Old Memories ...

by JimT, Texas, Monday, November 13, 2023, 17:16 (172 days ago)

We are reorganizing the shop, cleaning up stuff and getting rid of crap we've collected. In it all I ran across some things that brought back old memories. Here's a bit of it.

1966 - 67
55th Aviation Company
Yoido, Korea
K16

When I was 19 I joined the U.S. Army. Vietnam was heating up and Draft Notices were going out. I had received my notice to report for the Draft but I decided I wanted a little control of what I was doing and with my friend Bill Mance went to the Recruiters office and joined. We took some tests and I aced the mechanics test. I believe Bill did also. They gave us our choice and we chose Aircraft Maintenance.

We were sent to Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas for Basic Training and after we finished that we were sent to Fort Rucker, Alabama for Aircraft Maintenance School. Bill was assigned to rotor wing and I was assigned to fixed wing.

I finished the school and in October was sent to Korea, assigned to the 55th Aviation
Company. The base and airstrip were located on an island in the middle of the Han River
about 8 miles south of Seoul, near Yongdongpo. The mission of the 55th was to provide
support for the 8th U.S. Army Headquarters and the U.S. Embassy.

There I was assigned as a Crew Chief on a twin-engine Beechcraft the Army called the
“Seminole” but Beechcraft called it the “Twin Bonanza.” For the next 13 months I worked on the airplanes, did daily inspections and maintenance and some repairs. For several months I was moved to Tech Inspection where we inspected the work done by Crew Chiefs and ground crew. Then I was assigned as Crew Chief on a Beechcraft Queen Air that was the aircraft of the Commanding General of the 8th U.S. Army, General Bonesteel. I crewed that airplane until November of 1967 when my tour in Korea was up and I transferred to Camp Zama, Japan.

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Ele era velho.
Ele era corajoso.
Ele era feio.