When I called Don in Great Falls, MT and his wife Eleanor answered and told me she did not remember me but would call Don to the phone. I told her before she got Don that I would like to apologize to her. Her response was "What would you need to apologize for after all these years" I than told her that before we went off alert in November of 1962 Don felt sorry for all of us single airman who were restricted to base. He told us to have a night on the town in Cheyenne, but call him and keep him informed where we were at. Needless to say we went bar hopping and called you every twenty or thirty minutes. She then laughed and told me she "remembered that night" and my apology was accepted'.
WHAT PROFESSION DID YOU FOLLOW AFTER YOUR MILITARY SERVICE AND WHAT ARE YOU DOING NOW? IF YOU ARE CURRENTLY SERVING, WHAT IS YOUR PRESENT OCCUPATIONAL SPECIALTY?
I started in the electrical construction industry after high school in 1958 two years before joining the Air Force. During my enlistment I would return home on a 30-day leave in the summer and work for my old employer West Shore Electric in Lakewood, Ohio. When discharged from the Air Force 1964, I returned to West Shore then after the second winter in Ohio I relocating to California. In the Silicon Valley I worked at National Semiconductor for a year than twenty-six years plus with Cupertino Electric, INC. Today I'm still in the electrical construction industry with my own Colorado company Breckenridge Electric LLC.
WHAT MILITARY ASSOCIATIONS ARE YOU A MEMBER OF, IF ANY? WHAT SPECIFIC BENEFITS DO YOU DERIVE FROM YOUR MEMBERSHIPS?
Association of Air Force Missileers, American Legion, and Together We Served.
Since my discharge in 1964 there was never an opportunity to reconnect to any of my Air Force roots. Than in 1993 I became one of the founding members of the Association of Air Force Missileers. Since that time my wife Chris and I have attended many of the AAFM reunions in Colorado Springs, Vandenberg AFB, FE Warren AFB, Washington DC, Cape Canaveral, Davis-Monthan AFB, Malmstrom AFB and Barksdale AFB. My wife Chris refers to the AAFM reunions as the "5B" trips (Bases, Buses, Briefings, Buffets, and Booze).
In October of 2009 I had the privilege of being invited back to FE Warren AFB for the ICBM Symposium & the 50th Anniversary Commemoration of the ICBMs. The event was attended by past and present Missileers from the 50s to current active duty personnel. One of the high lights for Chris and I was that during the banquet we were both introduced to the Secretary of the Air Force Michael Donley.
IN WHAT WAYS HAS SERVING IN THE MILITARY INFLUENCED THE WAY YOU HAVE APPROACHED YOUR LIFE AND YOUR CAREER?
Even though my enlistment in the USAF was short (3 Years 10 Month 8 days) compared to most others on the AFTW site. The time I served in the United States Air Force was a major part of life and made me the person I am today.
I'm currently a volunteer at the Francis E. Warren AFB Heritage Museum were I served fifty years ago.
Last summer I was notified by the FE Warren AFB, WY Public Affairs officer that the Commander of the 90th Missile Wing (ICBM-MINUTEMAN III) had nominated me for the USAF Veterans in Blue program. On Veterans Day 2014 I was selected. Never in my wildest dreams after looking at selections from previous years plus 50 years after my separation from the Air Force did I think I would make the final cut. I still can not believe that my portrait is be displayed in the Pentagon along with Buzz Aldrin, Chuck Yeager, Louis Zamperini and many others
http://static.dma.mil/usaf/veterans/
BASED ON YOUR OWN EXPERIENCES, WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO THOSE WHO HAVE RECENTLY JOINED THE AIR FORCE?
Enjoy your time served. Even if you only enlist as a first termer it will a very memorial time of your life. You will also never meet and work with a finer group of people. Second take a lot of photos.
IN WHAT WAYS HAS TOGETHERWESERVED.COM HELPED YOU REMEMBER YOUR MILITARY SERVICE AND THE FRIENDS YOU SERVED WITH.
Since joining AFTWS I have made contact with over a dozen airmen and officers I served with at F.E. Warren in the early 1960s. Most from my launch maintenance crew and the others a barracks roommate in Cheyenne. Three of us now live in Colorado less than 100 miles apart.
I was beginning to be concerned about my local Selective Service Board after graduating from high school and began by talking to a US Navy recruiter. I was about ready to enlist in the US Navy when the recruiter informed me would have to swim. The next stop was the Air Force recruiter. A few weeks into basic training at Lackland during a mail call I received a postcard that was forwarded by my dear mother. When the TI looked at the postcard he just smirked, it was a 1A classification notice from the Cleveland, Ohio draft board.
