Larry with uniform, inside our barracks room. Note the hurricane shutters on the window. And the next picture is a shot of me with the plane that I would fly around the island with Pete. 

 

    These next pictures were taken from a couple thousand feet. I don’t remember what parts of the island this top picture is but it shows one of the small villages. The bottom picture, taken from higher altitude, shows the northern half of the island. One can see the coral reef that partially surrounds the island. You can also see the transition to the deeper (darker) waters.

     

    Tech Sergeant Norman Marx was my supervisor in Guam. We became close friends during my 16-month overseas assignment. He and his wife, who was Thai, often invited me over for dinner on Sunday afternoons. They lived at on-base housing in Guam. We would cook out on the barbecue grill and we all enjoyed talking about Thailand. Mrs. Marx (I forget her first name) was from Bangkok and they had been married for a few years and had a young daughter. Because of my frequent trips to Thailand they often gave me a shopping list to pick up food items they could not get on Guam. Going to their house, which was on-base housing, was a very nice get-away from the barracks on Guam. 

    Sergeant Marx, who was from Wisconsin, encouraged me to attend college after my service time and to study engineering. He contrasted the technician role (as I was in the AF) with that of an engineer, and encourage me not to sell myself short. After getting out of the service and attending the associate degree program at Penn State to improve my skills, particularly in Math, I often thought of Sergeant Marx's advice and it encouraged me to look for the opportunity to move into the engineering program which I was able to do (at Pitt). I wish that I had kept in contact with Sergeant Marx after leaving the service if for no other reason than to thank him for his hospitality while I was in Guam. But also to thank him for his career advice for which I will always be grateful.

    I remember being in the radio shop at Guam the day the Apollo 11 crew landed on the moon. It was an eerie time being on a small island in the middle of the Pacific and knowing that men were walking on the moon which shined very brightly in the clearness of this remote island. Crew members from our Weather Reconnaissance Squadron, and from the Search & Rescue Squadron on Guam would fly missions at the recovery site when Apollo 11 returned to earth. The recovery was in the Pacific near American Samoa as I recall.

    The work in Guam was not all that memorable to me - we had nine C-130's, 6 E-models (WC-130E) and 3 A-models (WC-130A). The WC designation reflected the specific aircraft configuration which was for weather reconnaissance. Again in Guam I worked on the flight line doing pre-check and post-flight maintenance.  I don't remember being very busy there.  The most interesting part on Guam, aside from flights with Pete, was watching the huge, 8 engine B-52's taking off, fully loaded with bombs, on their way to Vietnam. It was referred to as Operation Arclight. The bombers had wheels at their wing tips so they would not hit the ground as the plane accelerated down the runway. There was a large fleet of B-52's on Guam, around 100 large bombers. They were from various Strategic Air Command (SAC) bases in the states. The personnel who supported the missions were TDY to Guam and lived in tents, close to the flight line. It was referred to as Tent City. The B-52s seemed to take-off and land all day and all night, every day. My barracks were within sight of the long runway at Guam and the engine noise from the bombers was continuous. Of course you get used to it after a while.

    The next group of pictures are also from Guam. Our barracks and a couple shots from the beach. The pictures don't do the beach justice. Pure white sand, coconut palm trees, coconut crabs, cliffs, and the blue pacific.

   

    One morning while getting ready to leave the barracks for breakfast there was a loud explosion and  thick plume of smoke rising from the north end of the runway. A B-52 crashed on take-off, landing in the Pacific Ocean some 1,000 feet below the end of the runway. All eight crewmembers aboard the aircraft were killed. The airplane crashed because the right wing came off the plane during the takeoff roll. The B-52 crews had very dangerous jobs.

    About a month after arriving in Guam I was given orders for temporary duty (TDY) at the Udorn Royal Thai Air Force Base (RTAFB).  Udorn is located in northern Thailand about 35 miles south of Vientiane Laos. The mission in Udorn required the three WC-130A planes (from Guam) with flight crews and maintenance support teams rotating from Guam to Udorn on a monthly basis. The maintenance team included one specialist from each of the avionics areas (electrical, autopilot, instruments, radar and radio) and two or more specialists from engines, propellers, hydraulic system, and aircraft crew chiefs. The maintenance crew and flight crew would travel to Thailand on the aircraft that was being rotated over. The WC-130 planes were not built for travel comfort, instead the seating was netting strung along the side of the aircraft. Usually we played Pinochle on the trip. The flight (from Guam) took 8 to 10 hours depending on the specific route taken across Vietnam.  The WC-130A aircraft were specially outfitted for the mission. 

    The mission and its equipment are summarized at the link, http://www.awra.us/gallery-jan05.htm

   In the above link the webmaster recalls, and shows some photographs of the 500th mission for the WC-130A aircraft to which I was assigned at Udorn.  I also recall the day of the 500^th mission, it was on my first TDY assignment to Udorn. Later there is photograph of the maintenance team in celebration (balloons and all!). 

   My time in the Air Force was a fantastic growing and learning experience that I have always treasured. And my time at Udorn between June 1968 and July 1969 supporting the Motorpool Mission taught me a lot about responsibility, and doing whatever it takes to get the job done. I remember being on the plane after the crew returned from the mission and working well into the night to fix a problem, whether on the plane or at the Avionics shop at the 555^th Fighter Group Wing. The aircraft were always parked in very remote, out of the way, dark parking area. Other guys from the flight crew and maintenance team were always there to keep company and help even though it was your problem to fix. Likewise, I always stayed over with the Radar specialist when it was his problem to fix.

