Years spent overseas in the Army changed my life | Opinion
Sixty-seven years ago I began a rewarding journey that changed my life forever. Beginning in the winter of 1954, I traveled to at least three countries and several cities in Europe. Since my memory is a bit fuzzy on some of the places, I pulled out my Funk & Wagnalls Hammond World Atlas from 1974 to remind me of where I had gone. Luckily I had the forethought to underline the places in red ink.
It all began with a 14-day voyage across the Atlantic on the troop ship Maurice Rose, which rocked and rolled as the sea churned. Many of us were seasick from the movement of the turbulent waters and the smell of fuel and machinery that powered the ship. There was also the scary sound of the water-tight doors as they opened and closed for testing purposes.
At the end of the two-week ordeal, we landed in Bremerhaven, Germany, where many troops disembarked, but my group and others had a way to go yet. We later landed at Southhampton, England, and took a ferry to Calais, France. A train and later a truck carried us to Toul Rosieres Air Force Base near Nancy, France, for a 17-month tour of duty.
From there it was easy to take weekend train rides to Paris, where I learned to ride the subway, or Metro" as they called it. I visited historic sites, saw great shows and tested the pastries in bakeries and restaurants. My duties took me to Metz and Verdun, where I picked up films for training sessions. As the chemical, biological and radiological warfare NCO, I spent a week in Salzburg, Austria, studying those subjects.
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In April 1956 I was transferred to the Greenham Common Air Force Base at Newbury, England. From there it was an easy trip to London. On Sundays, the base service club offered bus trips to castles, palaces and cities within a few hours' drive.
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I remember visiting Windsor Castle, one of Queen Elizabeth II's residences, and Blenheim Palace, the home of the Duke of Marlborough. One Sunday we visited Stratford-upon-Avon, the home of Shakespeare. Once we had lunch with our backs resting against the prehistoric Stonehenge blocks on Salisbury Plain.
As I looked at the map in that atlas, I remembered that I had been to Brighton on the English Channel and the tourist town of Bath. I was reminded that I spent New Year's Day 1957 in Oxford, where I saw Samuel Beckett's "Waiting for Godot" at a playhouse. I spent my 20th, 21st and 22nd birthdays overseas.
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But I wanted to travel farther than our simple bus tours, so my friend Harvey Brewster of Michigan and I spent our leave in Scotland. We took a train to Edinburgh and spent a week in that city and cruised up the coast to Glasgow.
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After 13 months in England, two months shy of being in the military three years, it was time to get back to Knoxville. It seems I took the trip in reverse across the English Channel to Southampton and to Bremerhaven, then boarded the troop ship Alexander Patch for the 13-day voyage home. We had the same unpleasant trip back, except it was a day shorter.
On May 17, 1957, 1 spent my last day on active duty at Ft. Jackson, South Carolina, where I had been issued my military clothes and got my first taste of Army life. Those 35 months had completely changed my life.
Robert J. Booker is a freelance writer and former executive director of the Beck Cultural Exchange Center. He may be reached at 865-546-1576.
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Years spent overseas in the Army changed my life
