Howard Leeds:
CLASS OF 1962
Central High SchoolClass of 1962
Evansville, IN
Plaza Park Middle SchoolClass of 1962
Evansville, IN
Howard's Story
Graduated 1962 and was already packed and left the same day I received my diploma! Went to Tucson, Arizona, for the summer and played tennis with the U of AZ tennis team all summer!!! Went to San Francisco CC for 2 years. Returned to "E" town in 1964 and Mike Million and I bought a new truck and drove the old ALCAN to Alaska!!! Stopped in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory (like going back in time to the 1800's!!) Worked there for the summer as a hod-carrier (mason tender) building warehouses on the Air Force base. Making about $1K a week!! And spending about $900 a week (COL in Alaska is VERY HIGH!!!). Really beautiful!! We would camp our along the river in Hope Junction while the Salmon were spawning and catch our breakfast "fresh" from the stream; gut them; filet them; and cook them right then and there!!! Ate our fill of Alaskan King Crab too!!! At the Anchorage Captain Cook Hotel!! I then returned with a couple of guys driving the ALCAN and the Queens Highway from Anchorage to Buffalo, NY (my home was originally Rochester, NY). Since I did save some money and always wanted a little sports car, I bought a Triumph TR-3. White with Red Leather interior I stayed in Rochester until just before Christmas, when Tom Grim invited me back to "E" town to spend Christmas with him and his family (Sheriff Grim!). So, I took off for "E" town in my TR-3 and was just passing through Columbus, OH, when a State Trooper stopped me!! He looked over my TR-3 and finally found the ONE item I could not get before leaving Rochester! A review mirror on the dash! So, he said, "I'm going to arrest you for NOT having a rear-view mirror!!!". I was pleasant until then and when I finally realized he was serious, I got a little "pissed"!! Anyway, he took me to the OLD jail, photo'd me and finger printed me and put me in jail with about 30 "really BAD guys"!! I called Sheriff Grim and he said he will do whatever he can, but did not believe he could get me out right away. So I played gin rummy all night with an African-American who had killed someone!! Naturally, I let him WIN!!! I did get a Christmas dinner of watery mashed potatoes, something that looked like turkey; a piece of bread, and whatever!! The next morning they released me and a State Trooper took me back to the TR-3 where the Officer had me park it. The Trooper said the Officer who stopped me and arrested me was considered a real "JERK", but he did have the right to take me in!! Also, the Trooper said if he is waiting around the bend for me and I decide to drive the TR-3 without a rearview mirror, the Trooper could arrest me again!!! I decided the sooner I got out of town THE BETTER!!! Finally made it to Tom's house late Christmas day. Stayed and attended Evansville U. for a semester so I could get my deferment. Then, returned to Anchorage, Alaska and worked again the entire summer before the Army decided, even though I had already registered at Alaska Methodist University, that they needed me!!! So, they attempted to draft me, but since I already completed taking a battery of tests, the Army Recruiter told me I should join the Army and become a CI Agent!!! Rather than becoming a grunt, I decided desecration was the better part of Valor!! Went to Ft. Ord, CA for basic and then to Baltimore, MD, for my CI training at Ft. Holabird. Everyone attends Holabird for all of their CI training, no matter what rank or what area of Counter-Intelligence you are being trained for. I always said,"one of the biggest oxymoron is "ARMY-INTELLIGENCE"!! That there was definitely no INTELLIGENCE IN THE ARMY!!! Anyway, lived in Orleans, France; Stuttgart, Germany; and Vicenza, Italy (where my only son, Justin, was born!!! The CI duty was very good and I never wore a uniform!! I lived in very nice apartments and in Italy, a beautiful villa overlooking the entire valley! About 3 months after my son was born, I was transferred to Vietnam! I must say, when I arrived in Vietnam, I had more civilian clothes and my tennis rackets and clothes and I did not really plan on being in a "WAR"!! However, I was WRONG!! About 26 of us CI Agents from all over the World were all transferred to Vietnam to participate in a completely controlled program called "PHOENIX PROGRAM OR IN VIETNAMESE - PHONG WUNG"! The entire Program was at that time a TOP SECRET PROGRAM controlled completely by the CIA!!! But the entire program was under investigation by Congress for atrocities, as the CIA had what they referred to as their "TOP TEN" VCI (Viet Cong Infrastructure), which was considered the "back-bone" of the North Vietnamese. So, essentially, The Phoenix Program was a "TARGET AND ASSASSINATION PROGRAM", and the CIA curtailed us "innocent" CI Agents of the Army to "like" cover up the program, so it would look a little more like a "civilized" program rather than a "killing machine"!!! Anyway, the Phoenix Program was naturally declassified immediately from TOP SECRET to something or other!! It just meant "business as usual" with the CIA going to "deep" cover and us "innocent" CI Agents looking like we were running the Program! NOT TRUE! My Counterpart was a GS-13 in Quang Tri (just 15 clicks below the DMZ) and I was in a co-located compound with Regular Vietnamese Military personnel (mostly fighting men) and a couple of Officers. I reported to the GS-13 and also to CI Personnel in Da Nang. All of my duties were supervised and d...Expand for more
