Comfort
March 18, 2021
With the passing of a tough year it gives me comfort to recall the great memories of Uncle Wink.
No Instant Replay in 1952 (From Dad's Memoirs)
March 20, 2020
College football was a tough sport back in the 1950's. Dad prided himself at having developed a quick forearm hit to the side of the head that had a devastating effect on both offensive lineman and backs. It was a tough style of play that characterized American football in the 50's, 60's and 70's.
Play of that nature would draw penalties today, and with the advent of slow motion replay, would be played over and over, for all to see.
But as life would have it, "what goes around, comes around", so here is another excerpt from his memoirs:
"The fall football season of 1952 turned out to be better than expected. The first team defensive end broke his shoulder in the second game and I moved up to the first team the rest of the year. It must have been noticed by the Oklahoma fullback (Buck McPhail) that I was working him over pretty good with my forearm hit, because in one of the pile-ups, an Oklahoma guard paid me back with a similar hit and broke my nose and the top of two molars."
I don't think Dad ever weighed much more than 190-195 pounds when he was playing college football - small by today's standards, but boy, was he ever game!
Play of that nature would draw penalties today, and with the advent of slow motion replay, would be played over and over, for all to see.
But as life would have it, "what goes around, comes around", so here is another excerpt from his memoirs:
"The fall football season of 1952 turned out to be better than expected. The first team defensive end broke his shoulder in the second game and I moved up to the first team the rest of the year. It must have been noticed by the Oklahoma fullback (Buck McPhail) that I was working him over pretty good with my forearm hit, because in one of the pile-ups, an Oklahoma guard paid me back with a similar hit and broke my nose and the top of two molars."
I don't think Dad ever weighed much more than 190-195 pounds when he was playing college football - small by today's standards, but boy, was he ever game!
Helping to Build a Strong America (Late 1950's thru Mid 1990's) From Dad's Memoirs
March 20, 2020
When I graduated in 1955, with a degree in mechanical engineering, the job market was terrific. My grades had been good and you could get as many job offers as you wanted. I went on a half dozen interview trips, including U.S. Steel in Gary, IN, and visited several other companies in the area.
I actually made a few dollars on these interviews, since I was able to charge all or them my transportation expenses from Ames.
I finally had decided to accept a job in St. Louis, with a utility company at $450 a month, but the ISU football coach called me in one day and said he had an alumni who was interested in hiring me. That's how I met the owner of Eagle Iron Works.
I went to Des Moines for an interview where I was given a personal plant tour the by the owner who said there was a good future for this little company because of the new interstate highway program. He offered me $500 a month and I jumped at it.
I had already received my draft notice and they gave me 3 months to get started on a job before I had to report, so we moved to Des Moines and rented an upstairs apartment, with no a/c, for the three months.
Two years later, when we returned to Des Moines from El Paso, Blake was was a year old and Marti was pregnant with Bradley.
We rented a house on 51st St., in Des Moines, and I went back to work in the EIW engineering department.
I really wasn't very good at it, but they were patient with me and I progressed. I got pretty bored sitting at the drafting table, and after a few years, one of the 4 regional salesman had died, whose territory was everything west of the Mississippi River and western Canada. They asked me if I wanted the job,and I jumped at it.
My training consisted of reading file correspondences, of the other 3 salesman, and writing follow-up letters concerning technical issues, equipment specifications, or quotation status.
It was very effective training.
They finally decided I was ready to "sink or swim." The assistant sales manager took me on two sales trip to show me the ropes, and after that, I was on my own.
We sold through dealers, most of who knew more about the product than I did, but they also were patient with me, and it paid off for everyone. I turned out to be the highest producing salesman in the company.
I sold to every company, large or small, and got to be known as the guy to call if you had any problems with your construction sand. My phone rang constantly, when in the office, and I traveled 150-160 days a year-usually two weeks at a time.
My customers were my best friends, and I made or saved a lot of money for them.They treated me like royalty and would even buy me lunch when I came on a sales call. I was treated more like a consultant when I visited. One engineering firm told me,"If you don't know your diamonds, you better know your jeweler."
I sold equipment on a dozen or more small dams and a couple of very large dams, including Portage Mountain Dam in northern British Columbia and the Guri Dam in Venezuela.
Every large company on the west coast was a customer including Conrock, the largest producers in LA, and Kaiser Sand and Gravel in San Francisco. (Herb Harger, president of Conrock still sends me a Christmas card every year.) Back when $1 was a lot of money, I sold a million dollars worth of equipment for the Alaskan pipeline (highway) project.
