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Recieved 4/10/06 - Posted 4/10/06
This is a story about a hunting trip we
took in the middle of winter to an
isolated area of Eastern Turkey not far
from a town called Erzurum. A couple
guys from the Trabzon site and myself
decided to go hunting for Wild Boar (Dolmoose)
sp. We were able to obtain rifles from
the site and a weapons carrier for the
trip into the mountains. This was in
the middle of winter and we had no
heater in the truck It sure was cold but
as you can see by the accompanying
photos we had hooded parkers that we
took with us. We had to go over one pass
which was pretty high. We had arrived at
a small village on our journey and
stopped and asked in broken Turkish
where we could find some wild boar. We
had to show them our rifles and they
took a bullet and stuck it down the
front of the barrel. I guess they were
checking the gauge. Anyway, one man (a
farmer I think) said there were many
where he lived and led us up a mountain
to where he lived. This was a dirt floor
room and he graciously got some goat
cheese and bread his wife had made and
offered it to us. We ate some of it and
the bread was very gritty like there was
a lot of sand mixed in. We could hardly
believe what this guy had done for us.
We did venture out from his farm house
and saw where the Wild Boar had dug
through the snow looking for potatoes or
turnips. We never did see any wild boar
but did shot a coyote. We left him some
of our C Rations that we had with us and
got back to the village. I did met a
young fellow who spoke a little and I
found out he collected stamps. Being a
stamp collector myself, I began sending
him stamps that I had and for about two
years did so and as I recall, he sure
was happy about it.
On our return to Trabzon we almost
did not make it over the mountain pass
because it had snowed the night before.
Even in four wheel drive the truck
almost did not make the crest of the
mountain pass. But we did make it back
to Trabzon and told everyone about our
experience. And that it was. I will not
forget the amount of snow we encountered
and the cold.
I hope
some of you can relate to this and
perhaps you did the same thing at a
later time when things were better.
PS. All these photos were taken in
March of 1959 in the rugged mountains of
Eastern Turkey.
Received -
4/9/06 - Posted - 4/9/06
Smokey,
Here are a few more color slides from
Trabzon. One shows I believe the White
boat docking. There are two from inside
our club "the Club Kismet". We had
Schlitz and Budweiser beer. There is a
beach scene where we went swimming.
Pretty rocky beach. We had a lot of
"Hazel Nut" orchards near the site and
one of the photos shows that. There is
also a photo showing our Red Cross
Weapons carrier we had at the site.
John
Received -
4/9/06 - Posted - 4/9/06
Smokey and Bill,
I found all my color slides of Trabzon and
am forwarding a few at this time. As you
will see, all who see these pictures that
1958 was a long time ago and the airport
shows it. I hope you like the photos.
There are a couple of pictures of THY
Airlines that flew C-47's commercially. Also
one of the photos is "Trabzon International
Airport" 1958/59.
Regards from Florida
John Duhaime
Received -
3/23/06 - Posted - 3/23/06
Bill & Smokey,
I finally found the picture of the
"Big Ear" antenna that we had at
Trabzon. Also, the vans you see were the
"H1" vans I was talking about. Hope you
can open the picture.
Regards, John
Comments Below From Bill McFall:
Good
picture, stuff looks familiar in
this one. This appears to be looking
to the north from the gate to the
site. Is that true?
To the
right and below the "Big Ears" is
the Parabolic antennae That were on
the original blue ELINT van we put
in place in 1953. The tall antenna
is not the same one we set up. That
one had a pyramidal shape not
circular. Was that original blue van
(actually a van box on the back of a
2 1/2 ton 6x6 truck) still there or
is this another similar antenna?
Bill
Received -
3/19/06 - Posted - 3/21/06
Hi Bill,
I have been
emailing Bill McFall and thought some of
this info might interest you. There are two
other pictures enclosed which is our admin
building downtown and the famous "Blue
Goose" Perhaps you can take the photos and
put them on the site.
Regards, John
March 17,
2006:
OK to POST:
Hi Smokey,
This photo was taken in June of 1959
and is a picture of the openiong of the
new BX on Trabzon. The names I have on
the back of the photo are Major McCall,
Captain Duff, and the BX manager Chris.
Perhaps someone may recall these
folks. I hope you can open the photo.
Regards, John
_________________________________________________________________________________
Hi Smokey,
Me again from Florida. Here are three
more photos. One of Trabzon from
Boztepe, one of the guys I shared a
house with downtown and the new barracks
under construction at Trabzon in 1959.
Regards, John
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Hi again
Bill,
I found a couple more photos from
Trabzon. Top photo is of the harbor
with the Black boat docked. Second
photo is of our maid that we had.
Her name was Figgi and she was 42.
Third photo shows some of the guys
who were there in 1959. We were
playing cards in our house downtown
before the barracks was opened.
Hope you
can open the picture.
Regards,
John
_______________________________________________________________________________
More
Pictures, Bill,
Picture one
is me on the way down the hill to
Trabzon. That path is what we went
to town on. Even at night. Picture
two is one of our Turkish guards.
Picture three was the famous
Monastery. Picture four is of a
store in downtown Trabzon.
Hope you
can open.
Regards,
John
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