Barin Field

William Mead Accepting His Promotion to
1st Lieutenant about June, 1960

My brother Bill was a Marine Corps aviator.  He went through the Naval Air Cadet (NAVCAD) program, accepting a Marine Corps commission in December 1959.  After serving in two Marine fighter squadrons (VMF-122 and VMF-235) and a Marine helicopter squadron (HMM-262), he found himself assigned to the Naval Training Command in Pensacola, Florida.  During his time in training squadrons VT-4 and VT-5, he became involved with Barin Field.  That's how this story begins. 

While serving in Training Wing 5, Bill was told that he would be operating out of Barin Field.  Officially, the correct title is "Naval Outlying Field (NOLF) Barin," located near Foley, Alabama.  According to Wikipedia, "An auxiliary airfield for NAS Pensacola and NAS Whiting Field, NOLF Barin originally consisted of twin airfield complexes. The West Field was established on the site of the original Foley Municipal Airport that was constructed in the mid-1930s and leased by the U.S. Navy in 1942. An adjoining parcel of 656 acres was also purchased by the Navy for construction of a similar, but not quite reverse, mirror image runway complex that would become known as the East Field.[2] On 2 July 1942, the new facility was designated Naval Auxiliary Air Station (NAAS) Barin Field in honor of Lt. Louis Theodore Barin (20 August 1890 – 12 June 1920), a Navy test pilot and one of the pilots of flying boat NC-1 during the Navy's transatlantic flight in May 1919.

Today, the East Field is still used as NOLF Barin, a satellite airfield for Training Air Wing FIVE (TRAWING 5) at NAS Whiting Field and Training Air Wing SIX (TRAWING 6) at NAS Pensacola. Two runways and the original centerfield flight line complex are still maintained, although the original 1940s/1950s-era hangars and control tower have been demolished and removed."

When my brother was first assigned to fly out of this once abandoned and then reactivated field, the hangars had long since been overgrown with kudzu, partially collapsed, and were unusable.  Essentially, there was a usable runway and a "temporary" structure that was used as an operations center.  It had all the appearances of a temporary setup.  On the runway was painted a section approximately the length of an aircraft carrier, the USS Lexington (CV-16) on which the trainees would make their first arrested landing at sea.

Barin Field East, showing the carrier landing zone
painted on the runway

When Bill was at Barin Field, student pilots were flying the North American T-28 "Trojan" aircraft.  They would prepare by making numerous simulated landings guided by a Landing Signals Officer (LSO) on that painted patch of runway.  Only when the trainers felt it was safe were they allowed to fly out into the Gulf of Mexico to land on the Lexington for the first time.

I once asked Bill if he had ever lost a student while at Barin Field.  He immediately got very emotional as he described a case in which a student was making a bad approach.  Bill advised the student to level out, circle the field, get back in the pattern, and try a new approach.  The student ignored his instruction, tried to tighten his turn toward the runway to save the approach, experienced a "low wing stall," and crashed.  (In descending turns, the lower wing stalls first.)  My brother wondered why the student had ignored his direction and he took the incident very personally.

Bill often talked about Mrs. Gruber's Boarding House in Foley, Alabama, where the staff and students ate lunch practically every day.  Apparently Mrs. Gruber took very good care of these future aviators whom she knew would probably be serving off the coast of Viet Nam in the not-too-distant future.

He also spoke of the informality observed at such a remote location.  At one point, the squadron was commanded by a Marine Corps Colonel who relaxed the dress code for the training staff.  Often, in the searing heat and stifling humidity, Bill went to work in fatigue shorts, a khaki t-shirt, and fatigue cap with his insignia.  No long trousers or pressed shirts were required.  This led to an amusing story that my brother enjoyed sharing.