International Sales
EIW had a very large distribution organization in Europe. The only one who sold anything though, was SYSCOM in Holland. In the early 1960's, Harry Van Alkemade brought a Swiss construction project to Des Moines and I sold them an auto-spin sand classifying system.
One of the conditions of the sale as that I would have to go overseas when the construction of a small dam near Brig, Switzerland began.
This was our first sale in Europe, of an auto-spin system,and as it worked perfectly, it eventually led us to a lot more business.
While there, my boss Clair Laird, who had flown with the French Escadrille in WW1, suggested I visit dealers in France and Spain. While in Paris, I had Marti fly over and we spent a week there and visited Normandy, where her brother (Robert Larson) was killed (1944). His body never recovered.
Through Brad's research, we learned that he was reported MIA, presumed dead,near Hill 55 in Normandy, about 30 days after the invasion. His mortar squad apparently taking a direct hit from advancing German artillery, as the Germans attempted to break the advance and push the Allies back off the beach.
I was always fortunate in my travels, to make friends, who were excellent tour guides, and would take time to show me many historical spots.
I loved the museums in Europe and visited many of the large ones such as Rijks museum in Amsterdam, the Louvre in Paris and the Prado in Madrid.
Harry Van Alkemade's son, Gerry, was my age, and we grew to be great friends. He merged his company with a German company headed by Manfred Brauer, and the three of us sold many large installations all over western Europe- including a large Irish cement plant in Drogheda, Ireland.I have pleasant memories of the good times we had together with the Irishman, including their visit to Des Moines and dinner out at our house on NW Beaver Drive.
Venezuela
Through a consulting engineering friend in the state of Washington, I sold some equipment in Venezuela. Chuck Ferris had the the plant contract for the Guri Dam (a large project in central Venezuela.)
Chuck was the one who always said "If you don't know your diamonds,you better know your jeweler." Again, I had a commitment to visit after it was operating.
By happenstance, I met another friend/customer in Venezuela had sent response to an ad we ran in "Rock Products" (a trade publication of the industry).
EIW received an inquiry from a company in Venezuela that looked promising and Clair Laird thought I should go down and explore the market. The inquiry was from a Venezuelan who owned a sand and gravel operation, very close to the Columbia border.
I responded that I was going to be down in Caracas to check on some equipment at the Guri dam and perhaps we could get together.
Phillips was about my age and he met me in Caracas and drove me over to his hacienda, west of Caracas, near the Columbian border. Phillips was the son of a general, now dead, who had helped put one of the dictators of Venezuela in power. He had inherited a very large ranch in the interim and started a sand & gravel & stone company.
It was an experience riding through the countryside. The road was first class like our interstate, but with toll booths. each toll booth was manned with soldiers armed with sub-machine guns.
The Hacienda was a walled enclosure about a block square. The big steel main gate was guarded by 2 men with shotguns who let us in. Phillips explained that hand guns were outlawed, so guards carried shotguns. The wall served as a back wall for the servants and workers, and with 3 walls added to it, made individual houses. The main house set in the center was "U" shaped with the balloon of the "U" partially open to a formal flower garden and the closed end was an open air dining area. The weather was mild and the setting, just beautiful. I spent a couple of days with Phillips looking over his complete ranch.
I did help Phillips with some problems and sold him some equipment, and we became lifelong friends.He always came by at conventions to tell me "hello."
All in all, it was a very interesting life for an Iowa farm boy. It far exceeded any dreams I had for my life. I made great friends all over the world.
It had been a great experience for an old Iowa boy to travel and see the world, but the problems of customers were repetitious.
One day I received a call from an old ISU friend, Vern Schimper. Vern was a supervisor up at CRI. EIW and CRI had a lot of common distributors, so we we had stayed connected over the years. Vern told me that Howard Slife, the current VP of Sales was retiring and they would like to talk to me and see if I was interested in being his replacement.
Bottom line, I went to Cedar Rapids and talked to Ron Dunmire (the president at that time) and others. I was interested so they sent me to Boston to meet with Tom Phillips, who was head of Raytheon(RTN) at the time. I guess I passed because I soon received a terrific job offer, a lot more money, and RTN stock!
So the rest was history. We accepted and started by putting NW Beaver Dr. up for sale. I took an apartment in Cedar Rapids and drove over Sunday night and back on Friday night,
until it sold, which didn't take very long. Marti had been in real estate, so it didn't take her long to find a place she liked and we moved to Cedar Rapids. I was 50 years old and ready for a change.
