Congo Airlift, 1960, by Bob Hayes
From MemoryArchive
Who: Bob Hayes What: Bitburg AB When: 1960 Where:
I was a young Airman who had spent about 1 1/2 years at Chateauroux AB, France, and had been involved with the 1960 Congo Airlift when I arrived at Trier, Germany, on a train on a Sunday morning in October 1960. I had left Chateauroux (thrown on the train) some time after midnight the previous Friday, after quite a going away party. Not quite sober.. I tried to figure out where I was.. and how to communicate! I felt like I had woke up from a bad dream and was in the Twilight Zone. After about 3 hours I saw a vehicle (I think a Volkswagen bus or cab truck) with USAF markings and I went over to (I assumed) the driver and asked if he was from the air base. I didn't know the word "Flugplatz" yet.. but the sign language got going and I got in the back. We got to the base and they dropped me off. Being a Sunday..there was little activity and I was trying to find my barracks (Supply Squadron). I asked questions and finally found it and the CQ fixed me up with a place to stay till the next day. I ended up staying at Bitburg in POL for the next (almost) year. My new bride came over on the SS UNITED STATES to Bremerhaven. We lived in a small house in Bitburg way down in back of the Bitburger Pils Brewery. Many days (or nights) I would walk or hitch a ride to work at the Motor Pool gas station, POL Storage, or refueling on the flight line. We always carried weapons... 45 cal. hand gun and a .30 caliber M1A carbine. The weapons were always loaded (we didn't have this luxury during my later tour in Vietnam... as our weapons were taken from us to supply the ARVN!). I also played in a Country/Rock Band called the Jumping Jacks. We played the NCO club quite often.. also at the clubs at Spang, Hahn, Mienze, Frankfurt, and in Luxembourg and France (Nancy, St. Mehiel, Toul Rossier, Toul, Phalsburg). I was also part of a Disbursed Operating Base (DOB) Team. We had exercises and traveled all over Europe in convoy or individually. I was also part of a team that refueled our F-100 Super Sabers and other aircraft at classified "alternate locations." My most famous moment was getting a refueling rig stuck in the mud near the "Victor Alert" area close to the 525th FIS area of the Flight line. They had to get a Sky Hook (the aircraft mover) to get the tractor/trailer out of the mud!! I was almost court-martialed for this.. but was transferred to working fuel storage and the gas station with a reprimand for the rest of my tour.. I left Bitburg in September 1961, reassigned to Nellis AFB, Nevada.
I had the honor to return to Bitburg in 1976 for a 4th of July Bicentennial Celebration and rocked outside of the NCO Club with a country/rock band from Ramstein AB. At that time, I was playing Pedal Steel Guitar and my AF job had changed drastically -- I was at HQ USAFE as a Manpower/Management Superintendent, working in the chain to my old wing CO of the 31st TFW in RVN, Gen Bill Evans.
It was great to see Bitburg after 16 years... Part of my memories... And a part of my life.
Co-opted from Personal Recollections and War Stories
