MY MEMORIES

Charles Glenn Petersen

1956 - Air Force Years

Keesler Air Force Base

Naturally, they were not really ready for us and we were put in old World War II barracks. It was summer and there was no air conditioning, just a very large exhaust fan. We were on the second floor and the place was a mess. We dropped our bags and slept on a bare mattress. The next morning we were berated for not cleaning the place up first. What did we know, we had no leadership and no directions.

The next thing we were told was that we would be on KP (kitchen police) duty for the next 7 days. Welcome to the Air Force. Up at 4, marched down chow hall road (there were 7 eating facilities on the one short stretch of street) and put to work until about 7 in the evening doing all the dirty work associated with feeding thousands of men every day. The week was a blur.