The construction industry was in a kind of a funk and was starting to slow- this was part of my decision and I new I would have to had to rebuild the sales staff. Fortunately, I was able to get many friends from the industry who had been laid off during the downturn. We were able to grow our sales by 10% or more, every year, for 6 or 8 years before the next slowdown came.
By the mid 1990's, a combination of business conditions and parent company consolidation of facilities, resulted in my early retirement. I was 63 y/o and happy to accept the retirement and took my pension.
In my early years of retirement, I quickly realized that this was a normal outcome of "big business". I was thankful for the many good years I spent at Eagle Iron Works and Cedar Rapids Incorporated.
I received a retirement pension from both companies and with social security and income off money Marti and I saved, we could look forward to a very comfortable retirement on St. Simon's Island.
I actually made a few dollars on these interviews, since I was able to charge all or them my transportation expenses from Ames.
I finally had decided to accept a job in St. Louis, with a utility company at $450 a month, but the ISU football coach called me in one day and said he had an alumni who was interested in hiring me. That's how I met the owner of Eagle Iron Works.
I went to Des Moines for an interview where I was given a personal plant tour the by the owner who said there was a good future for this little company because of the new interstate highway program. He offered me $500 a month and I jumped at it.
I had already received my draft notice and they gave me 3 months to get started on a job before I had to report, so we moved to Des Moines and rented an upstairs apartment, with no a/c, for the three months.
Two years later, when we returned to Des Moines from El Paso, Blake was was a year old and Marti was pregnant with Bradley.
We rented a house on 51st St., in Des Moines, and I went back to work in the EIW engineering department.
I really wasn't very good at it, but they were patient with me and I progressed. I got pretty bored sitting at the drafting table, and after a few years, one of the 4 regional salesman had died, whose territory was everything west of the Mississippi River and western Canada. They asked me if I wanted the job,and I jumped at it.
My training consisted of reading file correspondences, of the other 3 salesman, and writing follow-up letters concerning technical issues, equipment specifications, or quotation status.
It was very effective training.
They finally decided I was ready to "sink or swim." The assistant sales manager took me on two sales trip to show me the ropes, and after that, I was on my own.
We sold through dealers, most of who knew more about the product than I did, but they also were patient with me, and it paid off for everyone. I turned out to be the highest producing salesman in the company.
I sold to every company, large or small, and got to be known as the guy to call if you had any problems with your construction sand. My phone rang constantly, when in the office, and I traveled 150-160 days a year-usually two weeks at a time.
My customers were my best friends, and I made or saved a lot of money for them.They treated me like royalty and would even buy me lunch when I came on a sales call. I was treated more like a consultant when I visited. One engineering firm told me,"If you don't know your diamonds, you better know your jeweler."
I sold equipment on a dozen or more small dams and a couple of very large dams, including Portage Mountain Dam in northern British Columbia and the Guri Dam in Venezuela.
Every large company on the west coast was a customer including Conrock, the largest producers in LA, and Kaiser Sand and Gravel in San Francisco. (Herb Harger, president of Conrock still sends me a Christmas card every year.) Back when $1 was a lot of money, I sold a million dollars worth of equipment for the Alaskan pipeline (highway) project.
International Sales
EIW had a very large distribution organization in Europe. The only one who sold anything though, was SYSCOM in Holland. In the early 1960's, Harry Van Alkemade brought a Swiss construction project to Des Moines and I sold them an auto-spin sand classifying system.
One of the conditions of the sale as that I would have to go overseas when the construction of a small dam near Brig, Switzerland began.
This was our first sale in Europe, of an auto-spin system,and as it worked perfectly, it eventually led us to a lot more business.
While there, my boss Clair Laird, who had flown with the French Escadrille in WW1, suggested I visit dealers in France and Spain. While in Paris, I had Marti fly over and we spent a week there and visited Normandy, where her brother (Robert Larson) was killed (1944). His body never recovered.
Through Brad's research, we learned that he was reported MIA, presumed dead,near Hill 55 in Normandy, about 30 days after the invasion. His mortar squad apparently taking a direct hit from advancing German artillery, as the Germans attempted to break the advance and push the Allies back off the beach.
I was always fortunate in my travels, to make friends, who were excellent tour guides, and would take time to show me many historical spots.
I loved the museums in Europe and visited many of the large ones such as Rijks museum in Amsterdam, the Louvre in Paris and the Prado in Madrid.
Harry Van Alkemade's son, Gerry, was my age, and we grew to be great friends. He merged his company with a German company headed by Manfred Brauer, and the three of us sold many large installations all over western Europe- including a large Irish cement plant in Drogheda, Ireland.I have pleasant memories of the good times we had together with the Irishman, including their visit to Des Moines and dinner out at our house on NW Beaver Drive.
