Perhaps it's my age, but once begun I can't seem to stop remembering. This evening, it's mostly people that return to mind. As I've said several times before, it is people that make the best memories. Strangely though, I don't keep up with people that have made a difference in my life. Once in a while I regret that, but there's not much I can do about it now.
I remember some high school teachers very warmly. The Chadwick sisters taught in Vermilion, OH, high school. Miss Annie was the school librarian, and Miss Mary taught languages. These ladies pushed me to be better academically but more than that, they were positive influences. Miss Mary taught me in two years of French, and I was a miserable student. Even so, she urged me to take college prep courses that others were saying were overkill and I didn't need since I wasn't going to college. But, no education is ever wasted said Miss Mary, and i struggled through French, Chemistry, Algebra and other such courses because she thought it would be better for me in the long run. I know now that they were correct, and I'll never forget those two ladies.
They asked me once if I would help them weed the garden they had in their back yard. I was glad for the job and worked at it pretty hard. I didn't know much about vegetable growing, and in hoeing the row of asparagus I chopped about as many asparagus as weeds. Embarrassed, I took the chopped asparagus to Miss Annie and apologized. She was wonderful, and told me that the asparagus would grow back in just a few days. To this day I don't know whether she was just being kind or accurate.
There are several Air Force friends that often come to mind. Some who I had thought were good friends dropped me quickly when I was divorced from my first wife. I've noticed that with other people undergoing a divorce; whenever there was a divorce, some friends seemed to think it could possibly be contagious and all communication becomes stilted and awkward and soon non-existent.
My Air Force friends really can be separated by the different jobs I had throughout my career. The first six plus years, I was a Security Policeman. Actually, when I first went into the field everyone were called Air Police, and there was no separation between the people who provided security for the base and classified areas and those who were the police force for the base. Less than a year after I entered the field, they became two, separate career fields. I became a Security Policeman.
Let me write a bit about a guy who I still think of often, Mike C. I first met Mike in Clark AB, Philippine Islands. I didn''t know him very well, but he stuck in my mind because of a bad mistake he made while guarding the alert aircraft. Using a graphite pencil, he wrote his initials on the afterburner flaps of the jet engine of one aircraft. Fortunately, the mechanic saw the marks. Mike was the only guard with MMC initials, so they had him. The primary problem was that when the graphite got hot, as it would in takeoff using the afterburners, it would have acted as a torch and burned through the flap, and the engine would have destructed. Mike, as part of his punishment, had to come to every guard mount, be used as an example, and give a short speech in front of everyone.
Just over two years later, I was again at Charleston AFB, SC, and Mike was transferred to the base. We began to work together, and had long talks about almost everything. We were both two-stripers, and when he got promoted, I was disappointed that he had and I didn't. I know my disappointment hurt him because he had thought I would be happy for him and celebrate his promotion. And I should have been. I was, as I remember it, rude. Later I was promoted and transferred to Kunsan AB, Korea almost simultaneously.
Approximately four months after I arrived at Kunsan, I was walking to my barracks when the daily aircraft came in. There was Mike. He had followed me to our third base together. We were assigned to the same shift and worked, drank, partied, and in general, had a very good relationship. As I've written before, (Writing About Me X - Korea) Mike was the one person who validated that I was an adult and a good Security Policeman. I can't think of anything that meant more to me than Mike telling me I had been right and he should have known I was.
I left the Security Police field when I returned from Korea, opting for an assignment as a Military Training Instructor. As usual, I didn't keep track of people I had been assigned with, and I lost track of him. He's one of a few that I regret. I wanted to use his full name here but decided it wasn't such a good idea, given what I was disclosing here. If anyone recognizes this Mike C, I would like to hear from him. Comments would be a good place to reconnect us.
When I began, I thought I'd write about several people. I've only done three, and two of them are the sisters Chadwick. I suppose to have been consistent I should not have used their full names either, but I'm sure they have both passed away. That's not a given though; their father lived to be 104. They would both be older than that now. Tell me readers, should I have left them the C sisters? What are the blogging ethics here?
I don't think there are any fixed ethics about naming names.
I think I tend to be excessively cautious, but I'd say use names where everything you say is complimentary, obscure them where there is any downside ... and you've done exactly that.
I'm delighted to have met the Misses Chadwick :-)
Posted by: Felix Grant | July 08, 2009 at 02:59 AM