ispatched by the CIA. I was fortunate to have two (2) R & R's, so I visited Australia and Hong Kong. I was released from Vietnam early after only 10 months of duty and just before the TET OFFENSIVE!!! When I returned to the USA, my wife, son and I bought a small travel trailer and drove across country, site-seeing everywhere we could, before ending up in San Francisco, CA, where my relatives lived. After visiting for a couple of weeks, I had already enrolled in a school in Durant, Oklahoma, for two reasons. One because I did not want to be anywhere in the "main-stream" as Vietnam returnees were considered "REALLY BAD", as the press pictured Vietnam Combat men and women as killing women and children, rather than attempting to conduct a combat mission which the USA had encountered with North Vietnam. Secondly, SE OKLAHOMA STATE U (SEOSU). was only one of a small number of schools in the USA which offered a Bachelor's Degree in Professional Aviation. So, I set my sights on becoming a Professional Pilot with a second major in Marketing and Management. After I graduated with a Bachelor of Science Degree from SEOSU, I headed back to California, where my "ex-wife" and son (actually, my son lived with me during the time I lived in Durant until I graduated) were living. I met my present wife, Judy, there, when visiting my ex-wife. I started my Aviation Business in Big Bear Lake, CA, (7,500' ASL - IN THE MOUNTAINS!!!) with a borrowed Piper Cherokee trainer and from the back end of my car. I then bought a used trailer and became a Piper Flight Center and incorporated in California as "Big Bear Aviation". I also was fortunate to have a sponsor from San Bernardino Valley College (SBVC), Mr. Art School, Director of Aviation, SBVC, and also one of the best known Acrobatic Pilots, who did flying scenes for all of the Movie Studios and TV. Art assisted me in securing a State of California Lifetime Teaching Certificate for Junior College Level, in the subject area of Aeronautics. With this Teaching Certificate, Art further assisted me in developing a Private Ground School Certified by SBVC, in Big Bear Lake, CA!!! I soon became a Piper Flight and Sales Center, representing Piper Aircraft in sales of their single engine airplanes. I then opened an Office in Riverside, CA, and became a dealer for the Rockwell single engine aircraft, along with the French manufactured single engine RALLYE STOL! I was able to sell Big Bear Aviation and was offered a very good position as Sales Manager, with Green Bay Aviation, Green Bay, WI, a full Certified Cessna Dealer, including the Cessna Propjet Conquest 441. After "bailing out" Green Bay Aviation from an on-sought of taking trades "over valued" to make the P & L look good, I was offered a chance to open a new Aircraft Sales Organization of my own, East of Chicago, IL, in Aurora, IL, which became CHICAGO AERO SALES, INC.(CASI). I was very fortunate to have a financial backer for the start-up of CASI, which allowed me plenty of flexibility in acquiring, brokering and selling of Prop-jet and pure Jet airplanes, on an International spectrum. I was able to secure CASI as the primary Owner, President and CEO, on my own in 1983. I acquired, brokered and sold mostly Jet Airplanes Internationally, in Europe and Asia, until I closed CASI in August 1994. I accumulated over 10,000 hours of flying during my career, including certification in Cessna Jet; Learjet; Falcon Jet; Hawker Jet; Sabreliner Jet; Diamond (which became Beech Jet) Jet airplanes and all types of Prop-Jet airplanes, including Captain qualified for North Atlantic Crossings, of which I made 11 (mostly from Europe to the United States) and one (1) return flight from the Philippines to the United States. I retired from the Aviation Business in August 1994 and moved with my wife to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, where we presently live. Realizing I have been Blessed to have lived a very interesting and exciting life, meeting people of many different cultures and traveling all over the World, I can positively say, I would not change my life for anyone else's life!!! First of all, I must say everything was NOT always "PEACHES 'N CREAM"!!! No way! There were many times we encountered distressful situations, like when me, along with my Cessna Citation Jet was sequestered by the Italian Government and it was necessary for me to hire an Italian Attorney and Experts from England to assist me in getting my airplane released, and MYSELF, as the Italian Government which controlled the Aviation activity at the Linate Airport in Milano, Italy, had manufactured a distressful situation which they attempted to blame me for and had to divert 26 Commercial Jetliners and attempted to charge me about Three Million Dollars USD for a situation they developed themselves. Ultimately, I and my airplane were released with me only establishing an account at the Banco di Italia, for the sum of $150,000 USD, which I never saw again!! I was sequestered for almost 18 days and finally released on Christmas Day! I flew my Cessna Citation Jet to Zurich, Switzerland, where I checked into a Hotel, disrobed in my room, ran a very hot bath, sat in the bathtub for about 2 hours, just crying and attempting to relieve myself of the trauma I had experienced in Italy!!! Certainly, there many other times things just did not go as planned, but this was I believe the absolute worst experience I remember!
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