Officers & Reps Found Missing Email Addresses Don Cooper, Class of '63 1961 Vapor Trails 1962 Vapor Trails 1963 Unsere Andenken 2045 Obituary Chicago, 1948 Elmendorf, 1949 Bitburg, 1953 Spangdahlem, 1954 Spangdahlem, 1955 Bitburg, Germany - Bitburg AFB, 1953 We were transferred to Bitburg from Maxwell AFB. I started 3rd grade, kid brother Greg started 1st grade, and baby brother Bob was 2. Base housing consisted of many 4-story walkup 3-bedroom apartment buildings painted light-grey. Europe ran on 220 volts, so we needed huge heavy transformers with carrying handles to run appliances from the U.S. Maid's quarters were in the basement. Mike & Denny Dauth were our best friends because Greg & I were the same age as Denny & Mike. Our folks were friends with the Dauths and socialized with them regularly. We were living on Bitburg AFB between a farmer's field and wonderful hill good for snow sledding in season. But it's Fall and on this day it had just rained and the sun was coming out. Greg and I dressed to go outside with coats and boots. We climbed the hill and saw a huge rainbow behind base housing - across a field maybe 200 or 300 yards away. Greg freaked when he saw it and took off running to see if the myth about gold was true. He soon realized it was not possible to reach the end of a rainbow and returned dejected, but wiser. When we returned back to our apartment, Greg tracked mud across the carpet that mother had to deal with. She was not happy. When dad arrived home from work he disciplined Greg with a spanking. Greg cried, "But daddy, I was only chasing a rainbow." Mother melted. We used to be shuttled in Air Force cargo planes between bases. One day when I was about 7 the whole family was in a DC-3 sitting in jump seats. Dad was the pilot that day and called back, "Send up Donnie." (Dad was Don, I was Donnie.) I walked to the cockpit where dad & the co-pilot were flying the plane. He grabbed my arm and stood me in his lap so I could see over the yoke (steering wheel). At 7 years old I held the yoke. He wanted me to be just like him and I wanted to be like my dad. We moved to Spang from Bitburg when it opened in 1954. Base housing was still 4-story walkups with 3-bedroom apartments, but buildings were painted dark-grey and maid's quarters were in the attic. Grade-school classes were held in basements of base housing. I started 4th grade at Spang and began building model airplanes. Dad was Old Army Air Corps - we stood at attention for family photos. Class field trips were held to visit the German countryside and took an entire day. There are over 1000 years of well-preserved European history. Preserved because Europeans had written language and constructed many stone structures. Hundreds of castles from the Middle Ages survive today, but most are in ruins. When we visited castles in ruins on field trips only gruesome dungeons were left. It was a shocking introduction to medieval history for a 9-year-old. We were transferred to Homestead AFB south of Miami in 1955. It was the middle of the Cold War. SS Patch, 1955 Bitburg, 1962 Stewart Field, 1965 Davis Monthan, 1967 U of A, Tucson 1967 Houston, 1969 Arlington, 1980 Houston, 1981 Florida, 1983 Rockville, 1985 San Diego, 1985 San Jose, 1986 Vail, 1987 San Diego@work, 1990 San Diego@work, 1993 Maui, 2011 Tahiti, 2014 Maui, 2016 Tahiti, 2014 Tauranga, 2017   San Diego@work, 2018   Del Mar, 2020   Del Mar@work, 2021   Maui, 2022   Maui, 2023

View My Stats