    One night I went with some friends to the Airmen's club on-base where we could go to watch movies and drink beer (or was it to drink beer and watch movies?). That night I ran into my old friend and roommate from Andrews AFB, Ray Seese. Ray had been assigned to a base in Vietnam and was on temporary (TDY) assignment at Udorn. It was a really great surprise for both of us as he only knew that I had been re-assigned to Guam, and I only knew that he was in Vietnam. We had a couple days to hang out together and reminisce about what was happening in our lives. We did get together once after returning home from the service, and we stayed in touch for a while, but unfortunately we lost contact.

    The night of 26 July 1968 was also a memorable one in Udorn as a communist terrorist commando unit attacked the base and tried to blow up a C-141, a large Medivac transport plane. The plane was standing by at Udorn for evacuation of several POW's that were going to be released in Hanoi. One Thai security guard and two terrorists were killed. Four Americans were injured, one of which later died from injuries. A complete account of the attack is described at the website linked below.  

            https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA486980.pdf

    I was at the Airmen's club at the time. We were all told to return to our barracks (for accountability) and some to report to their duty stations. It was a bit scary at the time because of the nearby arms fire, helicopters circling overhead, and just the amount of frantic activity going on. I never felt in any personal danger.

    In early 1969 I got a letter from my mother telling me that Stanley Gaston was killed in Vietnam. I just remember feeling alone and that I wanted to be with my friends and classmates at home. Stanley was a close friend and classmate who wanted to become a pharmacist but could not afford to stay in college at Duquesne. A number of years after I returned home I visited the "wall" in Washington and located Stanley's name.

    There was a downtown life in Udorn which provided a somewhat pleasant break from Guam.  But life for the typical Thai was difficult and very poor. The roads were mostly dirt or dust (mud during monsoon season) and the local housing was mostly shacks. Many of the Thai's made their living from the air base as laborer's, house maids, running fruit stands around the base, and lots of stores that GI's would visit just outside the base. Each barracks had a "mama-san" who was in charge of cleaning the barracks every day, as well as taking care of individual’s laundry, shining shoes etc.  It was a friendly atmosphere and most everyone was respectful of the local people. Mama-san had a number of helpers each day to take care of the chores and was probably compensate better than most workers on the base. 

    Once I had a chance to visit the home of our mama-san and her family (husband and kids) along with a few other guys from the barracks. We all sat on the floor, cross-legged and would eat, drink, talk and laugh. I don't remember what the food was that we ate but I do remember it being a challenge. But we were all polite and ate it. I remember the evening being great fun and we all talked about it long afterwards. Mama-san always had a smile for her troops when they came home from work.

    The pictures below are from around the barracks at Udorn. Our Mama-san is pictured in the top left photo wearing a green top and holding a gray colored bin. The three women on the right would come by each morning and sell fresh fruit. The lower right picture shows Bob Herman amusing one of the ladies with her baskets. The lower left picture shows how close the adjacent barracks were. The wooden walkways were everywhere and necessary since the grounds would flood when it rained hard. The central latrine (bathroom) was along the wooden footpath.

    The next pictures of ground crew guys sitting on the tables with balloons on their hat was for the 500th Mission celebration. This was a big deal, particularly for the flight crew as their mission was very dangerous. More on the mission and the flight crew is provided at http://www.awra.us/gallery-jan05.htm. I am not certain on some of the names but I think those looking at the camera were Garry Colbert (Engine), Rich Brubaker (Propeller), John Nimmo (Instruments), Gary Van Brunt (Autopilot) and me (Radio). The guys to the far right and background I cannot identify. Other specialists included Radar, Electrician, Hydraulics, Crew Chief and a few others. We would rotate (as a group) between Guam and Thailand monthly. 

    That is me standing by the fire cart with one of our three planes (WC-130A) in the background at Udorn.

      The last picture is of me in my "civies" at the OL 2 barracks. This was on my final day at Udorn in July 1969. I would return to Guam, then a few weeks later travel back to Travis Air Force Base in San Francisco where my discharge was processed on August 11, 1969.

    I spent 188 days at the base in Udorn between June 1968 and July 1969.

   In addition to TDY in Udorn I also had shorter TDY assignments in the Philippines (Clark AFB), Okinawa (Naha AB) and Japan (Tachikawa AB and Yokota AB) during my 16-months overseas. I don't recall any specifics on these assignments other than we did the same aircraft support functions as in Thailand and Guam. Each of these assignments were less than a week. During my TDY to Yokota AB, Japan in late July 1969 I was able to go shopping in Tokyo where I bought Noritake China for my Mom and sister Kathy.

  I departed Guam for discharge processing at Travis AFB in California on August 8, 1969. I was released from active duty on 11 August 1969. I remained in the Air Force reserves (non-active duty) until 15 August 1971

   The decorations that I was awarded for my time in service (as reported on my DD-214) include the National Defense Service Metal (NDSM), Vietnam Service Metal with 1 bronze service star (VSM w/1BSS), Republic of Vietnam Campaign Metal (RVCM), and the Air Force Outstanding Unit Award (AFOUA).

 

Daniel P Birmingham

June 12, 2014 (updated April 23, 2022)