Happy February, everyone.
Those of us in Nebraska are happy to say good bye to January. The bitter cold and heavy snows were the most severe in many years. High temperatures some days did not make it to zero and chill factors occasionally dipped into the -40 degree range. The snow was heavy at times and streets in the residential areas remained treacherous for several days. The longest trips Nita and I took were to the mailbox … and some days that was difficult. In Omaha, our school teacher daughter got stuck in a snowdrift – in her driveway – as she returned from work. So glad that storm system has now passed through this area. Others will undoubtedly follow, but that’s one out of the way and we’re another month closer to spring.
Here’s the writing news: at long last, the British publishing company has returned the second draft of the fiction novel for another editing check. The good news is that they have converted the British spellings to American versions. (One thing they overlooked was that ‘Colorado’ is shown as ‘Colourado’. My friends in Denver and Colorado Springs will get a kick out of hearing that.) I see only one other one that they missed: ‘apologize’ is still shown as ‘apologise’. We’ll fix both of those things on this cycle. The bad news is that there are still dozens of comma faults – misplacements of commas throughout the text that seem to have no rhyme or reason. It is going to take a long time to sort through those. Each one has to be specifically identified by page, paragraph, and line number. Doing that is going to take several days and require large quantities of coffee. So much for hoping to get it done quickly.
The other writing tidbit involves something I had written years in the past – indeed, it was one of the first articles that was published after I began writing in a concerted way. I came across it – eventually from two sources – totally by surprise. Seeing it again was totally unexpected and an absolute delight, not because the article is particularly special but because it brought back a flood of great memories. For those who wish to venture further, here’s a bit of the backstory.
Our local newspaper has a daily “Today in history,” feature which traces significant events that occurred on that day in years past. On January 28, the listing included the following entry: “In 1982, Italian anti-terrorism police rescued U.S. Brigadier General James L. Dozier, 42 days after he had been kidnapped by the Red Brigades terrorist group.”
At that time, I was commander of a small Air Force unit at Vicenza, Italy. (General Dozier was stationed a NATO headquarters in Verona, about 40 miles away.) General Dozier was the overall American community commander at that location where about half of the 110 members of my unit worked at sites in and around the city. On December 17, 1981, he was abducted by terrorists who entered his apartment in Verona under the guise of being plumbers sent to check the system in his apartment. He was beaten, tied up, and gagged before eventually being smuggled out of the building, placed in the trunk of a vehicle, and taken to Padua (Padova) where he was kept hidden in a heavily guarded “people’s prison” - the interior-most room of a heavily guarded apartment complex. He was chained to a bed inside a tent-like covering which prevented him from seeing out and others from seeing in. Loud music played 24 hours a day so sounds could not be heard from the outside. After having been beaten and gagged, his wife Judie was left tied to a chair in the furnace room of the Verona apartment where she was later found by a neighbor.
I and a few others had previously been scheduled to have a community meeting with General Dozier on the 18th, the day following the kidnapping. To get ready for that gathering, he had taken papers home with him which identified the names and locations of those who were slated to attend.
A few nights later, Nita and I and our two daughters were traveling to our home in a village near Vicenza when a car behind us sped up, positioned itself alongside us, took a flash photo, and raced away. I did a zig zag route home but it appeared that a second car followed us into the long entry way to the building where we lived. There was a metal gate at the end of the drive closest to the house. I bolted it shut, Nita got the kids in the house, and I phoned the military police.
At work the next morning, I received a call from an American official who gave us a half hour to move to a guarded “safe haven” area where we would stay for an indefinite duration. When I phoned Nita with the news, it has become somewhat of a legend in our family that our twelve year old daughter Laura initially packed only her phonograph records. Fortunately, Nita did a last minute logistics check and determined that clothes, toothbrushes, and shoes might also be useful.
We stayed in that “safe haven” location for 42 days until General Dozier was freed and the Italian police – the caribinieri – effectively dismantled the Red Brigades. Until then, we had a guard at the door and I traveled to work in different cars and by a different route each day, wearing a civilian jacket over my uniform.
When those things were going on, I was a major in command of Detachment 9, 1141st USAFSAS, (United States Air Force Special Activities Squadron) at Vicenza. Ten years later - and until I retired four years hence – I was a colonel in command of the 1141st organization at Stuttgart, Germany, with detachments scattered throughout Europe. Here’s how those events tie the story together. Late last year, a marvelous Chief Master Sergeant who worked at the 1141st headquarters when I was in Italy, passed away. (We later served together again at Strategic Air Command headquarters). Rick Bayne was an incredible NCO. His passing caused me to think back to the time spent in the 1141st. It was, by the way, the finest unit I’ve ever been part of – recognized by Headquarters U.S. European Command as the best unit of its kind in Europe. Anyway, it occurred to me that I didn’t have a unit patch commemorating those years in the 1141. On the off chance that a patch might available, I “googled up” the 1141 Special Activities Squadron. Lo and behold, far down the entries under that heading, there appeared “The Dozier Kidnapping: Confronting the Red Brigades.” It was an article I wrote after retirement. It was published February 7, 2002, in a small Air Force magazine titled “Aerospace Power Chronicles.”