It seems that a family from the Midwest was on their way to a Florida vacation in their private Beechcraft Bonanza.  They had refueled in Mobile and shortly after takeoff encountered engine trouble.  The pilot spotted the runway at Barin and made an emergency landing.  He taxied up to the shack and emerged to ask what airport he was at.  Entering the shack he noted that the walls were completely papered over with Playboy centerfolds.  No one was in any kind of proper military uniform.  When told that he had landed at a military base, he could not believe it.  They had to convince him of the fact.  That's how informal it appeared to an outsider, even though the officers and enlisted staff did their jobs in a very serious manner.

I never got to visit Barin Field while Bill was there.  I did get several rides in T-28s.  He was obligated to fly a minimum number of cross-country hours per month to maintain his "currency" and would often fly to Norman, Oklahoma, to visit me or take me to Pensacola for a weekend or holiday.  I miss the camaraderie that we enjoyed in those visits.

The 1950's Rock & Mineral Collection

I grew up in Schenectady, New York, exactly one block from the Union College campus.  As a kid, I played and rode my bike with friends all over the campus.  I grew up with many playmates who were the children of faculty members.  And, as I have written before, I got to know many faculty members personally.  As a result of one of these faculty friendships, I developed an early interest in rocks and minerals.  While I was still in junior high school, I was allowed to audit a freshman geology class being taught by Dr. Edward S.C. Smith.  Even before that opportunity, I had begun a small collection of rocks and minerals that exhibited the properties of a diode -- allowing electricity to pass in only one direction.  I used these minerals in building experimental crystal radio sets.

One day, while talking to Dr. Smith, I was lamenting the idea that I couldn't collect rocks from distant locations.  He asked why not.  After all, we had a mail system.  He suggested that I write a post card (Who remembers those?) to a company that controlled some mines from which I wanted samples.  He even helped me compose a brief message explaining my interest in rocks and minerals.  I think our first "target" was the New Jersey Zinc Company.  It was at the time the largest producer of Zinc in the country.  Several of their mines -- the Franklin Mine, Sterling Hill Mine, and Buckwheat Pit -- had been producing high-grade Zinc ore for over half a century.  In the area of the Franklin and Sterling Hill mines, 357 types of minerals are known to occur; these make up approximately 10% of all the minerals known to science.  Certainly they could spare a few ore samples.

Wurtzite Ore

 I was very specific in my request.  I had researched the rocks from which Zinc was smelted -- Zincite, Franklinite, Sphalerite, Smithsonite, Wurtzite and others.  I asked for them by name.  Off went my postcard in the mail.  And I waited impatiently for a response.

First came the letter.  It was signed by a senior official of the company.  He expressed admiration for my interest in geology.  He then informed me that two crates of ore samples, all labelled with the location from which they originated, were en route to my home.  Within a couple weeks, I opened the newly-arrived crates to find dozens of gleaming examples.  This became the core of my substantial rock and mineral collection.

I built several long shallow boxes out of thin plywood in which to mount my specimens and their labels.  And I began sending literally dozens of postcards over the next several months.  I'd pick an element, research its sources, determine who controlled the ore supplies, and send a few postcards.  More often than not, they resulted in boxes or crates full of mineral samples.

After I had saturated the U.S. suppliers of minerals, I began extending my requests into Canada.  It wasn't long before I was sending cards to Africa, South America, and even countries behind the iron curtain.  I recall samples arriving from both Poland and Czechoslovakia, both part of the Soviet bloc.

One example stands out in my memory.  I had read an article in Life magazine about a fellow named Charles Steen in Moab, Utah.  Mr. Steen had hit the jackpot, finding a rich uranium deposit during a time when the Atomic Energy Commission kept uranium prices artificially high so that valuable U.S. reserves would not be sold overseas.

Wikipedia describes it this way, "Despite the fact that his three sons, Johnny, Andy and Charles Jr. were all less than four years old and his wife was expecting another child, Steen borrowed $1,000 from his mother and headed for the Colorado Plateau, determined to strike it rich. After being in Colorado for several months the Steens moved into a tarpaper shack in Cisco, Utah. Steen and his family were struggling to get by and were often hungry so Charlie made the decision to move his family to Tucson, Arizona. Steen worked as a carpenter in Tucson for about a year before he returned to his claims in Utah. He and his family once again packed up and headed to their claims. This final trip back to Utah would be the most detrimental for the family because Minnie Lee, Steen's wife, contracted pneumonia, and her medical bills consumed the $350 remaining from the sale of Steen's trailer.

