To commemorate Veteran's Day 2009, I asked my cousin JoAnn to write a brief account of her experiences as a young newlywed Air Force wife back in the 1960's. Following is her unedited account, in her own words. She requested that I delete her full name and names of her family, because she is a bit paranoid about their names appearing on the internet (I understand her concern to some degree, though I have assured her that she would be surprised to find herself all over the internet if she Googled herself. There is no hiding from the internet these days):
"Dear Beverly, I am a little short on time today but this is Veterans Day, Nov 11, 2009 and it is important for me to make note of it. My husband, Jerry , was in the Air Force when I met him in October of 1964. He was not in uniform so i did not know I was meeting a military person. smile. It was only a couple of weeks though before he told me he was in the Air Force. Jerry was a Loadmaster on C130 airplanes and this was during Vietnam era. His particular job was a good one because he was flight crew and always went with the plane. A crew member. They flew everywhere ... all over the world. Yes, they did go to Vietnam -- that was early in 1967 and only 5 weeks after we were married. I was a new bride on a military base but we lived just off base in a private (rented) place. It does not take long to find out wives must be self reliant if the husband is in the military. Jerry would be on call ... on alert ... and just take off! It could be for a few weeks or months. It was that way ALWAYS. It was just the way it worked. He did fly to England a lot and to Greece a lot. He would bring pastachio nuts to me (so yummy) and French perfume and I have forgotten what he brought from England. I did have 2 Vietnamese dolls and our son had a black silk jacket with designs ... a Vietnam jacket. I do not know what became of the jacket. I gave one of the dolls to my doll collector niece and I think I sold the other one (because it was not well made ... that one ... and wouldn't hold up over time). Jerry and the other guys sometimes were in the Phillipines and those were the pristine beaches I would see in the pictures. Them sunbathing in paradise. That is deceiving though --- because they would get back on the plane and the missions would be serious. In fact - just a note - Jerry sometimes hauled "live" soldiers to their destination. Lots of them. And he also hauled out the "deceased" ones in body bags. He also hauled Jeeps (yes, they air dropped Jeeps, can you believe it?) and when they hauled Vietnamese troops they hauled family members too. (I don't think that part happened as often.) He also hauled the paratroopers and wore a parachute himself. He would stand by the cargo door for the air drop and the guys would be so wound up and ready to jump. Sometimes Jerry himself felt like jumping because it looked so peaceful and graceful as they would free-fall thru the air right at first ... before the parachute opened. It was something to remember. Our son was born at the Air Force base. I don't think I will go into detail about that part but Eddie was a preemie baby and not expected to live. Because I went thru childbirth without any pills or anything I wondered if I would live through that myself! We both did! Yea. It was a $$$ bargain to have Eddie born in the Air Force hospital because he had to stay there almost a month. I think the whole thing cost us about $12.00. No, that is not a typo - error ... that is about what it cost for the birth and hospital stay for our preemie baby. Perhaps I should mention we could also go to church, to the chapel, on the base? To movies for 25cents? And i could take oue sons to the child care facility onbase ... for 25cents an hour. Believe me, when we got out of the military (summer of 1968) it was a shock to pay civilian prices in California! It was a huge difference. This is just a little over-view of our Air Force life. It was scary because of Vietnam ... but the other parts were all good. And Jerry did see the world.
I would like to add one more thing here. Our oldest son joined the Army in his early 20's and he was a successful soldier. We suspect the Army is harder (physically) than the Air Force but otherwise there are a lot of similarites. He died at age 33 and is buried in the veterans cemetery in our city. Everyone is honored there. He is honored. We do visit his "resting place" and we always leave flowers. If we dwell on it we know we are looking at rows and rows of soldiers and airmen (and Navy guys) and some females too. All who served honorably and now are remembered honorably. God bless our military men and women. God bless military families ... both living and deceased. God bless America.
I know I am blessed by being part of it. sincerely, Jo Ann".
Thanks & hugs JoAnn, for writing your memories for my Blog.
A GENIE IN ARIZONA: A genealogy journal with stories of my ancestors; the roots and branches of my American, Irish, Scottish, English, German, Swiss, and French heritage.
