We lived in a multistory barracks at Redstone and on one end were several Turkish NCOs who were to take over launch duties from us in Turkey when they were ready. To our surprise one day we were served beef bacon with our breakfast. From that day on until I left for Turkey, the mess hall never served any pork products as the Turks were also sharing the mess hall. At school, a Turkish NCO let my have one of his cigarettes. Talk about strong. That was my last one of those.

My memory of the arrival at Izmir Airport in Jan 1962 was not too impressive because it was raining and the roof of the terminal building had a major leak with rain pouring in. We were drove out to Cigli AB to a brand new barracks constructed just for the build-up of the Jupiter Missile crews and support personnel, the 7231st Technical Training Group.

Our function was to man the missile sites until the Turks were ready to take over that function. There were 5 launch sites with 3 launch pads per site. Our site was LP-5, the furthest into the mountains. I particularly remember many harrowing trips in a bus through the mountains with a bus driver who knew no fear. There were no guard rails or dividing lines, just hoping we would not meet a truck on our side of the road around the next bend. There were many pretty sights along the trip though, I remember the trip down into Manisa as being very nice. Someone said in ancient times, hermits used to live near there.

My wife and kids were unable to accompany me for awhile because of the ban on dependents going to Europe at that time. She was finally able to get there in July. In the meantime, I did a lot of looking around and sight seeing. I have one memory on being on the waterfront street in Izmir when they had a parade near where they had several Turkish warships tied up. When the parade came near everyone of the Turks came to attention, and after a few glances at us, we did too, even if it was not our flag, in other words when in Turkey, do as the Turks do.

Our missile site had the American crew members and Turkish security force including dogs and a double fence. There was one single story barracks with us on one end and the Turks on the other. There was one mess hall in the middle with separate kitchens. In addition to the security force, there were a few Turkish officers who worked with the American Launch Control officers. These officers also lived on our end. My memories include sleeping in that building every 3 weeks with 3 diesels running right outside. There was also a constant maneuvering between the our end and the Turkish end to see who got the hot water for showers.

Many good evenings were spent playing volleyball against the Turks and sometimes wrestling. They are near pros at wrestling. I used to play checkers with a Turk low ranking enlisted man in the mess hall, he could speak some English and gave me the impression that he might have had connections to get his job as a cook. Once a season the Turks had a field day washing their uniforms and cleaning up the barracks. For several of the guards, the toilets were their first experience with a flushing toilet, which led to a few problems on the Turkish end of the building, not too pleasant.

There was a Turkish sheep dog that just showed up at the site and never left. It had an odd barb collar that protected it from wolves. It laid most times just outside the kitchen, we called it White Fang. When we left Turkey a guy named Sam somehow took it with him to the USA.

When my family arrived we found a place in Karsiyaka, a suburb of Izmir on the Bay of Izmir. The waterfront of Karsiyaka was just beautiful. Our house was a recently built 2 story home of which we had the top story. It was across from several smaller homes that had a common large yard and a well where they washed up and got their water. There were several young Turkish kids my daughter played with there.

We have several memories of camel trains of maybe 6 or 7 camels coming by the house. The police would come by in pairs on white horses and blow whistles to, as they said, scare away the thieves. One night they told my wife to take down her wash from the side balcony or risk losing it to thieves. They kept pretty good watch on our place - I had donated some flashlight batteries to them.

That winter a poor family camped in a tent on the vacant lot next to us, the husband repaired our shoes a few times. Unfortunately he died that winter in the tent.

Our missiles were taken out of service as part of the deal on the Cuban Missile Crisis before the Turks even got to take over our site. As there was an attempted overthrow taking place at the time we left in 1963, we left for the airport in a guarded convoy. Our time in Turkey has many good memories, I for one would like to return for more touring of the ancient ruins, for my wife she will just stay here.