Steen could not afford the standard radiation-detecting equipment used by uranium prospectors - the Geiger counter. Instead, he used a secondhand diamond drill rig and his geologic training for his prospecting. At the time, each prospector had his own idiosyncratic theory about where to find uranium. The uranium industry was composed primarily of individual prospectors and geologists who would attempt to find a large deposit and either mine it for themselves or mine it for a large company (such as Union Carbide) who would transport the ore from the mine to the uranium mill where it could be converted into yellowcake. Steen's theory on uranium deposits was that they would collect in anticlinal structures in the same manner as oil, which others on the Plateau dismissed as "Steen's Folly."

On July 6, 1952, Steen hit it big but he didn't realize until three weeks later. He was drilling down through the layers of sandstone when his drill bit broke off at a depth of 197 feet, just 3 feet short of his goal. Finding this massive deposit of uranium ore only became apparent when he took a piece of the blackish core he found while drilling weeks earlier back to Cisco. He stopped to fill up his jeep and decided to have the core tested by a friend with a Geiger counter and they found that the piece made the Geiger counter needle go crazy. The high grade uranium deposit was located at Big Indian Wash of Lisbon Valley, southeast of Moab, Utah. (Coordinates: N 38.19000 W 109.26000). Sometimes recognized as one of the most important deposits of any kind found during the last century, Steen named the claim the "Mi Vida" mine (My Life). The Mi Vida mine was one of the first big strikes of the uranium boom. Steen made millions off his claims, and provoked a "Uranium Rush" of prospectors into the Four Corners region, similar to the Gold Rush of the 1850s in California."

Uraninite - a uranium ore like samples
I received from Charles Steen in the mid-50's

I sent one of my postcards to Mr. Steen, addressed personally to him.  I received a personal letter back, encouraging me in my interest in geology.  It turned out that he had earned a B.A. in geology in 1943 at the Texas College of Mines and Metallurgy (later the University of Texas at El Paso).  His letter was followed by several crates of ore samples, each in a small cloth bag that included its label.

When I got to high school, my collection had grown too big for our house and I kept part of it in a detached two-story garage building.  While at Mont Pleasant High School, I took a course in Earth Science under Donald Stone.  The school had a small collection of rocks and minerals which came under Mr. Stone's care.  After he was instrumental in my entering the Westinghouse Science Talent Search, I decided he would be a great custodian of my collection, which had grown to over 800 examples.  It took several trips with a school pickup truck to move the heavy boxes.

Mont Pleasant High School, Schenectady, New York

Several years later, long after Mr. Stone had retired, I stopped by Mont Pleasant to see if anyone was still thewre from my days as a student.  I asked about my rock and mineral collection, but no one was even aware of its existence.  Nonetheless, even if it is long gone, I wouldn't have traded the experience of assembling it for anything.

The Duesenberg Model SSJ...

Back in 2008, I posted a blog entry that included the following:
“The Duesenberg shown here used to reside in my home town of Schenectady, New York:

It belonged to Perry Egbert, who was the Chairman of the Board of the American Locomotive Company at the time -- early to mid 1950's.” 

I read yesterday that the sister car to this one (There were only two of this model ever built) sold this weekend for $22,000,000 at the Gooding auction at Pebble Beach.  You read that correctly -- $22 million!!!

