| Nov.11, 2007 Ed Poffek |
| Received a letter from Ed Poffek of San Bernadino, CA. Ed is in the photo on the left. Ed wrote that his entire class from Francis E. Warren AFB at Cheyenne, Wyo. were sent to 1st. Comm. as replacements. He arrived at McAndrew AFB in Aug. 1954. He spent a few days at McAndrew and then was sent to a long lines camp at Avondale. The camp was next to a road and they could travel by truck to and from McAndrew. He said they were allowed to take a 6x6 to town a couple of times a week. Ed went on to serve 20 years in the Airforce and retired in 1974. Ed has sent me a few photos which I will post here. We have not identified everyone but maybe someone will see this post and help out. |
| CHRISTMAS, 1954 |
| Standing from left, Tom O'Crotty, ? , Dayton Moses, ? , ? , James Pickens with red tie, ? , ? , ? , ? , ? , Joe Hertzog, ? , ? . Front, ? , ? , Jack Edwards, Berkowitz, Davis. |
| Back row L to R, ? , Sharpe, Berkowitz, Harold Hewitt, Ed Poffek, William Coady Front L to R, ? , Richard Klohr, ? . |
| Rear L to R, Berkowitz, Harold Hewitt, Sharpe. Front L to R, ? , William Coady, ? . Two fellows playing ping pong ?. The three photos shown here were taken in the day room of 1st Comm at McAndrew AFB. On the following month, January, 1955, the squadron would move to Pepperrell AFB near St. Johns, Nfld. Jan.3, 1955, 15 men departed for Pepperrell to prepare the barracks for the rest of the squadron. By Jan. 21 all personnel were moved. |
| This group photo was taken in the barracks at McAndrew. The fellow standing with the white shirt is William [Bill] Coady. Lower left front, Dan Zimmer. Next to him, Sharp and behind him Dean. |
| Dan Zimmer is leaning on the pool table. The fellow leaning on the ping pong table is "Rosie". |
| NEWFIE SNOWSTORM |
| I asked Ed if he remembered anything on the squa- dron's move to Pepperrell in January of 55 and this is what he wrote. "How well do I remember the move to Pepperrell!! Myself, Harold Hewitt and Dan Zimmer drove the 6X6 that carried the baggage of the guys that selected the telephone installation carreer field. Then they were shipped out of 1st Comm. to the other bases through out NEAC." "The troops were loaded aboard a greyhound type of bus for the trip to Pepperrell and we carried the bag- gage in the 6x6. The trip started about 9am at barracks 108. The troops loaded aboard the bus and we loaded the bags. It had just started to snow and we were expecting a pretty good storm, so we stoppedby the motor pool and installed chains on ALL 10 wheels. While we were chaining up, the bus pulled in and also chained up. We left the gates of McAndrew at about 9:30 and the snow was about 2 inches." "Since the roads were snowed over the trip was slow going. The distance between McAndrew and Pepperrell was approximately 75 miles. At about the 35 mile mark, Harold Hewitt, who was from Hawaii, had never driven in snow. It was about 12 noon now and the snow was approximately 9 inches deep. We were coming down a slight grade and the snow had a set of tracks already going to the opposite side of the road. Coming up the grade was a civilian taxicab. Hewitt attempted to steer the truck on his side of the road, BUT, he got into a rut of the previous tracks and could not stay on his side. Harold panicked and applied the brakes, but we kept sliding downhill. The taxi coming up the hill stopped when he seen us coming toward him. The closer we came to the taxi, the harder Hewitt pushed on the brakes. Finally, the taxi saw we were going to hit him, so he headed for the ditch. As he started over the embankment, we ran into the driver side of the cab and that straighten us out." "We finally got stopped and checked to make sure no one in the cab was hurt. The cab had a nice sliced opening all along the side. We walked to a little restaurant and called Pepperrell to report the accident and they told us to just sit still and wait, that an in- vestigating team was on their way out because of an- other accident in the area." "We waited around a couple of hours and the in- vestigating team finally arrived. Meanwhile, the bus carrying the troops passed us and they were all laughing and cracking jokes." "The snow was now about 12 inches." "The investigating team told us we could continue be- cause they had a wrecker coming out because of the other accident and they would have the wrecker pull the cab out of the ditch." "We drove up the road a few miles, snowing like hell, and we came upon a traffic jam. All traffic was stopped, but since we had a 6x6 with all wheel drive, we decided to bypass the jam and continue on. As we were creeping past the stopped traffic, we passed the bus. A little further up the road, we saw what the tie- up was all about. A Buick staff car was head on with a large beer truck on the wrong side of the road. That was the reason the wrecker was coming out. Traffic was tied up in both directions but we could make it to the accident site. Cars and trucks were stuck in ditches blocking the road completely." "When we got to the accident, we spent a while re- moving cars out of ditches using the winch on the 6x6. We finally cleared the road blockage and the traffic started flowing again. The snow was still coming down and it was about 15 inches deep." "The bus again passed us." "We waited a while, then started toward Pepperrell." "The time is now around 7PM." |
| "A short way up the road we again ran into another traffic jam. Again we inch our way to the accident site, passing the bus, where we found the wrecker that was sent out to retrieve the staff car and pull the cab out of the ditch, headon with a pickup truck on the wrong side of the road. We again cleared the jam allowing traffic to flow. The bus passed us and the time must be around 9PM. We waited around for a while to see if we could be of further assistance, then proceeded toward Pepperrell." "Everything was going good, UNTIL we got to the outskirts of St. Johns. Before getting to St. Johns there is a pretty good grade. And you guessed it. The road was jammed up because no one could make it up the grade. There were cars and trucks strewn all over the hill and the bus was sitting at the bottom unable to make it up the hill. We thought if we cleared the hill the bus could get a running start and make it up the hill. So we pulled cars and trucks out of ditches so the roadway was open. The bus took a running start and made it half way up. After a couple of tries we thought we could winch the bus up. We tried that, but to no avail. The bus driver then backed the bus into a snowbank which left the rear wheels spinning with no traction. We were getting ready to pull the bus off the bank when the driver got out of the bus to see what to do. One of the passengers got behind the wheel and some way or another, burned the clutch out. The bus was stranded and nothing else could be done." "We left the bus, made it up the hill, and arrived at Pepperrell around midnight. The snow is about 2 feet deep. Never having been to Pepperrell I had no idea where we were going, but Hewitt had been there before. We pulled up to the gate where the AP didn't even come out of the guard shack, he just waved us in. You couldn't see any roads or streets. For those unfamiliar with Pepperrell, after you enter the base you come to a tee and you go either left or right. We came to the junction. Not being able to see any road signs, Hewitt stopped and looked straight up the hill and said 'there's the transit barracks and that's where we want to go.' As everyone knows, the shortest distance between two points is a straight line, and that is what we did. We started up this hill. The 6x6 was sliding, bumping and having a hard time trying to make it up this hill. When we couldn't make it up the hill, we got out of the truck. As we looked back towards the road an AP had stopped, got out of his jeep, and ask 'where are you guys going.' We said the transit barracks and he said there was a much easier way to get there. We backed down the hill and followed him on the road to the barracks. It was now 1AM." "We reported the stranded bus to the duty officer, ate mid- night chow and went to bed." "We were stranded at Pepperrell for three days waiting for the roads to clear." "Upon returning to Pepperrell in the spring of 1955 after the outfit moved, the hill we were attempting to climb was actually the backyard of the barracks area and there were deep ruts on the hillside." "Thats my story and I am sticking to it" "The bus made it ok and all the troops were shipped to where they were going." Ed Poffek |
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