Eugene Mark:  

Edited February 12, 2023 ***** I guess I should begin this with my ending at CHS in 1969. As a lot of you know, I was not allowed to be a part of the commencement activities, since I did not pass my Senior year of English. Instead, I finished my high schooling in summer school. But I did get my diploma and soon thereafter, entered the US Coast Guard. I completed my boot camp in Alameda, CA and was assigned to a buoy tender in Ogdensburg, NY in November 1969. I worked as a deckhand on the USCG Cutter Maple until March 1970. I then attended Commissaryman School at Governor's Island, NY and became a cook upon my graduation at CG Base Buffalo, NY. While in Buffalo, I was promoted and I transferred to an ice-breaking tug boat (USCG Cutter Ojibwa) with around 18 guys on it. While breaking ice in the Detroit River (between Detroit and Toledo), I met the girl that was to become my wife at the Detroit USO. Before Pat and I got married, I transferred from the tug boat to the search and rescue station in Rochester, NY. We got married on October 22, 1971 and rented our first apartment in Rochester. While I was the cook there, I also worked as a boat crew member and sometimes a teletype operator. It was on the teletype that I answered a message and volunteered for a transfer to an icebreaker in Milwaukee, WI. I made one trip to the North Atlantic (above the Arctic Circle), then decided to take a discharge in June 1973 before the boat was going to make another similar trip. We moved to Knoxville in 1973 and I worked various jobs until I attended truck driver training in Atlanta, GA and began working for Williams Lime Mfg Co in December 1973. I worked for them until June 1975 as an over-the-road tractor-trailer driver. During this time, we had a son, Geoffrey in September 1974. In June 1975, I began hauling brick for a company based out of Corbin, KY. I worked for them as a brick hauler for about 6 days before having a major wreck just at the top of Jellico Mountain. I ended up in a cast from a compound fracture for 7 months. While I was recovering, the company got sold and the new one didn't want a driver that had that kind of wreck on their record. I ended up going back into the military...the Army this time, and went to school in Ft Gordon, GA to learn data telecommunications. I was there from April 1976 to August 1976, then stationed at Ft Stewart, GA. My daughter, Jaime, was born there 6 days before we left Ft Stewart. We were there for 17 months before getting orders to Mannheim, Germany. During our tour in Germany, we extended for a year and stayed 4 years and I got my last promotion to E-6 (Staff Sergeant). When we received orders to go back to Ft Gordon, we stayed there for two years. I was a teletype operator instructor teaching typing, a Platoon Sergeant, an Operations NCO, then went back to school for a short time for a specialized training. When it came time for re-enlistment, we requested Mannheim, Germany again...and got it! This tour, we lived in a German apartment building instead of military quarters. We had a fabulous assignment! We visited England, The Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Belgium and France. I learned some German and we were able to travel easily! I was then requested to transfer to Belgium to try to straighten out a Telecommunications Center there. After that was accomplished, I turned it over to another NCO I knew would keep it running the way it should be and transferred to another small activity at SHAPE, Belgium. When I completed one year there, I was transferred to Arlington, VA. While on assignment there, I was fortunate enough to be sent to the Marshall Islands in the South Pacific for a few days. My Commanding General requested that I perform an inspection of the Telecommunications Center there. I was glad to do i...Expand for more