I did a little searching and found a French Web site, entitled "The Pages of Lex," on which there was substantial background on these two remarkable cars.  The article even mentions Perry Egbert.  With due credit to the author, here is that article (I beg the author's forgiveness for any misinterpretation in my somewhat clumsy translation from the French.):

"Courtesy of The Pages of Lex, A French Web site

The two Model SSJs together,  Gable's on the left, Gary Cooper's on the right

At that time, Groucho Marx swears by the Mercedes SSK that he modified to regularly beat the Duesenberg of Clark Gable and Gary Cooper at the "grand prix of the red lights" in Hollywood. Embarrassed by this state of affairs, our two lads ask Augie (Duesenberg) to build a car capable of beating Marx's SSK.

Duesenberg then built two cars from two Jenkins roadsters. Officially christened SSJ, as shorter SJ models, these two roadsters are in fact normal SJs, cut at the front bench seat to bring the wheelbase to 125 inches, 17-1/2 inches shorter than the so-called “short” chassis.  This is enough, thanks to the weight gain achieved, to beat any SSK, but, even if Clark Gable is satisfied, Gary Cooper does not want to stop there.  He orders a special engine from August Duesenberg to get his way.

Augie remembers his work on the engine with "ram's horns" and that's how the most powerful car in the world, the 400 hp Duesenberg SSJ, is born!  On this model, the displacement is raised to 448 cubic inches, the compression ratio to 8.1: 1 and the engine speed to 5,000 rpm.  The valves are enlarged and reinforced by double springs, the aluminum pistons are specially built by Jahns Racing and the engine is equipped with two Shelber double body carburetors.  He needs three fuel pumps, one mechanical and two electric pumps, to draw the fuel from a 37-gallon tank.

The bodies of both cars are identical and they are aluminum. The design is by Herb Newport and the manufacture is entrusted to La Grande.  To save weight, chrome accessories, headlights and side spare wheels are removed.  Only one spare wheel is embedded in the rear panel.  The wheels are 17-inch, instead of 19” for the “normal car.“   Because of attention to these details, these cars present an impression of power and speed that is not easily surpassed.

Model SSJ

The weight of Gary Cooper's car reaches nearly 5,100 lbs., 1,100 lbs. more than that of Clark Gable, because of the heavier engine and reinforcements added to the chassis to support the power.

Once ready, Gary Cooper drives his car to the Los Angeles hot-rod runway.  Groucho Marx would have done better to stay at home that day; his defeat is a foregone conclusion.  We do not know the actual performance of these cars.  It is estimated that Gary Cooper's SSJ can reach 175 miles/hr., accelerate from 0 to 60 miles/hr. in 7 seconds and from 0 to 100 miles/hr. in 13 seconds or less!  We no longer know the price of these machines.

Originally painted in two-tone brown, Gary Cooper's SSJ is now treated in two shades of gray.  It has long been part of the Briggs Cunningham collection that loved to ride for hours at 55 mph along the roads of the Pacific coast between Los Angeles and San Francisco.  Clark Gable's SSJ was painted in two shades of brown.  It was Charles Cord, the son of Erret, who delivered it in the fall of 1935, to the studios of the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer where Gable had just finished "Mutiny on the Bounty"; It must have been a comical scene to see a buccaneer of the 18th century take possession of the latest product born of the most sophisticated luxury car manufacturer.  It was in this car that Clark Gable and Carole Lombard disappeared from Mayfair Hall on January 25, 1936 to make one of the most famous nocturnal journeys in the history of show business -- it was the perfect car to titillate the paparazzi.  In 1947, the car was sold to MGM Music Director George Stoll, who had it repainted in beige.  He then sold it for $2,500 to John Troka.  It then passes into the hands of D. Cameron Peck, one of the largest American collectors, who gives it in 1951 to Perry Egbert, Attica (New York). The latter sells it to Alfredo Ferrar, in Cleveland (Ohio).  It is painted bright red and light gray.

The Duesenberg Model SSJs are among the most beautiful cars of the firm.  They represent a perfect summary of the life of the Duesenberg brothers and their contribution to the automobile. There is no doubt that Fred Duesenberg would have been proud of his little brother's work."

