ABOUT

I graduated from Carlisle Sr. High School in June of 1961 with a double major in Commercial and College Prep classes. I’d lived the life  of an Army Brat for 18 years and had no plans beyond high school for the future.   My father, also named “George,” served three years during his youth with the CCC in Upper Michigan during the depression, then spent a year working as a seasonal hire with the Inland Lime and Stone Co. After experiencing a period of unemployment, he would find work through the WPA. He joined the U. S. Army in December of 1940, having recently married and needing an income. Before retiring after 27 years’ service, dad landed a six-year assignment at the U. S. Army’s War College in Carlisle, PA. A blessing of sorts in that we were able to establish a modicum of “roots.” Simultaneous with my graduation from High School in 1961, dad’s assignment at the War College came to an end. His new assignment was to Izmir, Turkey where he was assigned to TUSLOG. I was burned out by this time with academia and decided to accompany my father and family to Turkey. Not long after our arrival in Izmir I found employment through one of my dad’s Army contacts as a local hire with Chrysler Corporation Missile Division (USAFTA) working out of Çigli AFB near Izmir, Turkey. I was subsequently assigned to an Installation and Checkout Team (I&C Team 2) working in the desolate mountains of Turkey installing Jupiter Missiles. Chrysler Corporation Missile Division’s European operations and my life intersected during the ongoing Cold War at a strange place during an interesting time. Chrysler Corporation Missile Division’s I&C Teams (there were two teams) completed their NATO I Jupiter installations and checkout in Italy by June of 1961 and then headed for Turkey to complete the 2nd phase of Jupiter installations under the established NATO II deployment plans. By February of 1962 the last of the five sites, Launch Position 5 (LP-5), was completed by I&C Team II and the contract came to an end. The English contractors headed back to England, the Turkish laborers melted back into the countryside and the Chrysler Corporation employees went back to Michigan anticipating work with Chrysler’s new Saturn Project. Since I had been contacted by the Carlisle Draft Board by radio phone while working in the mountains, I decided to join the USAF in lieu of being drafted into the U. S. Army. I joined the USAF in April of 1962…and was subsequently assigned to Minuteman Missiles. I was shocked and angry to learn while attending USAF Tech School at Chanute AFB, IL, that  Jupiter missile installations were at the center of controversy between Russia and the United States as Russia installed missiles of their own in Cuba…giving rise to the Cuban Missile Crisis of October, 1962. This web site’s objective is to share those times and experiences with those who never knew of our efforts back in the 1960’s to serve and protect Europe as well as the United States of America from the ever-threatening Russians in their quest to dominate the world during the time known as the “Cold War.”
Made with Xara

ABOUT

I graduated from Carlisle Sr. High School in June of 1961 with a double major in Commercial and College Prep classes. I’d lived the life  of an Army Brat for 18 years and had no plans beyond high school for the future.   My father, also named “George,” served three years during his youth with the CCC in Upper Michigan during the depression, then spent a year working as a seasonal hire with the Inland Lime and Stone Co. After experiencing a period of unemployment, he would find work through the WPA. He joined the U. S. Army in December of 1940, having recently married and needing an income. Before retiring after 27 years’ service, dad landed a six-year assignment at the U. S. Army’s War College in Carlisle, PA. A blessing of sorts in that we were able to establish a modicum of “roots.” Simultaneous with my graduation from High School in 1961, dad’s assignment at the War College came to an end. His new assignment was to Izmir, Turkey where he was assigned to TUSLOG. I was burned out by this time with academia and decided to accompany my father and family to Turkey. Not long after our arrival in Izmir I found employment through one of my dad’s Army contacts as a local hire with Chrysler Corporation Missile Division (USAFTA) working out of Çigli AFB near Izmir, Turkey. I was subsequently assigned to an Installation and Checkout Team (I&C Team 2) working in the desolate mountains of Turkey installing Jupiter Missiles. Chrysler Corporation Missile Division’s European operations and my life intersected during the ongoing Cold War at a strange place during an interesting time. Chrysler Corporation Missile Division’s I&C Teams (there were two teams) completed their NATO I Jupiter installations and checkout in Italy by June of 1961 and then headed for Turkey to complete the 2nd phase of Jupiter installations under the established NATO II deployment plans. By February of 1962 the last of the five sites, Launch Position 5 (LP-5), was completed by I&C Team II and the contract came to an end. The English contractors headed back to England, the Turkish laborers melted back into the countryside and the Chrysler Corporation employees went back to Michigan anticipating work with Chrysler’s new Saturn Project. Since I had been contacted by the Carlisle Draft Board by radio phone while working in the mountains, I decided to join the USAF in lieu of being drafted into the U. S. Army. I joined the USAF in April of 1962…and was subsequently assigned to Minuteman Missiles. I was shocked and angry to learn while attending USAF Tech School at Chanute AFB, IL, that  Jupiter missile installations were at the center of controversy between Russia and the United States as Russia installed missiles of their own in Cuba…giving rise to the Cuban Missile Crisis of October, 1962. This web site’s objective is to share those times and experiences with those who never knew of our efforts back in the 1960’s to serve and protect Europe as well as the United States of America from the ever-threatening Russians in their quest to dominate the world during the time known as the “Cold War.”

George