Don,

Great hearing back from you.

I think the site you are talking about near KC, Missouri was Whiteman AFB. There was a very large ICBM missile group there. Every once in a while you would see the missle being moved to a different site to fool the Russians. I know that I stayed in the NCO housing for TDY people on the base at Whiteman. The site was very windy and cold in the winter. Also, one time I had to re-light the heater at the site and the thing would "backfire". On one instance it burned off my eyebrows and the tent smelled like burnt hair for two days. Do you remember having to get to the site early to turn on the heaters inside the HIRAN unit because in the winter condensation would form and the whole thing would short out if you tried to transmit before it was dry.

I was also at another base in Salina, KS. There we had a mobile home set at the site. We would sometimes bring girls out to the trailer and run around with them in the evening.

This is a great treat to hear from you both. More than you can imagine. I hope that I can find more Ground Station troups as time goes on. If anyone hears about guys that were stationed above Udon Thani in Thailand let me know. I was at two locations in that area - Sakhon Nakon and Rum Chit Chai.

Until later,

Inhabit 2 out!

Dick Seabrease

PS - Don - I do remember the PRC-47s but I only spent a short time in the building.

Hi Dick

Great getting your email..... I was thinking after all these years what a coincidence that we both got to the Aerial Survey and Photomapping Website within 1 1/2 hours of each other. When I saw you mention the 1374th I couldn't believe it !!!! We had to have been at Keesler AFB the same time also. Think I arrived a month or two after you. I am a bit fuzzy on my dates so I am sending off for copy of my records and the outfits ( TAC,MAC,MACV,SAC and more ! ) I was in. I too went TDY out of Forbes to Tuy Hoa ! I worked right on the AF Base at the beach which was the main operations room for radio control. We had a radio station right on the beach road with all our antennas off to the side of the building and remote site between us and the Sth China Sea. I actually volunteered to go because I thought if they sent me over for 3 months ....they probably wouldn't send me back just for 9 months. Boy was I ever wrong !!! just a few months after returning home I received orders back to Nam...... to Da Nang , Saigon , Nha Trang with MACV (Military Assistance Command Vietnam ). This time not as a radio operator....... I was teaching Vietnamese Officers/pilots how to speak English so they could come to the U.S. for flight school.

Anyway getting back to Forbes......did you ever work in the 1374th operations room with all those PRC-47's along the wall with the Sgt desks to the right ? That was where I mostly worked although I do remember training at remote sites on the base ( out by the runway ) with another airman. He'd run the HIRAN , I was the radio operator and helped with what they could train me on. Damn it was so cold in that tent.....I really didn't like this part of training. I also went to a site near Kansas City, Mo ....stayed at some small base, might been a motel ( can't remember ) and again we ran a remote AST Site ( about an hour away from Forbes ) for a number of weeks. I remember every time we'd fire up the generator and HIRAN there was this little mouse that would come out from the HIRAN Box and run down the wire under the floorboards. That was fun duty because it was just the two of us and we only had that one responsibility and half the time the Missions were canceled for one reason or the other and we were off the rest of the day.

I Remember there was a popular bar near downtown Topeka ( few clicks up from the base on the same Hwy 75 Rd as Forbes just before the main drag into Topeka ). Small dance floor with the typical hanging mirrored ball, back door out to an alley that I bout had trouble in more than once Haaaaaaa . Anyway that's where I and others from the 1374th hung out. Everyone in there was from Forbes and was always loaded with local girls wanting to hook up with an Airman. Or "loaded" airman wanting to hook up with the local girls Haaaaaaaaaa.

There was a 24 hour HJ restaurant that we'd go to late at night. Otherwise there wasn't much to do there...... was there Haaaaaaaa. My roommates were named "Larry" and "Geego", can't remember last names though. One Saturday I remember going into the shower and there were two girls in there also !!! whoever had them in the barracks was nuts but it was funny !!! Fun time for me with lots of memories as you can see. Worked for a wonderful Senior Master Sgt and again sorry can't remember his name. I went over to Nam with him on my TDY and he was just a great NCO.

Well enough for now. I unfortunately didn't take many pics and what I do have is at our Columbus Ohio home ( we are in Davenport Fla home now ). But if you have any pics or stories I'd love to hear and/or see them. We will return to Ohio in June and I will see what I have and send you a few. Dick , Great hearing from you ,Please stay in touch. Don Munro