Jewells of Thought

Interviewing Veterans was still a new experience for me. One of my teachers from high school gave a few of us a graduation gift. This gift wasn’t used for college it was used to have conversations and record them for posterity. This recorder was given to me at the perfect time and Grandpa knew that he knew the art of strategy well.

So when Uncle Tom and I started the interview I had no idea what to expect time-wise. Yet we commenced. “My name is Tom Ming I entered the service on 13 May 1966 at Amarillo, Texas that’s up in the panhandle of Texas. I went to boot camp… uh… basic training at Fort Bliss, Texas. I spent 8 weeks there. When I was at the induction center in Amarillo they asked me if I wanted to go to Officers Training Course cause I scored so high on my testing and stuff but I opted to go to armor because most of my family members went into the Navy. The ones that did go into the Army went armor so I said I wanted to go armor. They said ok.”

“When I graduated from basic training they sent me to Fort Knox, Kentucky to armor school for 8 weeks training to be a tank crew member. I trained as a gunner…uh loader, driver, tank commander… uh when I went to Germany I started out as a driver of a tank commander for a while. Then they moved me up to a tank commanders position for a few months and then they needed somebody to take over a reconnaissance section which is also still armor but they were smaller vehicles, but they needed somebody in leadership position to take over the position so I did that.”

“I was in that for quite a few months and then they told me they needed somebody that had a high enough scores on their testing and stuff to go to radio repair school. They needed a radio repairman-a communications chief is what they needed so I said I’d take it. I went to school uh…Langeres Germany and went to school there for about 16 weeks to become a communications chief and learn how to repair radios and run communications systems uh… keep files, paperwork run personnel and all that kind of stuff. Stayed in Germany until 1968 and that’s when I left(I don’t remember exactly what month lets see it would have been in October) cause I met Helen in October cause I came home on a 30 day leave.”

“We fell in love, I fell in love with her…”

Did you meet your love while they were actively serving? There is definitely something about a man in uniform! I may be biased I have some photos of friends and family in uniform.

Find out what’s next tomorrow!