I was stationed on south mountain mid 1959 to the mid 1961 at D Battery. In
reading the various stories and comments and seeing the pictures it sure brings
back all the memories of Thule. I spent 13 months there amd still hate cold
weather to this day. Would enjoy hearing from anyone station at the same locate
at the same time. Almost 70 years old now but still remember airmans club,
airbase in general and D Battery location and things we did. Live about 25 milse
straight west of Chicago now.

Guy Spayth

Wheaton, IL

looking to see if anyone knows the wareabouts of PFC ralph e hollis from nj.
haven't been in touch with him sense apr of 64 when we left thule.

thanks KEN

I was a radio operator from April 8, 1958 to April 7,1959. I remember trips to
the airmans club on base. originally from Tennesee, this was a great experience!
the glaciers, the icebergs... I am still very good friends with Marty Marshall
who was a gun mechanic 90mm, I was stationed there when the Nike Hercules was
activated. I'm retired now and live in Duncan, Oklahoma.

I ARRIVED AT THULE AUG. 1953 VIA TROOPSHIP WITH

THE 549TH AAA BATTALION ( D-BTRY ) AND ROTATED

OUT IN JUNE 1954, IT WAS AN EXPERIENCE I'LL NEVER FORGET, I SERVED WITH A BUNCH
OF GREAT GUYS, MOST OF US WERE YOUNG DRAFTEES AND I KEEP

IN TOUCH WITH A FEW OF THEM BY E-MAIL AND PHONE

CALLS, I WAS 19 YRS OLD WHEN I GOT TO THULE AND

I AM 74 NOW, JUST AN OLD MAN WITH HIS MEMORIES..

PAUL SPEEN

I also worked at the South Mountain receiver site from the spring of 1971 to the
spring of 1972. This was my last duty station as well, so I stayed for the whole
year. Still have pictures of feeding the Artic foxes peanut butter on crackers.
I also got a picture of a 'Snow Snake' published in the Air Force Times. I
sculpted the rattler from the abundant snow-like ice crystal and snapped a
picture. Showed it to the Comm Squadron commander. He suggested writing a short
story about the problem of Snow Snakes around Thule. I sent to the base paper
and the Times, they both ran it. Cool.

I caused the Commander a little grief later, when I rolled an International
6-pack driving up South Mountian. I had always driven a Dodge PowerWagon before.
It took the turns up that gravel road pretty well. The International had a
narrower track, and didn't handle the turns so well. I slid off the road and
everything was fine until the front tire hit a buried rock and pitched the truck
into a roll. The truck did what seemed to be a slow motion 360 and landed on
it's wheels. Every body panel was dinged and all the glass was broken. A big
receiver in a metal case was flopping around in the back seat. Lucky for me that
all the motion was sideways, so that thing stayed in the back. The seat belt
kept me in place and all I got out of it was dirt in my hair. (The windshield
popped out as we went onto the roof and a little dirt and gravel was scooped
in.)

While I was at Thule, I (with friends) explored an off-limits camp under the
ice, flew with the Canadians on a C-130 up to Camp Alert and walked on an
iceberg in the bay.

Thule was a nasty place to be, but I liked it better than the two years at
Scott, in the corn fields east of St. Louis or at school in Biloxi. I was there
for follow-up school when Camille blew thru. That's another story!

Interesting about the mishap with the International. In '62 a buddy of mine
rolled our brand new international off the side of North Mountain. The
Internationals were not as sure footed as the Dodges for sure... my buddy came
thru the accident well, as you apparently did.

USAF-Comm Repairman-South Mountain receiver site Apr 1969-Mar 1970. Sat through
a phase 3 for 3 days alone. Certainly was appreciative of that old TV and radio
station. Never took my 30 day leave as Thule was my last duty station before
getting out. Thule was for a young Georgia boy a bad place to visit and even
worse place to be stationed. Beat the heck out of Nam though.

I was a USAF radio operator on South Mountain 1953-1954, working at the reciever
and direction finding buildings as a radio operator. I had occasion to go to
the AAA site, next to my building, several times during phase three storms to
get a hot meal since all we had in our buildings were c-rations and 5 gallons of
water. One storm lasted 4 to 5 days before we could get relief from the main
base. Seven of us literally carried a jeep down the hill over and through the
drifted and hard packed snow. I was at Thule a year and eight days. It took me
three attemps to get away because of bad weather and aircraft mechanical
problems. Finally left in a C-54 (Berlin airlift rehab) that made it back to
Boston area for my reassignment to an Aircraft Control and Warning station on
top of Mt Laguna (6500 feet) in San Diego, County California.

I am now retired and living in Fallbrook, CA about 50 miles north of San Diego.