I was about 11 years old when the Clark Gable car "lived" in my home town of Schenectady.  It was stored in a garage near Erie Boulevard, I seem to recall on Ferry Street, not far from the main plant of the American Locomotive Company.  My brother and I would ride our bicycles down there and look in the window at this wonderful artifact.  I only recall seeing it one time on the road, going up Union Street past our house.  I did hear at one time that Mr. Egbert had had an accident in the car somewhere on the New York State Thruway, but I cannot attest to that.  It still holds a very special place in my memory.  I am, after all, a "Car Guy."

Frank Priest and the Penguin Collection

I've seen the quote, “When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.”  The origin is uncertain, but I have found it to be evident in my life, especially during the last 35 years.  Those are the years during which I have learned to live a happy, joyous, and free life through the twelve step program of recovery in Alcoholics Anonymous.

Early in my sobriety, my employer sent me on an assignment to Hughes Electronics in El Segundo, California.  I spent several months there.  My AA colleagues in Huntsville suggested that I get to lots of AA meetings while in southern California and that I would be wise to find a local sponsor while out there.  A sponsor is an individual who has accumulated a few months or years of sobriety and who assists a newcomer in navigating through the twelve-step recovery program.

As things turned out, I was living in an apartment in Inglewood that my employer had rented.  To avoid the worst of the morning rush hour traffic, I started attending an AA meeting at 6:45 AM in the town of Hawthorne, which was very close to the Hughes plant.  I would drive to Hawthorne before the traffic was too dense and enjoy the fellowship, splendid coffee, and fresh donuts of the Attitude Adjustment group of Alcoholics Anonymous each weekday morning.  Then I would proceed directly to the Hughes facility a few minutes before the workday started.  It was a great arrangement.

At that time, this AA group was an interesting mix of three-piece suited aerospace executives and street people all of whom shared the same challenge - remaining sober for another 24 hours.  The unwritten rule was that this would always be a group focusing on positive themes for the day.  It was generally upbeat and had an optimistic outlook.  It was in this environment that I first encountered Frank Priest.  (In AA we have a tradition of anonymity, but since Frank is deceased, I'm sure he would have no issues with my using his full name.  He once told me he was about as anonymous as sliced bread, whatever that may mean.)

I had only been attending this meeting for a few days when I took note of this older gentleman who often shared his thoughts and who clearly was a fervent believer in the power of the twelve-step program of recovery from alcoholism.  He evidently had been sober quite a while (I learned later that at the time he had 37 years sober.).  I decided to ask "Frank P." if he would consider being my sponsor.

When I asked Frank, his response took me by surprise.  "How many meetings have you been to this week?"  I told him I'd been to about 10 or 12 meetings.  "What kinds of meetings?  If I decide to sponsor you, you'll attend the meetings I tell you to."  In most areas, there are different kinds of AA meetings -- speaker meetings where a recovering alcoholic shares their story, discussion meetings at which members share their experience or thoughts on some suggested topic, etc.  Frank had strong views on which kinds of meetings were beneficial for newcomers.  Ultimately, Frank became my sponsor.  He also became a dear friend.

I also got to know Francie, his wife of more than thirty years.  He had actually become sober before they met, bur Francine Priest was a devout believer in the Alanon program for family members of alcoholics.  She attended several meetings a week.  She and Frank were also active in many recovery oriented charities throughout the South Bay area.

Frank was a senior executive with Northrop Corporation, whose headquarters were located in Hawthorne, very close to the AA meeting place.  He was one of the three-piece suit contingent each morning.  Frank began not only advising me which meetings I should be attending, he would frequently pick me up after work at the Hughes facility and take me to dinner and thence to a meeting of his choice.

One evening he took me to a meeting adjacent to a city-run detoxification clinic.  Most of the people in this meeting were in the first 48 hours without a drink.  The place reeked of stale booze and sweat.  Very few participants could speak coherently.  After we left the meeting, I asked Frank why he had taken me there.  "We'll be going there every week, as I have for the past several years.  It's important that we never forget how bad it could have gotten."  Moments like that made Frank a very special and treasured sponsor.

