I arrived at Sheppard, I believe in May or June of 1962.  For the first year or so, I was assigned to the Periodic Maintenance Dock as Assistant Dock Chief. I was promoted to SSgt shortly after arriving here. After about a year, I was given the job of Crew Chief and Flight Mechanic on one of the squadrons C-47's.  I took on the job on aircraft number 43-15949. One of our major missions was the transportation of repair-recovery crews and parts for Air Training Commands's T-37 and T-38 jet trainers.

I got a lot of flying time, (actual stick time) in the old bird. It was a dream to fly and as I remember, her stall speed, with no load on board was 55 knots. I remember one night in particular. We took off from Sheppard in the late hours of the night, heading for Minneapolis. As soon as the landing gear was up, the pilot headed for the back to take a nap. I got in the left seat and the co-pilot said, "its all yours", and proceeded to read a paperback novel. Within 10 minutes, he was snoring. I had it all to myself until we got to our destination. Woke them up for the landing.

I went on to become and instructor and then a Standboard Flight Examiner on the aircraft. I also taught systems and how they operated, to our Pilots so they would know exactly the sequence of happenings when they moved a control or switch.

When the squadron received it's second T-29, I moved up, (I Guess), and took over the same duties as I had on the C-47.  I remained current on the C-47 and remained a Fllight Examiner, being now, dual qualified.  I also became an Instructor on the T-29 and again, taught systems to our Pilots and in this case, Navigators. I was at one time offered the Generals Airplane but declined. I wanted no part of it, thanks.

Don Lewis and I were good friends, and at lunch time, we were usually into a few fast games of "Moon", a domino game. We always played as partners, and honestly, we were hard to beat. We could read, by the plays, just about what the other had in his hand, (without cheating too). We played fast and furious and got in several games during lunch hour.

Then, the dreaded day arrived.  I got a call from Mrs Berry.  When you got a call from Mrs Berry, you had an assignment, mine was for Vietnam. I did not have to take this particular assignment as my wife was 8 months pregnant with out youngest daughter. I had picked up some information at a couple of other places, of a new operation in Southeast Asia, and felt pretty sure this was it. I had 72 hours to make the decision. My wife and I decided I would take this one. Reasoning that if I declined, as soon as the baby was born, I would get the next one and who knows what it might be. As it turned out, this was the new operation. Those selected for the initial phase were selected for their current or previous qualifications on the C-47 aircraft.

After Jungle Survival, (Swamp Rat) and Water Survival in Florida and Combat Flight Training in Louisiana, I sat at home awaiting further orders from May 26th until late August.  (my youngest daughter was born May 25, 66). I left the continental U.S. on August 31, 1966, (the birthday of my next to youngest daughter), headed for Saigon, under Project "Phyllis Ann", Crossing the Pacific in an EC-47.