Because of the lake, we kept some swimming gear, snorkels, and the like for purposes of recreation stored in the chow hall on base Another of my additional
duties was chow hall officer, also postal officer, etc. with so few men we all had many duties in addition to being an Alert Duty Officer) . We used to get new men in and have to wait for their clearances, or training to take place. So we used this lag time to set them up for a huge joke. We would drop subtle hints in our conversations; like the conning tower intercom was acting up, or the dive planes had malfunctioned, etc. and when we were on duty we would actually disappear for several days. When the new guy would confront us as to what was going on, we would tell him we had a sub in the lake with nuclear missiles on it and we took turns being the weapons release
officers. Since they , by now, had knowledge that we had nuclear weapons on base, and all that swimming and underwater gear, they would ask what was going on. we would inform them that the lake was XX miles long an YY miles wide, hence the enemy would never know exactly the position of the sub and it acted as a mobile base from which to operate. We would even give them some. Navy terms to learn before their first day of duty. Then when we drove them to the real site, they were greeted with the reality that they had been had. One personal joke I used to pull on new , gullible guys, utilized an old plane that sat near a hanger. I used to tell them that plane was the last surviving Japanese Messershmit. They would show doubt since that model of plane was German during the war and not a Japanese plane; whereupon I would explain as
follows: the Germans and Japanese were allies during W.W.II and exchanged plans for planes. The Japanese made six of the Messershmits but due to the large amount of metal necessary and poorer handling capabilities, they preferred their own zero aircraft, and donated the six planes to the Germans, who not being sure about them, gave them to their Italian allies. 5 were eventually destroyed in the war and that was the last remaining one. They could prove this by looking in the wheelwell and seeing that it was stamped, Made in Japan. Some actually went as far as to look for the stamp, (Would it really be in English and not Japanese..DUH !) This tour of duty ran from 25 May 66 until Dec 68 when I was sent home to attend munitions school, to be followed by Explosive Ordnance Disposal School (EOD), for which I was a volunteer.
Upon completion of Munitions school and EOD, I was assigned to a base in Germany; however while enroute, I was opted out by HQ USAFE (HQ U.S. Air Forces Europe) as Majcom Procedural Plans Officer at the Lindsey Air Station in Wiesbaden, Germany. On route to this assignment, I had asked the only woman I had ever met that I felt would enrich my life, to marry me. The original plan was for us to marry upon my return from this 3 year commitment to serve in Germany. However; she decided that a new plan was called for and came to Germany, so we could be married. Getting permission to get married to a woman from America, while she was in visitor status in Germany was a challenge. If we married in Germany, we would have to make a deposit of six months salary ( based on her previous earnings and mine) . So we decided to get married in Switzerland. Getting approval for this meant getting the US State dept. to approve the marriage. The phone tag I had to play was frustrating. Eventually I got the secretary to the official who would have to sign the papers. I explained the situation and she said it would be no problem, she would slip the permission paper into his daily stack of paper to be signed and he would do so without even realizing he had done it.
So Joanne Adams and I drove to Switzerland, Basil in particular, to get married. We were being very cool so as to not let anyone know we were not already married. We got a room in the closest hotel to the district in which the marriage was to take place, not being aware that the area in which the marriage was to take place was not allowed to have cars parked on the streets any closer than our hotel. So we walked across the bridge and looked for the bldg. in which we were to get married. Unfortunately, the person who marked our tourist map, had placed a X over a flag on the map. So we assumed the bldg. was were the flag pointed . Now we know you do not get married in a museum nor in a bank in Switzerland. They had meant under the flag, not where the line from the flag was pointing. The marriage itself was not what we had expected. They had 3 couples at a time sit at a table, while some unmarried, sour old biddy read the Rules of the Contract to us. Then we all signed our marriage certificate, switched seats and signed as witnesses for the other couples. So Joanne and I decided we were legally married, but needed to be married and take our vows before GOD. Upon our eventual return to Germany; after a honeymoon in Burchesgarten, Germany, we arranged for a church wedding on base. Hence we have celebrated our wedding on either 11 Feb. or 8 March.
One incident I found amusing happened on a tour we took of France. Joanne's passport still had her listed as Joanne Adams. Whenever the tour was to remain at a hotel overnight, the guide would announce who was assigned to each room. When it came to Joanne and myself being assigned as roomates each time, one guy actually asked how come " he keeps getting the broad' as a roomate. Also, it was on this tour that mom found out that french hotels can have exteremly large bathtubs, but their shower heads do not swivel, and actually break off if you try to swivel them.
In Feb., 1970, we were assigned back to my old base in Ghedi Italy, again to live in Desenzano, Italy on Largo del Gardo. Again I served as Alert Duty Officer. We became quite knowledgeable of the area and could probably have been certified as minor tour guides. I used to get a kick out of watching Joanne walk arm in arm with Julia, my old landlord from first time I lived there, while Julia jabbered away in Italian and watching Jo nod her head as if she was understanding it all. I spoke some Italian because of my first tour. Julia's boyfriend (Arturo) was married, but not to Julia. So when we went anywhere, like to visit a restaurant high in the mountains, Arturo drove his car and we were not allowed to smoke, etc. so his wife wouldnot know someone else had been in the car. But he knew interesting places and I remember sitting on a veranda/balcony hanging over a cliff to eat supper. Between the wind, the several people sitting on the balcony and no real visible means of support, I was in a slight hurry to finish eating and get back on solid ground. I could not tell you what I ate that day, but it was probably delicious and something I could eat rapidly.
Joanne had the pleasure of meeting many of ' George's' old girlfriends from when I had been stationed with him during my first tour of duty in Italy. She remained very calm but I never felt she quite believed me about them being George's girlfriends. His name was George Oshiro a Japanese-American from Hawaii and whose father was a "failed" kamakazee pilot from WWII (failed because his plane would not take off and war ended before he got a new one)
Notice, even while living in Italy with Jo, (this is in front of our house), I could still fit into my high school clothes. The 396 Impala Supersport was impressive to the Italians.
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