One evening, Frank picked me up in his Cadillac to take me to dinner and a meeting.  We began cruising toward Downey as I asked him where we were going.  "We're going to West Covina to a men's group meeting.  You're tonight's speaker!"  I was petrified.  I didn't feel ready to share my brief story, but Frank knew better.  The meeting was in an auditorium-like setting.  Across the stage curtain was a giant banner proclaiming "The World Headquarters of Sobriety!"  I opened my comments noting that there was no issue with humility in this group.

One weekend, Frank acquired a reservation for a weekend retreat at Manresa retreat center.  He gave that pass to me as a gift.  I got to attend my first (of several) AA retreat.

One time years earlier when Frank was on a business trip, someone gave him a set of salt and pepper shakers in the shape of two penguins.  Someone in his office started the myth that Frank collected penguins in any form.  Soon the penguin collection was underway,  By the time I befriended Frank and Francie, they had set aside a "Penguin Room" in their Torrance home.  There were penguin statues, stuffed penguins, penguin art, wind-up walking penguins, ash trays, lighters. calendars and penguin emblazoned dishes.  But one of the most incredible penguin items was hand made and very special.

As Frank had accumulated his years of sobriety, he had made hundreds of friends in the recovery communities of southern California.  One happened to be a recovering sculptress.  On Frank's thirty-fifth AA birthday, she had made a skating rink using a glass mirror as the pond's surface, surrounded by hills of sculpted clay, complete with pine trees.  And on the skating surface were thirty-five skating penguins in every imaginable pose - spinning, dancing, speeding, and fallen.  And each year, this lovely lady gave Frank another skating penguin to add to the rink.  It was one of the most treasured of all the aggregated penguins.

Frances "Francie" Priest
1929-2008

After I left California, we corresponded for many years.  Frank and Francie remained active into their advanced years, always supporting recovery organizations and activities.  Frank died in 1994.  He was 73 years old.  Francie, who had been his loving bride since 1951, lived until 2008.  Her obituary spoke of her moving to Los Angeles from Kansas in 1949: "There she lived with her brother Jerry & Lucille Tholen and their family in Westchester, and worked as a secretary on the Loyola University campus. Through Jerry & Lucille, Francie met Frank Priest, the love of her life, as he was attending Loyola on the GI Bill. They married in 1951, raised 4 children and lived in Torrance California. Francie was a very active member of the school PTA, Girl Scout and Boy Scout organizations. Francie and Frank enjoyed many years of bridge and travel together and opened their home to countless friends, and friends of friends over the years. Francie became very involved with the House of Hope in San Pedro, and served on their board or as a Regent for over 15 years. Since 2005 she was an active patroness of the Special Children's League, South Bay Committee. Francie was perhaps best known however, as a great supporter for over 50 years of the Friends of Bill Wilson. She will be missed by all who ever knew her. Predeceased by her siblings; husband, Frank; and daughter, Leah Ann. Francie is survived by her children, Elaine, Mike and Tom and their spouses, David, Kellie and Laura; and grandchildren, Ryan and Katie. We miss your sweet ways, your wisdom and gentle humor."

I asked Frank Priest to be my sponsor in 1984.  I received so much more than I ever could have expected.  “When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.” 

