Tall Tell From My Past
Posted: Tue May 28, 2024 11:30 am
When in the Navy sometime in the 1990's, our son visited Iwo Jima once and told how bad it smelled?
While not sure of the date at Naha AB, Okinawa back in 1961, when I was performing Airman of the Day (AOD) duty in our barracks; where an airman would report for duty at midnight to stand guard, standby the phone in case of emergencies or whatever. There was the NCO of the Day (NCOD) somewhere else and the Officer of the Day (OD) elsewhere.
Early the next morning I get a call from the NCOD to report to some sergeant down on the flight line and help load a crate onto a C-130; then fly to Iwo Jima to help off load the crate with KB-50 engine parts and aid the mechanic (go-for was I) with his work. After loading the crate we took off and I laid down on one of the passenger seating and went to sleep. Several hours later we landed and I woke up when the load master and I had coffee and breakfast in a box.
We took off the crate onto a small box cart and rolled it over to the aircraft in a makeshift hanger-like covering over one of the engines. One of the engines had blown a jug (cylinder housing). That afternoon the mechanic introduced me to the pilots and they told me the C-130 was staying until the next day, so if I wanted to fly back to Naha AB with them to hop on beard. The panel engineer took me down in front where the bombardier would sit in a B-29 or B-50 bomber and strapped me in. The flight back was so exciting I could not sleep. After landing at Naha AB, I went to the simulator shop to tell of my adventures. No one seemed to care.
That my war story for the day.
While not sure of the date at Naha AB, Okinawa back in 1961, when I was performing Airman of the Day (AOD) duty in our barracks; where an airman would report for duty at midnight to stand guard, standby the phone in case of emergencies or whatever. There was the NCO of the Day (NCOD) somewhere else and the Officer of the Day (OD) elsewhere.
Early the next morning I get a call from the NCOD to report to some sergeant down on the flight line and help load a crate onto a C-130; then fly to Iwo Jima to help off load the crate with KB-50 engine parts and aid the mechanic (go-for was I) with his work. After loading the crate we took off and I laid down on one of the passenger seating and went to sleep. Several hours later we landed and I woke up when the load master and I had coffee and breakfast in a box.
We took off the crate onto a small box cart and rolled it over to the aircraft in a makeshift hanger-like covering over one of the engines. One of the engines had blown a jug (cylinder housing). That afternoon the mechanic introduced me to the pilots and they told me the C-130 was staying until the next day, so if I wanted to fly back to Naha AB with them to hop on beard. The panel engineer took me down in front where the bombardier would sit in a B-29 or B-50 bomber and strapped me in. The flight back was so exciting I could not sleep. After landing at Naha AB, I went to the simulator shop to tell of my adventures. No one seemed to care.
That my war story for the day.