A Ford Adventure

August 1956. I had to report to my first Air Force assignment, Kelly Air Force Base in San Antonio, TX. I planned no route, but I couldn't really sight see; I had two days' drive time, and I didn't think being AWOL was a good way to start a military career.

Anyway, I was driving a beauty of a '49 Ford, and I quickly broad-brushed my route. West Virginia (heard it was beautiful and that turned out to be true) Nashville (Guitars and the Grand Old Opry) Memphis (The Sun Record company was making some noise with a guy named Elvis) and then down to the Louisiana bayou and across to Texas and Kelly AFB.

I never heard of the Texas/Louisiana border town of Beaumont, TX until I roared through it at 3AM. I think I exited Beaumont at about 3:10, and I honestly never expected to see or hear anything about it ever again.

Beaumont, sadly, filled my radar last month with the arrival of Hurricane Harvey.  And because I'd been there, however briefly and innocuously, I identified with them.  I felt their pain. It was easier to fork over a few dollars.

We should all do that - identify with people in trouble, people with problems, people with no hope - see yourself in their predicament. It shouldn't take a 60-year-old memory to spark some empathy.

                           (30)

Stuff we don't know ---

In Patagonia, Argentina, the Perito Moreno glacier is less than a 2-hour bus ride from the nearest town. The glacier is 20 miles long, 3 miles wide and as high as two football fields. Unlike most glaciers, which are retreating (melting) this big guy is advancing, sometimes 6 feet a day!

Top Secret Heros

The young girls came from all over the United States, volunteers all, wanting to help the war effort in any way they could. They headquartered and were trained in Washington, DC; sworn to secrecy and given Top Secret clearances, these 10,000 dedicated women formed the core of America's enemy code breakers.

They comprised 70 percent of the code-breaking operation, but as women in a male dominated society they walked without curiosity through the government's most restricted halls. When they were occasionally questioned, they gave innocuous - and successful! - replies: 'I sharpen pencils,' or 'I'm an assistant secretary for General so-and-so.' 

After the war many of these women used their experience to leapfrog into careers previously unattainable for females, but they always kept their war duties secret, so much so that only now have their exploits been uncovered. Read about them in 'Code Girls.'