When I was in school we called this day Armistice Day and at 11: AM we were in assembly remembering November 11th, 1918 and " the war to end all wars". The day became Remembrance Day and Poppy day and now Veteran's Day - how many more wars to Armageddon?
I was stationed in Germany at a Weather Station when I received orders to report to an Air Force base in Dakar, Senegal French West Africa. On the way down, I met Bernie who soon became my very best friend. Together, we reported to the small AF Base with no more than 20 enlisted men and seven officers, There were a number of civilian government employees doing various jobs. We met the three Senegalese natives that assisted in the weather station; Makam, Gay and Franscois. There was another character that hung around the weather station, a giant of a man who helped wherever there were heavy chores. He wore only trousers and many charms hanging around his neck and on his arms. He called them "giddigiddis"; each one had a specific purpose: for good health, for boucoup pickannies, to protect against knife cuts..... his name will come to me. We were a team and we conducted the affairs of the station making weather observations, sending up balloons to track the winds aloft and other data and creating and posting weather maps and sending our weather data over teletype. We made our own hydrogen gas and took turns wearing the telephone head set as we watched the progress of the balloon and reporting the azimuths to the one who would graph the movements. Once, we tied a rope to a monkey and sent him up with the balloon; only for a short distance then we brought him down. The flight officer was Captain Murphy who called us Wigee Birds alluding to forecasting weather with a wigee board Bernie was big Wigee and I was Little Wigee. We had a B17 that we sometimes would ride in to take observations. From time to time we would fly down to Roberts Field in Monrovia. There was a Firestone plantation there and we would get bananas and exchange our script (that's what we were paid; just paper) for real dollars. We bought a little Chimpanzee down there and named him "Jimmy". "Jimmy" was a friendly little fellow and every one liked him; we took him everywhere even to the movies and the beach. Yoff Beach was where we played; once, a group of us took a big truck out to the beach and we met another group who wanted to go into town for some reason. We went along with them and left the truck. That night, after the movie, some one remembered "the truck!!!." We went to the beach, the tide was in and only the top of the truck was above water. I volunteered to take the winch cable out to the truck, the old man who knew the beach and the water ( he called me "the white picaninnie" because I was so dark from the sun) went out with me. Just before we went into the water a huge jelly fish, it had the be two and a half feet in diameter, washed up. That's all I could think of as we dragged that cable through the water. As soon as it was attached, we jumped in the cab and the wrecker pulled us in.
Dakar was the capital city of Senagal; a sea port town; very active. Lucky Strike cigarettes and Parker 51 fountain pens always fetched the best price ( we bought cigarettes for 5 cents a pack at the base PX). The Rue Raffenale was one of the more interesting areas in town, that's where all the bawdy houses were; The Parisian Bar was a favorite for some of the officers and several times I was called upon to go into town and pick up some one who couldn't manage to get home the night before. Some times I would take "Jimmy", the ladies really liked him . No, I was only nineteen and probably looked fifteen and the ladies called me a "baby", so I did not partake.
We had horses on the base and we rode along the beach; this was really fun and easy duty. We found an old shack on the base that had chemicals and a printer so we developed film and printed our pictures. I lost most of my pictures when I was transferred to Austria and was hit by a truck and went back to the States in a body cast - but that's another story.
I was stationed in Germany at a Weather Station when I received orders to report to an Air Force base in Dakar, Senegal French West Africa. On the way down, I met Bernie who soon became my very best friend. Together, we reported to the small AF Base with no more than 20 enlisted men and seven officers, There were a number of civilian government employees doing various jobs. We met the three Senegalese natives that assisted in the weather station; Makam, Gay and Franscois. There was another character that hung around the weather station, a giant of a man who helped wherever there were heavy chores. He wore only trousers and many charms hanging around his neck and on his arms. He called them "giddigiddis"; each one had a specific purpose: for good health, for boucoup pickannies, to protect against knife cuts..... his name will come to me. We were a team and we conducted the affairs of the station making weather observations, sending up balloons to track the winds aloft and other data and creating and posting weather maps and sending our weather data over teletype. We made our own hydrogen gas and took turns wearing the telephone head set as we watched the progress of the balloon and reporting the azimuths to the one who would graph the movements. Once, we tied a rope to a monkey and sent him up with the balloon; only for a short distance then we brought him down. The flight officer was Captain Murphy who called us Wigee Birds alluding to forecasting weather with a wigee board Bernie was big Wigee and I was Little Wigee. We had a B17 that we sometimes would ride in to take observations. From time to time we would fly down to Roberts Field in Monrovia. There was a Firestone plantation there and we would get bananas and exchange our script (that's what we were paid; just paper) for real dollars. We bought a little Chimpanzee down there and named him "Jimmy". "Jimmy" was a friendly little fellow and every one liked him; we took him everywhere even to the movies and the beach. Yoff Beach was where we played; once, a group of us took a big truck out to the beach and we met another group who wanted to go into town for some reason. We went along with them and left the truck. That night, after the movie, some one remembered "the truck!!!." We went to the beach, the tide was in and only the top of the truck was above water. I volunteered to take the winch cable out to the truck, the old man who knew the beach and the water ( he called me "the white picaninnie" because I was so dark from the sun) went out with me. Just before we went into the water a huge jelly fish, it had the be two and a half feet in diameter, washed up. That's all I could think of as we dragged that cable through the water. As soon as it was attached, we jumped in the cab and the wrecker pulled us in.
Dakar was the capital city of Senagal; a sea port town; very active. Lucky Strike cigarettes and Parker 51 fountain pens always fetched the best price ( we bought cigarettes for 5 cents a pack at the base PX). The Rue Raffenale was one of the more interesting areas in town, that's where all the bawdy houses were; The Parisian Bar was a favorite for some of the officers and several times I was called upon to go into town and pick up some one who couldn't manage to get home the night before. Some times I would take "Jimmy", the ladies really liked him . No, I was only nineteen and probably looked fifteen and the ladies called me a "baby", so I did not partake.
We had horses on the base and we rode along the beach; this was really fun and easy duty. We found an old shack on the base that had chemicals and a printer so we developed film and printed our pictures. I lost most of my pictures when I was transferred to Austria and was hit by a truck and went back to the States in a body cast - but that's another story.
2 comments:
Hi Alan! Your blog is beautiful.
I saw you on Angelle's blog--I'm glad you like The Book Book and I hope you'll think about joining and sharing your knowledge & love of books with us.
Thanks for visiting!!! Wow, I'll have to take some time to read your blog, but I appreciate the comments. I will def be checking back... :)
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