Venezuela
Through a consulting engineering friend in the state of Washington, I sold some equipment in Venezuela. Chuck Ferris had the the plant contract for the Guri Dam (a large project in central Venezuela.)
Chuck was the one who always said "If you don't know your diamonds,you better know your jeweler." Again, I had a commitment to visit after it was operating.
By happenstance, I met another friend/customer in Venezuela had sent response to an ad we ran in "Rock Products" (a trade publication of the industry).
EIW received an inquiry from a company in Venezuela that looked promising and Clair Laird thought I should go down and explore the market. The inquiry was from a Venezuelan who owned a sand and gravel operation, very close to the Columbia border.
I responded that I was going to be down in Caracas to check on some equipment at the Guri dam and perhaps we could get together.
Phillips was about my age and he met me in Caracas and drove me over to his hacienda, west of Caracas, near the Columbian border. Phillips was the son of a general, now dead, who had helped put one of the dictators of Venezuela in power. He had inherited a very large ranch in the interim and started a sand & gravel & stone company.
It was an experience riding through the countryside. The road was first class like our interstate, but with toll booths. each toll booth was manned with soldiers armed with sub-machine guns.
The Hacienda was a walled enclosure about a block square. The big steel main gate was guarded by 2 men with shotguns who let us in. Phillips explained that hand guns were outlawed, so guards carried shotguns. The wall served as a back wall for the servants and workers, and with 3 walls added to it, made individual houses. The main house set in the center was "U" shaped with the balloon of the "U" partially open to a formal flower garden and the closed end was an open air dining area. The weather was mild and the setting, just beautiful. I spent a couple of days with Phillips looking over his complete ranch.
I did help Phillips with some problems and sold him some equipment, and we became lifelong friends.He always came by at conventions to tell me "hello."
All in all, it was a very interesting life for an Iowa farm boy. It far exceeded any dreams I had for my life. I made great friends all over the world.
It had been a great experience for an old Iowa boy to travel and see the world, but the problems of customers were repetitious.
One day I received a call from an old ISU friend, Vern Schimper. Vern was a supervisor up at CRI. EIW and CRI had a lot of common distributors, so we we had stayed connected over the years. Vern told me that Howard Slife, the current VP of Sales was retiring and they would like to talk to me and see if I was interested in being his replacement.
Bottom line, I went to Cedar Rapids and talked to Ron Dunmire (the president at that time) and others. I was interested so they sent me to Boston to meet with Tom Phillips, who was head of Raytheon(RTN) at the time. I guess I passed because I soon received a terrific job offer, a lot more money, and RTN stock!
So the rest was history. We accepted and started by putting NW Beaver Dr. up for sale. I took an apartment in Cedar Rapids and drove over Sunday night and back on Friday night,
until it sold, which didn't take very long. Marti had been in real estate, so it didn't take her long to find a place she liked and we moved to Cedar Rapids. I was 50 years old and ready for a change.
The construction industry was in a kind of a funk and was starting to slow- this was part of my decision and I new I would have to had to rebuild the sales staff. Fortunately, I was able to get many friends from the industry who had been laid off during the downturn. We were able to grow our sales by 10% or more, every year, for 6 or 8 years before the next slowdown came.
By the mid 1990's, a combination of business conditions and parent company consolidation of facilities, resulted in my early retirement. I was 63 y/o and happy to accept the retirement and took my pension.
In my early years of retirement, I quickly realized that this was a normal outcome of "big business". I was thankful for the many good years I spent at Eagle Iron Works and Cedar Rapids Incorporated.
I received a retirement pension from both companies and with social security and income off money Marti and I saved, we could look forward to a very comfortable retirement on St. Simon's Island.
WELDON'S FOOTBALL STORIES
March 20, 2020
My older brother Weldon (Wink) Thalacker was the greatest football player to graduate from Ottumwa High School. In High School he played offensive guard and defensive end. I followed him 9 years later and we always had fun relating to our experiences as Ottumwa Bulldogs. During Wink's senior year he was selected as one 10 Iowa athlete scholars to be invited to the University of Iowa to compete for the prestigious Nile Kinnick scholarship. After a weekend of meeting all the coaches and being treated like royalty he was told that although grades were fine the coaches felt that at 175 pounds he wasn't large enough to play line in the Big Ten. That turned out to be good news since he enrolled that fall at Iowa State College to study Mechanical Engineering. The following spring he decided he could handle the studies OK and possibly football would provide him funding for the rest of his education. He went out for spring practice by asking the coach to give him a uniform and if he proved he could make team he would get a scholarship . He ended up making 2nd team defensive end playing behind behind a two year letterman. He got a job being head resident in the dorm system and received a scholarship paying tuition and books plus he was eating on the training table. Life was good! The fall season of 1952 turned out as a surprise when the first team defensive end broke his shoulder in the second game against Oklahoma so he was moved up to first team for the rest of the year.