Remembering Norm Melander

1st Lieutenant Norm Melander, 1917 - 1951

Recently, we were informed that the North Korean government had returned the remains of 55 individuals that may include some American MIAs from the Korean conflict that ended almost exactly 65 years ago, on July 27, 1953.  Although this announcement was a follow-up to the President's recent meeting with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, it follows a long trail of exchanges of remains of individuals killed in that "Forgotten War."  According to the DoD's POW/MIA Accounting Command Website,
     "During Operation Glory in 1954, North Korea returned the remains of more than 3,000 Americans.  Concurrently, U.S. Graves Registration teams recovered remains from South Korean battlefields.  The U.S. identified thousands of these remains.  In 1956, a total of 848 that could not be identified were buried in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, known as the Punchbowl.  Others were added later as unknowns.  One of the unknowns was interred in the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, D.C.
     The Army Graves Registrations teams searched the battlefields in the Republic of Korea (ROK) from 1951 to 1956.  Today, DoD investigates losses in South Korea with the assistance of U.S. forces in Korea and the ROK government.
     From 1990 to 1994, North Korea exhumed and returned 208 boxes of remains.  However, DoD scientists estimate that as many as 400 individuals could be represented in these 208 boxes.
     Between July 1996, and May 2005, the Central Identification Laboratory Hawaii (CILHI) and JPAC, which is now part of Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, conducted 33 Joint Field Activities (JFAs) in North Korea, which recovered more than 220 sets of remains, which are currently being processed for identification at JPAC in Hawaii.  On May 25, 2005, the U.S. temporarily suspended JFAs in North Korea due to security concerns."

Wikipedia informs us that, "Between 1982 and 2016 there were 781 unknown remains recovered from North Korea, South Korea, China, Japan, and Punchbowl Cemetery in Hawaii,[55] of which a total of 459 have been identified as of June 2018."

The numbers of total MIAs and KIAs in Korea are staggering.  The total number of MIAs and POWs that never returned is estimated by the Pentagon as between 4,193 and 5,246, depending on which sources are used in the estimate.

One of the MIAs, later assumed to be Killed in Action, was 1st Lieutenant Norman Albert Melander, of Ballston Spa, New York.  Norm was a close friend of our family before leaving for Korea, never to return.  As I have stated many times in this blog, my father was a dentist.  For many years, his dental hygienist was a young lady named Claire Tracy.  Claire married Norm Melander in 1950, shortly before he was notified that he was recalled to active duty.  Norm had served in World War II and had remained in the Army Reserve after the war.

My personal bond to Norm was heightened on Christmas day of 1949.  I had asked for a puppet theater for Christmas.  My parents knew that Norm, who was then engaged to Claire Tracy, was a skilled woodworker.  They hired him to make me a puppet stage and he certainly delivered.  I received a magnificent puppet theater with dimmable lights, operating curtains and a beautifully creative paint job.  It was way beyond what anyone envisioned.  I treasured that gift for many, many years.  I was only 10 years old when "Uncle Norm" left for Korea, but I remember it well.  Claire was expecting their first child when he left.  Their daughter was born in July, 1951.  Norm and his daughter Christine never got to meet each other.

There is a Web-based group called the Korean War Project that attempts to gather information on MIA/KIA/POWs and to locate descendants to gather DNA for future identification of remains.  According to this Website, Norm was a member of the 7th Cavalry Regiment, A Company, 1st Battalion.  He was a Bronze Star recipient for valor.  His date of loss is given as October 12, 1951.  He was killed on Hill 287 in the Chorwon area.

In October, 2010, a gentleman named Ted Barker posted a tribute to Norm on the Korean War Project site.  He posted an extract from the book, Of Garryowen in Glory - History of the 7th US Cavalry, by Lt Col Melbourne Chandler, US Army, 1960.  The pages cited specifically pertain to Operation Commando when the 8th Army attacked the Chinese Army to push it back north of to the original 38th Parallel which was the border between North and South Korea at the end of WWII.  Mr. Barker included an editorial comment by Retired Col David Hughes, 7th Cav Rgt:

"(From October 8th, 1951) The 1st Battalion, at 0900 hours, against violent resistance, took the dominating unnumbered hill overlooking Hill 287.  The battalion became a deep salient into the enemy line-a threat the enemy was determined to remove.

At 0045 hours on October 9th, the enemy unleashed a devastating barrage of mortars, rockets and artillery, followed by a two-battalion mass attack on the battered 1st Battalion.  The 1st Battalion was ordered to withdraw into a tight perimeter and to hold.  After one hour of savage fighting the furiously attacking enemy had driven in a portion of Company B. A fast moving, slashing attack was unleashed by the yelling troopers from Company A who quickly restored the Company B sector and the situation began to improve.

