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ANKARA & ESKESEHIR TURKEY
March 1948-March 1950
© 1999-2007
LtCol Eldon Sanders, USAF (Ret.)
I served as a Master
Sergeant with the 37th Air Force Base Unit (TUSAFG), the Air Force component
of the Joint Military Mission for Aid to Turkey (JAMMAT). My permanent
duty station was in Ankara, but my duty on Monday thru Friday was at the
Turkish Air Force Hospital in Eskisehir where, as a part of the aid mission,
we had set up a training program for Turkish Flight Surgeons and at the
TAF military installation, we had installed a six-man altitude training
chamber for indoctrinating air crews in high altitude physiology.
Generally, the aid mission took an officer and
one or two enlisted personnel to instruct in specific fields, such as aircraft
armament, air communications, control tower operations, supply, aircraft
maintenance, and a whole gamut of other functions. |
While my duty
was primarily in an administrative capacity, I did help to train some of
the Turkish non-commissioned officers in audiometry (hearing tests), dental
assistants, altitude chamber operation
and maintenance
and did some installation of medical equipment furnished under the aid
program.
Our initial party consisted of the following individuals:
General
Earl S. Hoag(deceased) and his wife
Lt Colonel Ralph
Switzer, USAF MC (deceased)
Major Charles Hostler,
USAF
Major Delores Christy,
USAF (WAF)
M/Sgt William Mandros
M/Sgt Gustav Rathgeber
M/Sgt Eldon L.Sanders
T/Sgt William F.
Bent
T/Sgt James R. Britten
(deceased)
T/Sgt Vincent Steele
S/Sgt William B.
Behnen
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The advanced Air
Force party, consisted of Colonel Edward D. Marshall, the Deputy Chief
of the Air Force Group and a M/Sgt whose name I do not recall who was assigned
to the consolidate Finance Office of JAMMAT. General Hoag was the commanding
general of TUSAFG (The United States Air Force Group). We arrived
in Ankara (Etimesgut Air Field) on the 13th of March 1948. I have
indicated those whom I know to be deceased. I'm sure there are others
who are deceased, but I do not know which. After returning to the
U.S., I was commissioned from enlisted and retired in 1970. I enjoyed
my time in Turkey, but the lack of decent sanitation and housing in Eskisehir
for my family made it a rather trying tour for my wife with two small children.
I still have some contacts in Turkey through ICQ and enjoy chatting with
the "younger set".
I am now 76 years
old and have been out of Turkey for 48 years, so my command of the language
has deteriorated. |
By the way, I have
nothing to prove it, but I seem to recall that we got APO privileges
(APO 206A) in about July of 1948. Now whether that was a formal establishment
or an informal arrangement with 206 in Athens, I can't say.
I do recall that I had to use the international banking system to transfer
money to my wife in Houston and had to go through the Turkish authorities
to prove that I didn't get the money off of the black market.
Shortly after she and the children arrived, we were able to use the APO
to send deposits to the bank. We had no commissary for almost a year, but
did have enough organizational aircraft flights to Weisbaden and Frankfurt
to bring in some staples for a small commissary operation. Prior
to that little operation, we generally had to buy huge orders of staples
from Boston or New York and have sea shipment with the products being tied
up in Turkish customs for several weeks.
My son became old enough to start school while in Turkey. Since there
were no schools, either American or Turkish, that we could put him, we
purchased a home instruction course from the Calvert School in Baltimore
and my wife instructed him at home for a period of time. Finding
that others living the nearby area of Ankara who were in the same boat,
we found an American who had married a Turkish officer when they met at
the University of Illinois and hired her to teach our children. Initially,
five students met at my house five days a week and were instructed by this
lady. Each family having a child paid $19.00 per month and the teacher
was furnished two meals per day by my wife. The meals were a bit
of an
after-thought and
was more-or-less a social event for my wife who spent the five days a week
alone with the two children. |
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