CHAPTER SIX - HALFWAY HOME

 During 1991 Robbie and Jody were married and we vacationed in Virginia Beach near where Rob's ship was in dry dock at Norfolk. This was a dream vacation for me. Besides going to Busch Gardens at Williamsburg we were able to visit the colonial city of Williamsburg. We also visited Yorktown where the British surrendered to Washington in 1781, which ultimately led to our independence. I was able to take a day by myself and visit Fredricksburg, Chancellorsville, the Wilderness, Cold Harbor and Petersburg. 

  Later that summer our guard unit spent two weeks at Pope A.F.B. North Carolina or "No Hope Pope" as it was called. Ft. Bragg, home of the 82nd Airborne, is right next door and we did some ABGD training and some exercises with the Army M.P.'s. It was interesting watching the Army paratroopers boarding C-141's on Green Ramp. Carrying their gear and parachutes made them look like ducks waddling across the ramp. In 1994, while the 82nd Airborne was involved in a training exercise on Green Ramp, an Air Force F-16 collided with a C-130 and the wreckage from the fighter plowed into a C-141 and soldiers that were preparing to board the aircraft killing 24 men. The two crew members of the F-16 and the crew of the C-130. survived. 

 In early 1993 our SP commander at the time requested that our unit be allowed to deploy to Alaska for summer camp. I have never had a desire to go to Alaska and luckily for me our commander got a job offer with his civilian job that he could not turn down. The commander that took his place put in for Hickam AFB in Hawaii. I was ecstatic because I had always wanted to go there and I almost had 20 years of service. So I figured that this would be my last chance to go to Hawaii.

 We pulled a guard drill the first weekend in March and we were scheduled to deploy on March 13, just a few days away. During a meeting on Saturday of the drill weekend we were told that we would have to weigh in. If any of us were overweight we would not be able to deploy to Hawaii. I was the weight control monitor for our unit and it was not an enviable job. Some of the guys would take their anger out on me when they failed their weigh in. Many times the higher ranks that were overweight would not let me weigh them because they would go across the street to the orderly room where a friend would pass them in spite of their weight. I had no control over this but lower ranking Airmen, like myself, did not have that option. We had to go by the book. 

 Your proper weight was governed by two factors. Height and body mass. For example I am 6' 3" tall and my maximum weight was 220 lbs. I didn't totally understand the body mass factor but a tape measure was used to measure body mass. For example a weight lifter might exceed their maximum weight by height but they could pass using the tape measure test. I was 14 pounds overweight because I weighed in at 234 lbs and my heart sank because I only had 6 days to lose 14 pounds. Everyone was skeptical that I could lose that much weight in less than a week but I was determined to make it happen. Nobody was going to keep me from going to Hawaii.

 Over the next six days I ate very little and when I did eat it was something, like a can of tuna. I ran as many miles as I could over the next few days. A friend loaned me his membership card to the Donelson YMCA and I used their sauna a couple of times and their indoor track. After a few days my commander called to say that there had been a meeting and it was decided that I couldn't go because there was no way that I would be able to lose the weight. I went off on him and told him that I would lose the weight and there was no way that I was not going to be on that plane. My tone was insubordinate but I was angry because that point I was totally focused on losing the weight. Luckily for me, he changed his mind and said that he would stick to his original agreement. 

 We were leaving on Saturday and I was scheduled for a weigh in on Friday afternoon in the orderly room. On Thursday afternoon I weighed in at Bridgestone and I was still 3 pounds overweight. Bridgestone is 10 miles from my house and I decided to leave my car at work and walk home. The next morning, before the weigh-in I drove to the Donelson YMCA and sat in the sauna. After that I ran on their indoor track. When I left there I drove over to the base for the weigh-in. I weighed in at exactly 220 lbs. I experienced a tremendous wave of relief and a feeling of exaltation that I had actually achieved my goal.

 That night and into the next day, March 13, 1993, the southeastern states were slammed by a huge snow storm. Cities that were further south, like Atlanta, received over 25 inches of snow and were virtually shut down. When I arrived at the base to leave for Hawaii there was a foot of snow on the ground. I can't describe the feeling of pride that I had when I saw the looks on my fellow guardsman's faces when I walked in the door. They couldn't believe that I had lost that much weight so quickly. I wasn't out of the woods yet, however. When I arrived in Hawaii I would be weighed again in their orderly room. If I failed that weigh in I would be forced to board another plane and return home immediately. 

 I was starving and I wanted to eat again but I had to wait a few more days. After a 6 hour flight to the west coast we landed at Travis AFB in San Francisco for a layover. The next morning we took off for Hickam AFB in Honolulu which was another 7 hours. As we made our approach, the Island of Oahu looked beautiful from the air. It seemed to display all of the colors of the rainbow. After landing we were led over to the orderly room for a weigh in. To my consternation I had gained about two pounds since Friday but fortunately I passed with the tape measure test and was able to stay in Hawaii. Supper really tasted good that night in the chow hall. I managed to hold my weight down for about a year after Hawaii before I started gaining weight again.

  Although Hawaii was much warmer than home, the islands were going through a bit of a cold spell. The temperature was a cool 65 degrees when we landed and with the ocean breezes it was cooler than I expected. It warmed up considerably, however; over the next few days. Our barracks were a couple hundred yards from the beach and we enjoyed a great view of the Pacific Ocean. People are incredulous when I tell them that I did not go to the beach, or swim the entire time I was in Hawaii. I just don't enjoy swimming that much and never have. The ocean is beautiful to look at but that is the extent of my interest. 

