John Nelson:
CLASS OF 1969
University High SchoolClass of 1969
Spokane, WA
John's Story
After U-High graduation in June of 1969,I traveled with my older bro to San Diego and lived in Ocean Beach in a sand-floored garage.I showered at a public shower, and "got around" on a '67 Triumph 650 Bonneville! Ocean Beach was the "hippie and flower child" scene in San Diego! Racing through Eucalyptus trees with their pungent scent, speeding up the Silver Strand after an record-setting cold and snowy Spokane "arctic" winter was extremely vindicating! There is life after the darkness of a mostly sun- less frigid Northwest. Knowing that I only had until September 15th until I was gone for at least a year was on my mind constantly.
My most memorable event of those months was assisting elderly, invalid senior citizens visit the Interstate Fair.The irony was that these people were in the twilight of their lives
and I was just beginning mine!
Sept.15th I flew to San Diego to
commence Boot Camp! It was stressful
though not physically tough.I was there until late November, t...Expand for more
hen after
about a week back in Spokane,I flew
to Memphis,TN.,to begin Aviation Electronics (AV"A" SCHOOL) at Milling-
ton,TN.I was anxious to get to "the
other side of the world",so I didn't
have a lot of patience for technical
training, though among the Military
services, this school was/is rated
with the best! Because of my "lack of
attention," I was assigned to remedial
"night school" Because of this constant repetition of key concepts,
I was later promoted sooner than my
"mainstream peers!"At graduation we
were given preferences based on our
scores.I requested "12th Naval Dist"
(California-Nev)and received orders
to "Attack Squadron 164 Ghostriders"
based at NAS Lemoore,CA.(near Fresno)
I didn't know it at the time,but my
unit had lost more pilots and planes
than probably any in the Navy's
history (since WWII,or ever!)The base housing had many wives and children
of brave men(some of whom are just
now (in 2008) having their remains recovered by JOINT DOD FIELD TEAMS.
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