Then, when the note about General Dozier appeared in the local paper, I “googled up” Major General James L. Dozier.”(He is doing well. He is 91 years old and now lives in Arcadia, Florida.) Lo and behold a second time, under the entries for General Dozier “The Dozier Kidnapping” article appeared again. After not having seen or much thought about it for many years, it was a surprise delight to run across it twice in rapid succession.
For those who might be interested, please note that the piece was prepared for a military periodical, so there are no frills in the language. A condensed version titled “It’ll Be Okay” appeared in Chicken Soup for the Military Wife’s Soul, published in 2005. “It’ll Be Okay” is focused on the family and written for general audiences. There is also a small chapter in the book A Pilgrim in Unholy Places: Stories of a Mustang Colonel (Heritage Press, 2006) that traces the episode and the events that surrounded it.
I hope you will indulge those reminiscences. I remember those days as being particularly intense and busy. What made our situation unusual was that when the episode occurred, there was no on-base housing for the 110 Air Force members who were part of Detachment 9. Married and single airmen alike lived “on the economy” in Vicenza and Verona and in numerous small towns – some of which were 20-25 miles apart – scattered throughout the area. At the time, the availability of telephones in private residences in Italy was extremely limited – only 19 detachment members had phones. A few days after General Dozier was kidnapped, an apparently credible warning was received that greatly expanded the scope and intensity of the threat. So, we had to develop inventive ways to check the status of Air Force members and families and keep them informed and safe from harm. Christmas morning brought an especially worrisome threat relayed directly by Italian government officials. One of our procedures involved “circuit riders” who took varying routes to those scattered locations to provide warnings and information, check on the well-being of families, and assist in any way we could. I was one of the “circuit riders” that morning. That will always remain a memorable Christmas Day for me. But, what I will remember most and always was the remarkable courage of those families who greeted me on their doorsteps that dark and threatening morning. Bless them all. I hope each of their lives has been long and happy.
Well, again, please excuse the break from the usual pattern. I didn’t intend this edition to morph into a war story. It’s time to get back to the routine – we’ll close with some Puns/Dad Jokes.
I asked a librarian if she had any books on different noise levels. She said “Yes, we have several. Which volume would you like?”
Two antenna got married. The ceremony was just average, but the reception was excellent.
A man with a gun walks into a real estate office and shouts “Nobody move!”
Those are really bad. (So we’re back on track.)
/////
We’re one month closer to spring. Best wishes to all,
Tom
Those of us in Nebraska are happy to say good bye to January. The bitter cold and heavy snows were the most severe in many years. High temperatures some days did not make it to zero and chill factors occasionally dipped into the -40 degree range. The snow was heavy at times and streets in the residential areas remained treacherous for several days. The longest trips Nita and I took were to the mailbox … and some days that was difficult. In Omaha, our school teacher daughter got stuck in a snowdrift – in her driveway – as she returned from work. So glad that storm system has now passed through this area. Others will undoubtedly follow, but that’s one out of the way and we’re another month closer to spring.
Here’s the writing news: at long last, the British publishing company has returned the second draft of the fiction novel for another editing check. The good news is that they have converted the British spellings to American versions. (One thing they overlooked was that ‘Colorado’ is shown as ‘Colourado’. My friends in Denver and Colorado Springs will get a kick out of hearing that.) I see only one other one that they missed: ‘apologize’ is still shown as ‘apologise’. We’ll fix both of those things on this cycle. The bad news is that there are still dozens of comma faults – misplacements of commas throughout the text that seem to have no rhyme or reason. It is going to take a long time to sort through those. Each one has to be specifically identified by page, paragraph, and line number. Doing that is going to take several days and require large quantities of coffee. So much for hoping to get it done quickly.
The other writing tidbit involves something I had written years in the past – indeed, it was one of the first articles that was published after I began writing in a concerted way. I came across it – eventually from two sources – totally by surprise. Seeing it again was totally unexpected and an absolute delight, not because the article is particularly special but because it brought back a flood of great memories. For those who wish to venture further, here’s a bit of the backstory.
Our local newspaper has a daily “Today in history,” feature which traces significant events that occurred on that day in years past. On January 28, the listing included the following entry: “In 1982, Italian anti-terrorism police rescued U.S. Brigadier General James L. Dozier, 42 days after he had been kidnapped by the Red Brigades terrorist group.”
At that time, I was commander of a small Air Force unit at Vicenza, Italy. (General Dozier was stationed a NATO headquarters in Verona, about 40 miles away.) General Dozier was the overall American community commander at that location where about half of the 110 members of my unit worked at sites in and around the city. On December 17, 1981, he was abducted by terrorists who entered his apartment in Verona under the guise of being plumbers sent to check the system in his apartment. He was beaten, tied up, and gagged before eventually being smuggled out of the building, placed in the trunk of a vehicle, and taken to Padua (Padova) where he was kept hidden in a heavily guarded “people’s prison” - the interior-most room of a heavily guarded apartment complex. He was chained to a bed inside a tent-like covering which prevented him from seeing out and others from seeing in. Loud music played 24 hours a day so sounds could not be heard from the outside. After having been beaten and gagged, his wife Judie was left tied to a chair in the furnace room of the Verona apartment where she was later found by a neighbor.