During the next three years he played against the college powerhouses of Oklahoma and Nebraska. At that time the Sooners were on their long winning streak and they had just come out with a sports illustrated rating system for college football. In the first poll Oklahoma' s first team was rated #1 and their 2nd team was rated #2. That is no wonder since he recalled going to Norman OKL for a game and when they arrived on Friday afternoon Oklahoma had 10 football fields in full practice, apparently they had no limit on their number of scholarships.
In his senior year he was appointed Co Captain of the Cyclones. During the season he was mentioned in a Sports Illustrated article as one of the best guards in the country and he would be an All American if it wasn't for the fact that he played for a small school. He was named athlete of the week that fall and his coaches commented they thought that # for # he was the best player in Big 7 conference. After graduation he was contacted by a couple of pro teams but that was not in cards since he had his draft notice and would go on active duty in 3 months.
He did play with a semi pro team in the service when he was stationed at Ft Bliss in El Paso
Wink was the best brother anyone could ever have and I think about him a lot.
During the next three years he played against the college powerhouses of Oklahoma and Nebraska. At that time the Sooners were on their long winning streak and they had just come out with a sports illustrated rating system for college football. In the first poll Oklahoma' s first team was rated #1 and their 2nd team was rated #2. That is no wonder since he recalled going to Norman OKL for a game and when they arrived on Friday afternoon Oklahoma had 10 football fields in full practice, apparently they had no limit on their number of scholarships.
In his senior year he was appointed Co Captain of the Cyclones. During the season he was mentioned in a Sports Illustrated article as one of the best guards in the country and he would be an All American if it wasn't for the fact that he played for a small school. He was named athlete of the week that fall and his coaches commented they thought that # for # he was the best player in Big 7 conference. After graduation he was contacted by a couple of pro teams but that was not in cards since he had his draft notice and would go on active duty in 3 months.
He did play with a semi pro team in the service when he was stationed at Ft Bliss in El Paso
Wink was the best brother anyone could ever have and I think about him a lot.
Jelly Beans (around 1939) From Dad's Memoirs
March 19, 2020
Seems like I always had a job.
When I was young, and we were still on the farm in Rutland,Iowa, we had to gather eggs every day and gather corn cobs from the cob bin to use in the cook stove.
We would take the eggs to the hatchery every Saturday night for cash money, and mom and dad would give us 15 cents each. That was enough to go to the movies(10 cents) and have a candy or popcorn.
I had a taste for jelly beans, so one night I skipped the movie and bought 15 cents worth of jelly beans(which was a lot in those days). I went out to the curb in front of the store and started to enjoy my treasure. A couple of hours later, when the folks came looking for me, they found be me laying in my vomit in the gutter.
I never did like jelly beans after that.
When I was young, and we were still on the farm in Rutland,Iowa, we had to gather eggs every day and gather corn cobs from the cob bin to use in the cook stove.
We would take the eggs to the hatchery every Saturday night for cash money, and mom and dad would give us 15 cents each. That was enough to go to the movies(10 cents) and have a candy or popcorn.
I had a taste for jelly beans, so one night I skipped the movie and bought 15 cents worth of jelly beans(which was a lot in those days). I went out to the curb in front of the store and started to enjoy my treasure. A couple of hours later, when the folks came looking for me, they found be me laying in my vomit in the gutter.
I never did like jelly beans after that.
My Time In The Army - 1955-1956 (From Dad's Memoirs)
March 19, 2020
Since Iowa State University was a land grant college, all students had to take ROTC. ISU had been designated a field artillery unit. We took one class a week, wore uniforms and drilled with M1 rifles.
I was at an age where I was impressed with the uniform and close order drill. I joined a unit called the "Rushing Rifles" and we met one night a week practicing close order drill. This worked to my advantage when I was in the "real" army and ended up being a drill instructor.
Upon graduation from ISU, I was granted a 3 month extension before reporting for the draft. This was when I started working for Eagle Iron Works (EIW). I got the job at EIW as a result of playing football. The owner of EIW, was a big ISU football supporter and he contacted me after graduation and offered me a job in their engineering department for $500 a month. I had about decided to accept a job from St. Louis Power & Light for $450, but the extra $50 a month was a lot of money back then, so I went to EIW and got 3 months in before I left for the army.