Upon completion of basic training I received orders to attend reciprocating engine mechanic school at Sheppard AFB. When I arrived at Sheppard we were in a formation and a list of names read were for the next eight weeks of reciprocating engine school. Than a list of names for the next eight weeks of KP duty. Finally I hear my name with three others were to report to Building 1090. We wonder why we hadn't been on the list for school and what could be worse than KP duty. To our surprise we started we immediately started our course as Missile Mechanics (Ballistic). When I was in high school the Soviets launched the first satellite. Five short years later I was on a Vandenberg AFB launch pad assisting in the first of four Atlas-D missile launches of my Air Force career. Adding to the excitement at that time was that I was a missile mechanic on the same missile system "Atlas-D" at the same time that it was being used to launch the Mercury Astronauts.
Just after sunset the missile was raised and it was loaded with 12,000 gallons of Rocket Propellant (RP-1) and 19,000 gallons of Liquid Oxygen (LO2). Watching from half a mile away as the countdown proceeded and engine ignition sequence started. When the missile reached 90% thrust it lifted off from Pad B-3. A few seconds later at approximately 3500 feet 102D did a 340 degree loop and exploded above us. It was an awesome sight to see 200,000 pounds of kerosene and liquid oxygen light up the evening sky. After the initial explosion the sky was alight with thousands of glowing stars and a few glowing planets that were rapidly descending on us. We all headed for the Blue Bird bus, some heading for the door. I opted for a place under the bus.The Offutt Launch Crew was in the Launch Operations Building (LOB) about a mile from the pad. After liftoff they went outside to view the launch. About the time the first of the crew members opened the LOB doors the test vehicle (aka warhead) buried itself in the sand on the edge of the asphalt parking lot about twenty-five feet from the door. Luckily no one was killed or injured. I still have a souvenir of 102D in Air Force scrap book a 2-in X 3-in piece of stainless steel from the missile fuel tank. Two days later on 12 March we launched Atlas 64D from the 576th Pad B-1 successfully hitting Eniwetok Atoll in the Marshal Islands the target. Atlas 46D was an unsuccessful launch on 15 March from Pad B-2 and only reached an apogee of 180 miles. One year later all Atlas D Squadrons were deactivated.
missiles every 90 day. Our duties included mating and de-mating the Atlas missile from the Launch and Service Buildings (LSB) and off-loading and loading missiles for airlift on Douglas C-133B Cargomasters. I was also fortunate to be selected to assist in the launches of four missiles in fourteen months from Vandenberg AFB, CA. Two of the launches were two days apart.
attending the University of Colorado. Sometime on Thursday 18-Oct-62 four days before President Kennedy spoke to the nation we went on alert. Our duties were to return all missiles that were down for periodic maintenance to EWO status or Ready State A. After all the 564th & 565th SMSs missiles were on EWO status we than preformed maintenance and checkout of the remaining missile in the Missile Assembly Building (MAB). We prepared Atlas 39D (58-2210) our hanger queen for transportation to Vandenberg AFB on a C-133B Cargomaster. Upon arrival of 39D in Vandenberg it was mated to the 576th SMS LSB-B2 and was operational as a SAC ICBM during the Cuban crisis. We stayed on alert and were restricted to the base until late 27th of November. After the Cuban Crisis in January of 1963, I was on the Launch Maintenance APCHE Crew sent TDY to Vandenberg AFB to do a pre-launch checkout of Atlas 39D. The missile was then launched into the Pacific Missile Test Range on 25 Jan 1963.
On 1-July-61 the 706th Strategic Missile Wing was re-designated the 389th Strategic Missile Wing (ICBM-ATLAS)(SAC) and included the 564th, 565th and 566th Strategic Missile Squadrons.
I spent my Air Force enlistment as a Atlas Missile Mechanic with Launch Maintenance. In 1962 I was 21 years old and it was the start of my second year in the Air Force. In the first six months of 1962 I attained my AFSC 5 level, received my second stripe, went on a TDY to Vandenberg for my first missile launch and was awarded the Guided Missile Insignia. The Guided Missile Insignia was first issued four years earlier in 1958. At that time it was unusual for the pocket rocket to be seen on the uniform of an new E-3. There was only one badge for all skill levels of both officers and enlisted personal. Since my time in the Air Force there are multiple missile badges and the original pocket rocket is now called a Missileman Basic badge.
The most memorably person and Air Force mentor was Staff Sergeant Don Frank my APCHE Crew Chief. I was assigned to Don APCHE Crew 8 (Automatic Program Checkout Equipment) at FE Warren AFB, WY for three plus year of my shortened enlistment.
