STORIES/TEXT/NARRATIVES Only

Contributed By - Jim Depp

View Jim's Photos

___________________________________

Received 3/30/06 - Posted 3/30/06

Bill,
Here's a piece you may find of interest. Keep up the good work!
Jim Depp

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

Trabzon

Returning from an outing in 1961, we were huddled in the back of two of our pickup trucks with covered tops. While passing through a small village, we came to an abrupt stop. There was a lot of commotion ahead of us, including screaming and crying. God forbid, I thought, that we’ve struck a local, especially a child. We pulled to the side of the road and all bailed out to witness a fire of some proportion in progress. The villagers had formed a bucket brigade from a river stream to the fire, but were losing the battle. Without hesitation we all jumped in and fought that fire with them. I’m proud to tell you that our numbers made a difference, and we were able to extinguish the blaze.

It turned out that this was a combination residence for an extended family of over twenty, as well as the family tea house business. These people were devastated, and at the same time grateful for our assistance in salvaging most of the building. In the aftermath we huddled together and decided that the best use we could make of our free time would be to further assist these folks in getting their lives back in order. We gathered some lumber, and headed back to that village to give them a hand at tearing out the charred par of their prized structure, and rebuilding it. We even bought a new window, which was a treasure at that place and time. We sawed, hammered and painted our way into their hearts, and they couldn’t have been more grateful.

They wrote a letter of thanks to President Kennedy, organized a hunting trip for us, and had a ceremony in the village where they awarded each of us a Turkish pin. What a great feeling it is to know that I was a good ambassador, albeit in a small way, when the opportunity presented itself. All the years since I’ve felt that there is at least one small village in Turkey where the citizens feel the Americans are good guys. We always had heard that the only reason we were there in the first place was that they hated the Russians more than us.

____________________________________________________________________

Received 4/25/06 - Posted 4/26/06