I took my basic training at Fort Chaffee, Arkansas and graduated mid -December 1955, with orders to report to Fort Bliss, El Paso, Texas, in early January, 1956. Marti was 7+ months pregnant with Blake and we loaded our meager belongings in our old Plymouth and drove of to Texas.
Upon arrival in El Paso, we proceeded to look for a place for Marti to live. I had to live on the base through the week, but had Saturday PM and Sunday off.
Because of only a 2 year military commitment, they initially gave me 2 choices. Being a mechanical engineering graduate, I could go to the missile program in Alabama, or stay at Fort Bliss and go through 8 weeks of training to operate the M33 gun control radar system.
(This was before they used missiles to shoot down planes.) We had a battery of 6-90mm anti-aircraft guns. The M33 radar system had a surveillance and tracking radar that aimed and fired the guns.
My good luck was to meet Willis and Elaine Strother. Willis was in my training battery and in the same situation as myself and Marti. We both had single bedroom short-term rentals and ended up getting a two bedroom unit for the wives to live in. Big relief for me with Marti being pregnant.
Willis, having been in the National Guard, had sgt. stripes and thought he had the army all figured out. He said the most important man in the army was the chaplain. There was a small church at Fort Bliss. Willis suggested we start singing in the choir. We picked another friend, Curtis Risso, who was from Decorah, Iowa and had been the choir director of their touring choir. He also had a great voice. I, on the other hand, couldn't carry a tune in a bucket with a lid on it, so I positioned myself between the two of them and hummed along.
Just as Willis had figured, when we were ready to graduate from basic training, the chaplain came to us and said, "You three have been good boys singing in the choir every Sunday. I know some people over in the REPO DEP, and maybe I can help you with your next army assignments."
I spoke up first and said I had a 2 month old baby and would like to stay right here, if possible.Curtis spoke up next and said they have M35 systems near Milwaukee, and if he could get assigned there, he could slip back and forth to Decorah. Willis (who had put us up to all this) finally said he had never been in the Northeast, and there was an M37 systems in Rochester, NY.
I was lucky enough to be assigned to the same battery, I had just graduated from as a training cadre. I led PE classes, marched students to classes, gave close order drill and pulled inspection.
Curtis was assigned to Milwaukee, and poor Willis, who was an E5 sgt., was sent to Thule, Greenland for 12 months!
This was peacetime America, and I didn't feel guilty at all for trying to take care of myself and my young family. I just took advantages of opportunities when they presented themselves.
My first group of trainees were all sgt. first class, and master sgts. who had obsolete MOS# and had to modernize or get discharged from the army. Most had been in the army since before I was born. Remember, I'm only a PFC. My opening speech to them was classic:
"Most of you people have been in the army longer than I have been alive. Most of you chose to be here and I was drafted, but each of us has a job to do. Yours is to get a modern MOS. Mine is to make sure we do this in an orderly fashion. I have the full support of the Battery CO and Battery Commander, both in higher rank than all of you. You have all been in the army long enough to know how to play the game. You will keep the barracks clean, neat and tidy at all times, and that includes the weekends. I expect the beds to be made tight, lockers neat and the floor ready for inspection at all times. We can do this the easy way or the hard way. It's up to you."
I only had one problem- after about 2 weeks, I pulled a surprise inspection on Saturday PM. The barracks was a mess. I had them "fall out" and we did close order drill for a full hour under the HOT El Paso sun, probably 100+ degrees. I returned them to the barracks and told them I would be back in one hour. Upon my return, the barracks was perfect. I never had any more trouble. The Battery CO had a big laugh over it and retold the story a dozen times.
That was the last cycle for E Battery. We sat around for 2 months, keeping just enough around to play pinochle. After daily roll call, everyone else would depart in the a.m., so I would take the rest of the day off. Being an engineer, I was the official sign painter for the whole battalion. So I kept busy part of the time, but it worked to my advantage, as the Battalion CO felt I was a good guy to keep around and he transferred me from E Battery to C Battery, which survived the cut.
One day, after several months, the first sgt. told me that there was another requirement for someone to go to Thule, Greenland, and since I had just a little over a year to go, he said I would be eligible and he didn't have any way of protecting me. Fortunately it was football season, so I decided to go out for the Fort Bliss football team. Once the football season was over, I returned to being a training cadre. I didn't have but 6 months left, so no chance of being sent to Thule(Greenland).