 Hickam is the most beautiful air base that I have ever been on and I have been on some beautiful air bases. What was pretty neat for me is that the December 7, 1941 Japanese air attack is still very evident on base. Most of the buildings were there during the attack. The fire department, aircraft hangars and a huge barracks building which now houses the headquarters for PACAF or Pacific Air Forces. These buildings still have bullet holes and battle damage. Especially the headquarters building. Almost every inch of this building was strafed by Japanese planes and sixty airmen died there that day. 

 I was able to get a good then and now picture of the barracks building near the flag pole which is where it was during the attack. There is a famous picture of a tattered and bullet ridden flag flying while the barracks burns in the background. I was able to find the location where the original photographer was standing and took a modern day picture. There is a great little museum inside the headquarters building that houses the original battle damaged flag that flew that day. This same flag flew over the White House on the day that Japan surrendered in 1945. There is also a beautiful water tower that is 171 feet tall and was built in 1938. It is still in use and has been renamed the Freedom Tower.

 Oahu has a great bus system that travels around the entire Island and the fare was only a dollar at that time. We took advantage of this bus system and I visited Honolulu almost everyday while I was there. I loved Waikiki, Diamond Head and we would go to Ft. Derussy, which was a historic military resort on the beach. There were historic hotels on Waikiki and a huge international flea market that was really neat. My sister Carolyn Segroves Kemper had been living in Oahu since she moved there with her husband in 1978. My brother-in-laws name was John Kemper and he was a WW2, Korea and Vietnam veteran. John served over 30 years in the army and when he met Carolyn he was a paratrooper in the 101st Airborne stationed at Ft. Campbell. Carolyn was born in November 1940 and she met John when she was around 14 and he was 26. They were married in the mid 1950's are still married as far as I know. 

 For some reason Carolyn seems to have disowned our family. She has refused to answer my phone calls over the last few years and has broken off all contact with everyone here in the states. Why she has done this is a mystery to all of us. We have done nothing to upset her as far as we know. In 1993, however; Carolyn and I were still in contact with each other. I called her number and told her that I was in Hawaii. She brought my brother-in -law John with her when she came to see me at Hickam. Carolyn seemed genuinely excited to see me. She was living in a condominium in Aiea Hawaii, which is just above Pearl Harbor. I only visited her home one time while I was there and she had a great view of Pearl Harbor from her back door.

 For the whole two weeks I was there she would come and pick me up and we would either go sight seeing or sit in her car and talk for hours. We talked a lot about her memories of daddy, mother and the family because I am always curious about these things.  She gave me a grand tour of Waikiki and Honolulu. We also went to the Punchbowl military cemetery and the Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor. My niece Carmella went with us to the Punchbowl. She was engaged at the time to a sailor who was a submariner at Pearl Harbor and he would later become an officer. They were later married and have had several children since I saw her. I tried to capitalize on this experience and become closer to Carolyn. We communicated with each other for years after I left Hawaii by phone and mail. She even sent me gifts but after her mother died she cut off all communication with me, her brother Michael and my sister Faye. She even refused to come back home for her mothers funeral. 

 While in Hawaii I lucked up and worked day shifts the whole two weeks I was there  primarily on the flight line. On a couple of different days I worked at the Ka'ena Point satellite tracking station. This wasn't too far from the Opana Point location where an Army mobile radar station detected the attack on Pearl Harbor. Ka'ena Point had a spectacular view of the Hawaiian coast line from the radar station which was on top of a mountain. When Debbie picked me up from the airport in Nashville she had some bad news for me. She told me about my Aunt Catherine who was killed after the car she was riding in was in was struck by the Broadway Dinner train in Nashville.   

  On June 21, 1993 Debbie and I were going to have our 25th wedding anniversary and I wanted it to be special. I Asked her to renew our vows and she agreed. When we were married, I would have been too shy to sing to her because I was too shy to sing in public at all. Other than the Christmas Eve party in Turkey I never had the courage to sing in front of people. Not until I was 29, and attending Florence Baptist church in Murfreesboro, did I find the courage to sing in public. We visited there one Sunday and the pastor came by our house a few days later. Before leaving he casually mentioned that his church was going to have a talent contest and I told him that I would like to sing. He put me in the line-up but my self esteem has always been low and I wasn't sure how I would be received. People were raving about my voice. This gave me the courage to sing in public and I have never had a problem since. I have even auditioned for America's Got Talent and The X Factor several times without success. Over the years I have sung at a multitude of churches and before large audiences without a problem. I am still very self conscious, however; and it affects my stage presence, which continues to be a hindrance to me.

 I had always wanted to sing to Debbie and this was my opportunity. She wasn't expecting this and it was a surprise. I asked my Uncle Bud to officiate and I knew a lady pianist that agreed to play the piano for me. Most of our family and some friends attended. This was a much bigger group than attended the first wedding in 1968. As Debbie walked from the back of the church toward the altar I began singing I'll Still Be Loving You by Restless Heart. I could see the surprise on her face and I began to be overcome with emotion. We stood there together and repeated our vows. After we finished I sang Through The Years by Kenny Rogers as I held her hand and looked into her eyes. This was our song and both of us were crying. I was crying so hard that it was all I could do to finish the song. It could not be possible to feel more love for a woman than I felt for Debbie at that moment. Most everybody in the audience was crying along with us. Someone told me later that they had never been as moved by a wedding as they were by this one.