Samuel T Davis:
CLASS OF 1970
Carver High SchoolClass of 1970
Birmingham, AL
Samuel T's Story
After Graduation
After Graduation from High school I didn't have any plans for going to college. I just wanted to get a job and work for a little while until I could make up my mind about what I wanted to do with my life. I tried putting in a few applications in with some companies but it appeared that no one was hiring! I know now, that it was because I wasn't eighteen and the Vietnam War was going on and most employer wanted to hire veterans or people who had little to chance of being called to military service. The draft was on and calling people left and right.
While I waited for my eighteenth birthday on July 1st, I broke three of my fingers playing basketball in a friend's backyard! I had two pins in one finger and one in another, the last one being fractured. This killed my prospects for a job! After I healed, I did get a job with the Birmingham News and from there I went to US Steel Fairfield Works. Working in the steel mill is dirty, dangerous and can be very hard. I decided I didn't want to do this all of my life and to give the military a try! I mean the USAF!
Basic Training was not hard and unlike the way some of my friends that joined the Army described their boot camps. I completed basic training and was sent to Lowry AFB near Denver, Colorado for technical training school. I was there for six and half months learning aircraft radar...Expand for more
electronics. My first duty station was to Ubol, Thailand. That's in Southeast Asia, contributing my part to the war effort for the next year. After completing my tour of duty there, I applied for and received a consecutive overseas assignment to RAF Lakenheath in the United Kingdom. I was there two years and received Temporary Duty (TDY) assignments to Hahn AB, Germany; Torrejon AB, Zaragoza AB, Spain and Aviano AB, Italy. The shortest time I spent at any of the bases was 45 days. When I rotated stateside I was assigned Holloman AFB, New Mexico. I was sent TDY again to Hahn AB in Germany and it was there I received reassignment orders to Okinawa, Japan.
After arriving at Kadena AB, Japan, I went TDY to Kunsan AB, Korea, Clark AB, Philippines and Ohakea RNZAF, New Zealand. I had one of those jobs that when the airplanes go so did the support personnel! After that tour of duty I was assigned to Homestead AFB, Florida. I was there for a year and a half and decided to get out of the service. By this time I had married, a Japanese national, my wife Meriko whom I meet in Okinawa. We moved to my home town Birmingham, AL and have been here since. We have two children, my son Kyle and daughter Ayumi. My son Kyle will graduate Alabama A&M University in May 2010 and pursue a Master's degree and my daughter Ayumi attends University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa.
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