I was at an age where I was impressed with the uniform and close order drill. I joined a unit called the "Rushing Rifles" and we met one night a week practicing close order drill. This worked to my advantage when I was in the "real" army and ended up being a drill instructor.
Upon graduation from ISU, I was granted a 3 month extension before reporting for the draft. This was when I started working for Eagle Iron Works (EIW). I got the job at EIW as a result of playing football. The owner of EIW, was a big ISU football supporter and he contacted me after graduation and offered me a job in their engineering department for $500 a month. I had about decided to accept a job from St. Louis Power & Light for $450, but the extra $50 a month was a lot of money back then, so I went to EIW and got 3 months in before I left for the army.
I took my basic training at Fort Chaffee, Arkansas and graduated mid -December 1955, with orders to report to Fort Bliss, El Paso, Texas, in early January, 1956. Marti was 7+ months pregnant with Blake and we loaded our meager belongings in our old Plymouth and drove of to Texas.
Upon arrival in El Paso, we proceeded to look for a place for Marti to live. I had to live on the base through the week, but had Saturday PM and Sunday off.
Because of only a 2 year military commitment, they initially gave me 2 choices. Being a mechanical engineering graduate, I could go to the missile program in Alabama, or stay at Fort Bliss and go through 8 weeks of training to operate the M33 gun control radar system.
(This was before they used missiles to shoot down planes.) We had a battery of 6-90mm anti-aircraft guns. The M33 radar system had a surveillance and tracking radar that aimed and fired the guns.
My good luck was to meet Willis and Elaine Strother. Willis was in my training battery and in the same situation as myself and Marti. We both had single bedroom short-term rentals and ended up getting a two bedroom unit for the wives to live in. Big relief for me with Marti being pregnant.
Willis, having been in the National Guard, had sgt. stripes and thought he had the army all figured out. He said the most important man in the army was the chaplain. There was a small church at Fort Bliss. Willis suggested we start singing in the choir. We picked another friend, Curtis Risso, who was from Decorah, Iowa and had been the choir director of their touring choir. He also had a great voice. I, on the other hand, couldn't carry a tune in a bucket with a lid on it, so I positioned myself between the two of them and hummed along.
Just as Willis had figured, when we were ready to graduate from basic training, the chaplain came to us and said, "You three have been good boys singing in the choir every Sunday. I know some people over in the REPO DEP, and maybe I can help you with your next army assignments."
I spoke up first and said I had a 2 month old baby and would like to stay right here, if possible.Curtis spoke up next and said they have M35 systems near Milwaukee, and if he could get assigned there, he could slip back and forth to Decorah. Willis (who had put us up to all this) finally said he had never been in the Northeast, and there was an M37 systems in Rochester, NY.
I was lucky enough to be assigned to the same battery, I had just graduated from as a training cadre. I led PE classes, marched students to classes, gave close order drill and pulled inspection.
Curtis was assigned to Milwaukee, and poor Willis, who was an E5 sgt., was sent to Thule, Greenland for 12 months!
This was peacetime America, and I didn't feel guilty at all for trying to take care of myself and my young family. I just took advantages of opportunities when they presented themselves.
My first group of trainees were all sgt. first class, and master sgts. who had obsolete MOS# and had to modernize or get discharged from the army. Most had been in the army since before I was born. Remember, I'm only a PFC. My opening speech to them was classic:
"Most of you people have been in the army longer than I have been alive. Most of you chose to be here and I was drafted, but each of us has a job to do. Yours is to get a modern MOS. Mine is to make sure we do this in an orderly fashion. I have the full support of the Battery CO and Battery Commander, both in higher rank than all of you. You have all been in the army long enough to know how to play the game. You will keep the barracks clean, neat and tidy at all times, and that includes the weekends. I expect the beds to be made tight, lockers neat and the floor ready for inspection at all times. We can do this the easy way or the hard way. It's up to you."
I only had one problem- after about 2 weeks, I pulled a surprise inspection on Saturday PM. The barracks was a mess. I had them "fall out" and we did close order drill for a full hour under the HOT El Paso sun, probably 100+ degrees. I returned them to the barracks and told them I would be back in one hour. Upon my return, the barracks was perfect. I never had any more trouble. The Battery CO had a big laugh over it and retold the story a dozen times.
That was the last cycle for E Battery. We sat around for 2 months, keeping just enough around to play pinochle. After daily roll call, everyone else would depart in the a.m., so I would take the rest of the day off. Being an engineer, I was the official sign painter for the whole battalion. So I kept busy part of the time, but it worked to my advantage, as the Battalion CO felt I was a good guy to keep around and he transferred me from E Battery to C Battery, which survived the cut.
