Martin Raines:  

Thanks for visiting my humble little site. I was born at Fort Sill Oklahoma on May 18, 1947. My father was an artillery instructor in the days after World War II. When I was about two weeks old, we were transferred and moved to Fort Bundy on the east side of Puerto Rico. I don't really remember much about the place but after three years we then were transferred to Fort Kobbe in the Canal Zone of Panama. While in Panama, I recall that we had this pet monkey named Jojo who was a Marmoset which is a small tree dwelling creature. Marmosets have personalities and though they are not typically mean animals, they do throw fits and have temper tantrums. I got along fine with Jojo but he sure didn't like my father for some reason. My father never was a big animal lover and I think Jojo sensed that. We then returned to the states in 1953 just before I started school in Dunn Loring, VA. We moved to a house on Madron Lane which intersected Gallows Road north of Route 50 to the west of Washington DC. I attended Dunn Loring Elementary School at 2334 Gallows Road at the intersection of Idylwood Road for what I think was approximately three or four years. The building is still there but is no longer used as a school the last time I saw it about 14 years ago. Using Google Earth, the sign in front of the school now says it is the "Dunn Loring Center". We then moved to Huntsville, AL followed by Newport News, VA where my father was stationed at Langley Field during the early days of the Project Mercury program, resulting in the last additional attached picture. The family then moved to Kwajalein in the Marshall Islands in 1960 which was a small island 1/2 mile wide and 2-1/2 miles long. Kwajalein was the test location of the Nike Zeus anti ballistic missile back in those days. While there, I worked in the Commissary which is now named "Surfway" in the frozen food and produce section. Kwajalein had no TV at that time so our only form of equivalent entertainment was the free movies at three primary theaters. My mother claimed that Kwajalein was her favorite place of all the locations that we had lived. I suspect that with the absence of TV, people socialized together more rather than remaining isolated in front of a tube watching a quiz show. I spent considerable time on the island working at the commissary now called "Surfway" and setting pins at the bowling alley. We left Kwajalein in 1962 and I returned to the States as a relatively rich teenager who could pay cash for any new American car sold on the open market. We were transferred to Carlisle Barracks, PA where my father attended the Army War College for one year. In the summer of 1963 we were mo...Expand for more