MY MEMORIES

Charles Glenn Petersen

1956 - Air Force Years

Brookfield Radar Site (continued)

Once established at Brookfield, we were reunited with 2 of our classmates from Keesler, John Thomas and Hank Bauer, both of whom had just completed their tours of duty at different radar sites in Labrador. Both John and Hank were from California, John from Long Beach and Hank from San Diego. John was outgoing and gregarious while Hank was a bit shy and introverted. John was one of the most interesting characters I have ever met.

The USO would bring some girls from Warren to the base once in a while for dancing and socializing. Ed, John, and I got to know some of the girls and found that they often went to Youngtown on Friday nights were there was a dance hall with a DJ. These dances were mainly populated by young people in the twenties, ideal for us. Those dances became our normal Friday night activity. By this time, Ed and I had bought a car together, a 52 Chevy 2-door. Both of us were then able to date a few of the girls we had met, but nothing serious.

The Brookfield Radar Site had 2 so-called gap-filler-radar sites associated with it. One of those sites was in northern Ohio not far from Lake Erie. The other was deep in the hills of Southern Ohio between Zanesville, Ohio, and Stubenville, West Virginia. These sites ran by themselves, but each week there would be a group of 2-3 guys going to each site for a few days for preventive maintenance and repairs. Ed and I started going to those locations once in a while and eventually he was assigned permanently to the southern group and I to the northern group.