1955-1958 GLOVER, THOMAS L. RA 12480163

It's been sixty years since I donned that uniform and satisfied the obligation that those of my generation had to serve in the military.I ended up as a soldier in the U.S. Army. While I was in training at the U.S. Army Signal School in Fort Devens, Mass., the FBI and Lord knows how many other agencies were in my neighborhood asking if this soldier they were investigating for a secret military clearance was a good security candidate. I spent 6 months in Bad Aibling (Bavaria) Germany, then the rest of my tour in Aviano, Northern Italy attached to the United States Air Force's 629th AC&W Squadron. We were a detachment of army guys working out on the outskirts of the aircraft runway, doing our super secret mission in a little communications shack surrounded by a barb wire fence and our German Shepherd dog, "Hundt." (German for dog). Those air force guys didn't like us. They had to stand in formations, do KP, and dress like soldiers. We on the other hand lived like Hawkeye and Pierce on the TV show "MASH." It was the cold war era and Russia and the U.S. were standing nose to nose against each other and there was the chance that "the balloon would go up at any time." That balloon being the threat of another war. Our sensitive intelligence mission was such that we were the first to be evacuated in the event that the balloon did indeed go up, but thankfully it didn't.

RADIO: AN IMPORTANT PART OF MY PERSONAL LIFE

These graphics bring back crystal clear memories of that wonderful media known as "broadcast radio" which was a very necessary part of every family back during the 20's through the 1950's. The engraving above shows a typical 1930's family gathered around the radio.
My interest in radio is with me even up to today as I have assembled a vast collection of "OTR" as in "old time radio" transcriptions which have been converted to a medium that lets me listen to those old time episodes of "Superman," "Terry and the Pirates," and countless other programs in my digital collection. At the present time I am listening to "The Ave Maria" hour which was a network program presented by the Greymoor Fathers in upstate New York It is a multi episode transcription on the life of Jesus and I listen to it every night as I am slowly slipping off to sleep.

As to the lower photos, those are the two radio receives I used during my clandestine cloak and dagger mission with the Army Security Agency back in the 1950's when I was stationed first in Germany, then down to Northern Italy where I evesdropped.

PRIVATE GLOVER'S UNFORGETTABLE NEW YEAR PARTS ONE AND TWO II

 I posted the top graphic a day or so ago, not realizing that it was a "two parter." Herewith the completion of the "continued next week" column as it appeared way back in 1993.  I received a few emails asking if and when I was going to post the second part. Here it is.

As my military service descends ever deeper into the age of antiquity, I, and a large number of us who were Korean and Cold War veterans, most of us in our early 80's, proudly wear the cap with our military unit emplazoned on it for all to see. You're darn right I am proud to have given 3 years of my youth to the American military! My sentiment is shared by the majority of my contemporaries; just check all those hats you will see as we enter another season of life outdoors. The years I spent in that "hush-hush" cloak and dagger secret society still brings back fond memories of all the wonderful guys with whom I served. I am proud that Uncle Sam chose me to the extent that he gave me and my Army Security Agency buddies a "Top Secret-Codeword" clearance.