Our Family's Journey Through Time
We traveled from Augsburg to Frankfurt by train and where met there by my grandparents. Together, again by train, we went to the Frankfurt airport. There we boarded TWA Flight #975-21, a Lockheed Constellation. I was so excited, my first airplane flight.We took off and it was just a short hop from Frankfurt to Shannon, Ireland. After a short stay we took off again in the late afternoon, destination, Goose Bay, Labrador. Shortly after our takeoff, I fell asleep and took a little nap. When I woke up it was already dark outside. I rolled up the window shade and immediately panicked. "The engine is on fire", I thought. One of the stewardesses came over and calmed me down. She explained that it was only the exhaust gases. She went up to the cockpit and a short time later one of the flight officers came to my seat and asked if I wanted to see the cockpit. I couldn't say "Yes" fast enough. I even got to sit in the co-pilot's seat. When I went back to my seat the captain pinned a set of pilot wings on my shirt. Boy was I proud. A while later we landed in Goose Bay. Mom and I were wearing our summer clothes. When we got off the plane it was very cold and there was still scattered snow on the ground. We had to change clothes to stay warm. We were there only long enough for the plane to be refueled before we took off again. When we landed in New York it was steaming hot and we had to change clothes again. Roland met us and after getting our luggage we drove to Hopewell, VA, which would be home for just a few months.
We took several days to get settled in our apartment in Hopewell. Mom and Roland made plans to drive to Maryland to get married. They chose Maryland because that State did not have a waiting period after you obtained the marriage license. They dropped me off in Solomons, MD at Roland's brother's house. I got to stay there for almost a week and it was a lot of fun. Solomons is right on Chesapeake Bay and it was a great place to explore. One of the memories I have was going around the docks in a row boat and catching soft-shell crabs. After shedding their shells they would climb up on the mooring poles of the docks for safety. It was real easy to just pick them off with a net. Upon our return to Hopewell I was enrolled in Hopewell High School, the "Blue Devils". I was in the 9th grade They had a good football team in 1955 and had a deal with a local drug store. The store sold a "Blue Devil Sundae" for 20 cents. After football games, if the local team won, they would reduce the price of the sunday by a penny for each touchdown the Devils scored. I didn't get to enjoy this special for very long. In October, Roland was transferred to Fort Monroe, Virginia and we had to move once again.
Our first residence after the move was in Buckroe Beach on Waterfront Lane. We were right on the beach and from our back yard we could take a set of stairs which took us down to the beach. This was real handy after storms. We would go down to the beach with buckets and pick up clams from the water's edge. My school was Buckroe Beach Junior High which went through grade nine. Here I made a great decision which was to help me later on while I was in the Army. I decided to take typing and by the end of the school year I was typing at a rate of slightly more than 60 words per minute. Upon graduation from BBJHS we were transferred to Hampton High School known as "The Crabbers". Nothing too exciting there, things were a little slow. A lot of the subject matter I was taught I had already had in earlier years in school before we left Germany. It become pretty boring at times. We only lived in Buckroe for several months. At that time Quarters became available on the base of Fort Monroe and we moved there. I really enjoyed my stay at Fort Monroe. We travelled to HHS via school bus that left from the YMCA building on post. This was always a good place to socialize with your friends and fellow students. There was always something to do here. One of the things I enjoyed was the Junior NRA. We met weekly in the attic of one of the big, warehouse style, buildings next to the parade field. The attic had been converted into a shooting range. We were able to practice there with our .22 caliber rifles.I really liked qualifying for the medals and bars. Another venue that was geared towards the teenagers on post was the Fort Monroe teen-age club. It was located in one of the casemates just inside the moat. There was always something to do there. Mom went to work at the Old Point Comfort Hotel as the Gift Shop Manager. We lived there for about 2 years before Roland was transferred to Fort Lewis, WA.
We left Fort Monroe and drove across the country to Olympia, WA. We lived in a motel for a couple of weeks before mom and Roland bought a house at 1220 N. Garison Street. I was registered at Hopewell High School and started attending there. The school was right across the street from the State Capitol. I took some easy courses, one of which was "German". My teacher, Mr. Thornhill was also the coach of the swimming team. When he found out that I did competitive swimming in Germany he got me to try out for the school swimming team. I made the team and started training and swimming in meets against other high schools in the State. One of my team members, Jeff Mattson, was named to the "High School All-American Team". Going to school in Olympia presented the same problems that I encountered in Hampton, boredom. Everything taught was "old news", I've already studied it during my final two years of schooling in Germany. I lasted the final few months of 1957 and the beginning of the 1958 school year. At that point I quit school and enlisted in the Army. I was sworn in on November 4th, 1958 and travelled to Fort Ord, CA on my first stop in a new career.
We make every effort to document our research. If you have something you would like to add, please contact us.
