MY MEMORIES

Charles Glenn Petersen

Brookfield Radar Site (continued)

The radar antenna was located on a three-legged tower about 100 feet tall. There was a narrow stairway that wound its way around the outside of the tower. I remember the first time I went up the tower. The further up I went, the slower I got, until near the top I was moving at a snail’s pace and hanging on to the railing for dear life. By the time I finished my two-year stint at the radar site I could run all the way up with a meter in one hand and tools in the other with no fear.

The Staff Sargent in charge at the northern site was a lazy ignorant carouser from Kentucky. Although he was married, his main interests were fast cars, drinking, and women, of which he was not very good at any of them. He really knew very little about radar maintenance and relied on either, the civilian tech rep that sometimes came with us, or on me.

At the time I was still an Airman Second Class (two stripes). Ed had been promoted to the same rank while in Labrador and to Airman First Class during our first year in Ohio. When the Sargent in charge was transferred to another location, I was put in charge of the northern site and promoted to Airman First Class. Shortly thereafter Ed was put in charge of the southern site. There were 8 of these gap-filler-radar sites in the region. My site had the newest and best equipment so it was easy for me to maintain number one status among the 8 sites. Ed had one of the worst pieces of equipment but he was always able to hold onto the number 2 site among the 8 sites. We both knew what it took to keep our sites up and running.

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