I and a few others had previously been scheduled to have a community meeting with General Dozier on the 18th, the day following the kidnapping. To get ready for that gathering, he had taken papers home with him which identified the names and locations of those who were slated to attend.
A few nights later, Nita and I and our two daughters were traveling to our home in a village near Vicenza when a car behind us sped up, positioned itself alongside us, took a flash photo, and raced away. I did a zig zag route home but it appeared that a second car followed us into the long entry way to the building where we lived. There was a metal gate at the end of the drive closest to the house. I bolted it shut, Nita got the kids in the house, and I phoned the military police.
At work the next morning, I received a call from an American official who gave us a half hour to move to a guarded “safe haven” area where we would stay for an indefinite duration. When I phoned Nita with the news, it has become somewhat of a legend in our family that our twelve year old daughter Laura initially packed only her phonograph records. Fortunately, Nita did a last minute logistics check and determined that clothes, toothbrushes, and shoes might also be useful.
We stayed in that “safe haven” location for 42 days until General Dozier was freed and the Italian police – the caribinieri – effectively dismantled the Red Brigades. Until then, we had a guard at the door and I traveled to work in different cars and by a different route each day, wearing a civilian jacket over my uniform.
When those things were going on, I was a major in command of Detachment 9, 1141st USAFSAS, (United States Air Force Special Activities Squadron) at Vicenza. Ten years later - and until I retired four years hence – I was a colonel in command of the 1141st organization at Stuttgart, Germany, with detachments scattered throughout Europe. Here’s how those events tie the story together. Late last year, a marvelous Chief Master Sergeant who worked at the 1141st headquarters when I was in Italy, passed away. (We later served together again at Strategic Air Command headquarters). Rick Bayne was an incredible NCO. His passing caused me to think back to the time spent in the 1141st. It was, by the way, the finest unit I’ve ever been part of – recognized by Headquarters U.S. European Command as the best unit of its kind in Europe. Anyway, it occurred to me that I didn’t have a unit patch commemorating those years in the 1141. On the off chance that a patch might available, I “googled up” the 1141 Special Activities Squadron. Lo and behold, far down the entries under that heading, there appeared “The Dozier Kidnapping: Confronting the Red Brigades.” It was an article I wrote after retirement. It was published February 7, 2002, in a small Air Force magazine titled “Aerospace Power Chronicles.”
Then, when the note about General Dozier appeared in the local paper, I “googled up” Major General James L. Dozier.”(He is doing well. He is 91 years old and now lives in Arcadia, Florida.) Lo and behold a second time, under the entries for General Dozier “The Dozier Kidnapping” article appeared again. After not having seen or much thought about it for many years, it was a surprise delight to run across it twice in rapid succession.
For those who might be interested, please note that the piece was prepared for a military periodical, so there are no frills in the language. A condensed version titled “It’ll Be Okay” appeared in Chicken Soup for the Military Wife’s Soul, published in 2005. “It’ll Be Okay” is focused on the family and written for general audiences. There is also a small chapter in the book A Pilgrim in Unholy Places: Stories of a Mustang Colonel (Heritage Press, 2006) that traces the episode and the events that surrounded it.
I hope you will indulge those reminiscences. I remember those days as being particularly intense and busy. What made our situation unusual was that when the episode occurred, there was no on-base housing for the 110 Air Force members who were part of Detachment 9. Married and single airmen alike lived “on the economy” in Vicenza and Verona and in numerous small towns – some of which were 20-25 miles apart – scattered throughout the area. At the time, the availability of telephones in private residences in Italy was extremely limited – only 19 detachment members had phones. A few days after General Dozier was kidnapped, an apparently credible warning was received that greatly expanded the scope and intensity of the threat. So, we had to develop inventive ways to check the status of Air Force members and families and keep them informed and safe from harm. Christmas morning brought an especially worrisome threat relayed directly by Italian government officials. One of our procedures involved “circuit riders” who took varying routes to those scattered locations to provide warnings and information, check on the well-being of families, and assist in any way we could. I was one of the “circuit riders” that morning. That will always remain a memorable Christmas Day for me. But, what I will remember most and always was the remarkable courage of those families who greeted me on their doorsteps that dark and threatening morning. Bless them all. I hope each of their lives has been long and happy.
Well, again, please excuse the break from the usual pattern. I didn’t intend this edition to morph into a war story. It’s time to get back to the routine – we’ll close with some Puns/Dad Jokes.
I asked a librarian if she had any books on different noise levels. She said “Yes, we have several. Which volume would you like?”
Two antenna got married. The ceremony was just average, but the reception was excellent.
A man with a gun walks into a real estate office and shouts “Nobody move!”
Those are really bad. (So we’re back on track.)
/////
We’re one month closer to spring. Best wishes to all,
Tom
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