| Istanbul in
the late 1960s was wonderful. The bridges that now span the Bosphorus
had not yet been built.
Water taxis
and ferry boats were plentiful. There were only four traffic lights in
the entire city.
No vehicle congestion. Incredibly
low prices. Wonderful restaurants and night clubs. A sophisticated population
who considered themselves to be European.
A very small
U.S. military presence (less than 100 people) who lived on the local economy
- we had no base.
One six story building served as
an office building with base supply and the APO in the basement, the Comm
Flight and crypto stuff on the top floor, the clinic on the third floor
and all other functions (Command HQ, CBPO, Admin, Finance, CE, etc) in
between. Across the street was a building which housed enlisted billets,
NCO Club,
Dining Hall, bowling alley, barber
shop and laundry/dry cleaning pick-up. The actual laundry plant was
at Karamursel. About a quarter mile down the street was the third
building. It had the motor pool on the ground floor, commissary, BX, library,
chapel, personnel services, an eight room BOQ and an officers' club.
About five
miles further away was a grade school for dependents of the military and
US Diplomatic Corps. And across the Bosphorus (in Asia) was the commissary
warehouse which supplied not only Istanbul but Ankara, the Black Sea sites
(Trabzon, Sinop and Samsun) as well as any number of other small US Navy,
Army, Air Force and Coast Guard sites. Married personnel all lived
on the local economy.
Virtually no
American tourists. No anti-American demonstrations. No television
and no Armed Forces Radio. Only two radio stations - both were in
Turkish
And all around
us were such sights and sites. Trips to Egypt or Lebanon (when Beirut was
still the "Paris of the Orient") were easy to manage. Exotic bazaars. Splendid
mosques. Great restaurants, night clubs and cabarets. Low prices.
A favorable dollars to Turkish Lira exchange rate. History became
so tangible - you could smell, hear, touch and almost taste it.
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