Doug
Enjoying a day in the California sun.
Says Doug, "Most of the audience in front of the bandstand are Baker
Flighters. One of the two men on the left, the one not wearing
glasses, is Jay Druian, who now owns a French wine shop in Los
Gatos, Ca. The man with the glasses is Hal ("Old Wierd Harold")
Gregerson. Other recognizeable faces are Hank Erickson (294 or
292), Bob Eiermann, Jack Johnson, and Phil Slepicka (Polack)."
There came a time in the late 60's when Destiny and Stardom
coincided for the 6912th's own Dave Reaver, Rus.
The
Bock Bier Fest at the Neue Welt in Hassenheide is known
for bringing out the best in young airmen.
The following pictures are all from the period 66-69 (Baker Flight)
With some minor editing to format for the Web, these are Doug's descriptions of the photos above:
1. Hallway, looking toward HBE -- Not particularly photogenic but might bring back some memories to denizens of the hangars -- looks like the floor has recently been buffed. Obviously I didn't have putzfrau duty that week
2. Shelton G. Scott, Tony Dooan, and Tony Fensel at the Winter Olympics in Grenoble, 1968. Scotty was another AP, from Elizabeth City, NC, Dooan was a radar op from New Hampshire, and Fensel was a 294 (?292?) from Pennsylvania (the town where they made Zippo lighters). I bought a Nordmende portable radio from Scotty when he shipped out, and it still works very well!
3. The police clock -- we were right across the street, and could use the clock to check our watches. I tried to bring the clock into focus, but at this size all you can see is a little white box. It's above the middle garage door.
4. Steve "Buddha" Bowman was a Russian linguist from Roseburg, Oregon. I've tried to track him down but no luck.
5. Gary Osborne was a roommate in our Hangar 2 dwelling (I think it was room 212 -- in the first section of the hangars (from the direction of the terminal) to have been converted to dorms. The next section toward the terminal had an Army helicopter unit. Gary was an AP --one of the guys who checked us in at the site, etc. Before his departure, he bought a beautiful new British racing green Fiat 124 Spyder.
Doug recalls, "I recently came across this long-lost pic of Baker Flighters Steve Mellon (?Mellen?) and Jim Cordero, along with Karin, a lovely barmaid at Joe's Broadway Bier Bar. I believe this was taken on the occasion of a post-mid roll call, 1968 or 69. Steve was a German linguist; Jim was an ELINT denizen of the Blue Room."