One day, after several months, the first sgt. told me that there was another requirement for someone to go to Thule, Greenland, and since I had just a little over a year to go, he said I would be eligible and he didn't have any way of protecting me. Fortunately it was football season, so I decided to go out for the Fort Bliss football team. Once the football season was over, I returned to being a training cadre. I didn't have but 6 months left, so no chance of being sent to Thule(Greenland).
March 19, 2020
This is the way I remember Uncle Wink and his brothers.
One Dad's Favorite Stories: A Summer Job in His College Days (Early 1950's)
March 19, 2020
I hope you enjoy reading it as much as he enjoyed telling it !
I had a job that summer working on the beef loading dock of John Morrell's in Ottumwa. The beef halves were brought out of the cooler where they had been aging. Refrigerated rail cars would be brought in alongside the loading dock where the beef hung on a rail, hanging by the hind leg.
They would saw through the backbone and let the front quarter hang by some belly flab. The luggers would swing under the front quarter, putting the front leg under their armpit, and swing the rest up on their neck and shoulder. At just the right moment, the "cut down guy" would cut the piece of belly flab and the lugger would carry the quarter of beef into the rail car and hang it on a hook.
You did this all day long. The guys who did this full time developed neck and shoulder muscles so that their necks were almost as large as their waists.
A humorous memory comes to mind.
There was a fellow who cut the belly flab to separate the front quarter from the hind quarter whose name was "Mud Cat." One day he said, "College boy, tell me all you know about the atom bomb." I had heard a joke which washed perfectly. I said, "Mud Cat, let me ask you a question first. You know when a rabbit poops, it comes out like little raisins and when a horse poops, it comes out in large chunks the size of potatoes. When a cow poops, it comes out runny and forms a pie shape. Why is that?" Mud Cat replied, "I don't know." So next, I said, "You want me to tell you about the atom bomb but you don't know sh**!"
Obviously the other luggers loved it and I was immediately accepted as one of them.
I had a job that summer working on the beef loading dock of John Morrell's in Ottumwa. The beef halves were brought out of the cooler where they had been aging. Refrigerated rail cars would be brought in alongside the loading dock where the beef hung on a rail, hanging by the hind leg.
They would saw through the backbone and let the front quarter hang by some belly flab. The luggers would swing under the front quarter, putting the front leg under their armpit, and swing the rest up on their neck and shoulder. At just the right moment, the "cut down guy" would cut the piece of belly flab and the lugger would carry the quarter of beef into the rail car and hang it on a hook.
You did this all day long. The guys who did this full time developed neck and shoulder muscles so that their necks were almost as large as their waists.
A humorous memory comes to mind.
There was a fellow who cut the belly flab to separate the front quarter from the hind quarter whose name was "Mud Cat." One day he said, "College boy, tell me all you know about the atom bomb." I had heard a joke which washed perfectly. I said, "Mud Cat, let me ask you a question first. You know when a rabbit poops, it comes out like little raisins and when a horse poops, it comes out in large chunks the size of potatoes. When a cow poops, it comes out runny and forms a pie shape. Why is that?" Mud Cat replied, "I don't know." So next, I said, "You want me to tell you about the atom bomb but you don't know sh**!"
Obviously the other luggers loved it and I was immediately accepted as one of them.
Thal Acres
March 19, 2020
I was working the flood of '93 in Iowa when Uncle Wink got a hold of me to go golf at Thal Acres in Wisconsin. We were working 12hrs/ 7days a week for 6 months & that was the only break I got. So thankful he included me for that little get away & spend time with relatives! R.I.P. Uncle Wink
Grandpa - The man with 9 lives. The most charismatic and witty person I've ever known.
March 18, 2020
You know, your wit is great and all, but when you get so much amusement from tricking us into thinking your time here is winding down, it gets harder and harder to know when it really is. But now that you’re finally at peace, I can’t help but admire your wit all that much more. You’ve taught me how to see the good in everything, and how to laugh even at the most inappropriate of times. There is no reason to be sad. There is a bright side to every situation (and normally that bright side includes a margarita). My optimism, I get from you. And when people ask me why I am always smiling, it’s because you’ve taught me that there’s never a reason not to. I hope one day that I may stumble across somebody as amazing as you, although I know that’s not possible. But if they can down a pint of double fudge brownie ice cream as fast as you can even when you say you’re not hungry, then hey, at least that’s a good start. I love you Gramps. I am certain they’ve got a margarita with a salted rim waiting for you. Cheers to the most amazing man I’ll ever know.