Dad on Chanute

I forgot to tell you that I lived upstairs in the old WWI barracks.  The bunks were single stacked upstairs because the floor was not strong enough to support double stacked barracks.  I told you that the barracks had 4x4 posts down the center aisles.  They would squeak when the wind blew hard.

Danny, Bill, Frank and I were in Jet Engine Class when our NCO instructor was called out of the classroom.  He walked back into the classroom and I will never forget what he said.  He asked, "Anyone in here from TX?"  Danny and Bill raised their hands.  He then said, "The governor of TX has just been shot in Dallas".  "Oh by the way, President Kennedy was killed."  He turned around and started writing on the chalk board.  We sat there in shock.  What the hell was going on??

We were later marched over to a large building and it may have been White Hall.  We were briefed on what had happened and that we were now on "red alert."  In the cold war years that was very serious.  We were then marched back to our barracks.  Back then we did not have a tv in the barracks.  So all we could do was sit around and speculate what was going to happen.  It was a scary time for an 18 year old kid so far away from home.  I will never forget my feelings during those days.  It still chokes me up to think about 49 years later.

By the way, the instructor Sgt Callman was a drunk and he was probably just allowed to stay around until he retired.  The whole situation did not seem to phase him.  His whole attitude was so ho hum.