Throughout this period Company C was heavily engaged but stubbornly held their ground.  Although this savage attack had continued for almost seven hours this battered battalion managed to retain its position, despite the fact that at times both the enemy and the Garry Owens shared the same trenches.

At 0239 on October 12th, Companies A and B came under attack, and by 0300 hours the entire 1st Battalion was attacked simultaneously, disrupting all communications. Under a wall of intense mortar and artillery fire, followed closely by a grenade throwing fanatical enemy battalion, the enemy finally overran two companies of the 1st Battalion and forced them from their most advanced positions back to the dominating hill overlooking Hill 287.

(Col Hughes NOTE: In my judgment, this is the night action when the 1st Battalion was overrun on Hill 287 by overwhelming Chinese numbers, and 1st Lt Melander was lost)

The 1st Battalion, 8th Cavalry under the operational control of the 7th Cavalry then relieved the 1st Battalion on this dominating position.  The 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry, then moved to Division reserve and remained there until October 25th.

October 13th saw the end of the attack phase for the 7th Cavalry.

During the first ten days of the attack, the 7th Cavalry took all objectives assigned.  It fought successfully against four enemy regiments and inflicted 65 enemy casualties per hour for an unrelenting ten days.  Only the fighting heart and the Garry Owen spirit maintained the aggressive attitude of the riflemen against the great odds of terrain and massive enemy numbers. Only magnificent leadership held units intact after the heavy casualties and continuous enemy bombardment."

Norm Melander defended his nation valiantly.  I can only hope that one day, his remains may be returned, identified, and properly buried where his descendants can pay their proper tribute.

Weekend Project

The ultimate bird feeder!

Not long before Christmas, Mary Ann asked me if there was anything I might want in the way of a gift.  I suggested a bird feeder.  I had previously owned a bird feeder that had been demolished when a large tree fell on it, mashing it beyond recognition.  I thought little more about our conversation after that.

On Christmas day, there was a large box among my gifts with a shiny copper cone extending past an open side.  I knew right away that this had to be the roof of a very large bird feeder.  Mary Ann had located and purchased what must be the Taj Mahal of bird dining facilities.  It is hexagonal with little arched openings on all sides and is manufactured using solid cellular PVC and sheet copper.  I expect it will outlast me.

My old bird feeder was a modest sheet metal affair that mounted on an iron pipe that I drove into the ground.  It went up in five minutes.  Not so with this elegant avian eatery.  It has a recessed opening on its underside measuring 4" x 4".  It would require a 4x4 post.

I proceeded to Lowe's a few weeks ago and selected the clearest 4x4 post I could find, 6' long and pressure treated to resist the elements.  This meant I'd have to find some appropriate hardware to support the base.  On to Amazon!  I purchased the Simpson Strong-Tie E-Z Base with its beautiful black glossy powder coated finish.  A piece of hardware worthy of such a feeder.

This required that I purchase some anchor bolts, nuts and washers.  Then I dug a hole about 18" deep, drove in a half dozen pieces of reinforcement bar, built a form for the perimeter of the concrete base, and poured the concrete into which I incorporated the anchor bolts.  Now things started to take shape!  

This weekend, I finally got everything put up.  I mounted the post in the recess of the E-Z Base.  Then I realized I had forgotten to get the 1/4" galvanized lag screws that lock it in place.  Back to Lowe's.  I got the squirrel (and cat) protector in place with no issues.  I mounted and leveled the post.  Everything was falling into place nicely.

When I placed the bird feeder on top of the post, I noticed something very strange.  An American standard 4x4 post is not in fact 4" by 4".  It's more like 3-1/2" square.  But the recess in the bottom of the feeder was a little over 4" by 4".  My solution was to glue 1/4" thick battens on all four sides of the post along the top edge.  Once these were in place and the glue had dried, I could mount the feeder with a nice snug fit.  Problem solved.

I think it looks great.  I only hope the birds are as pleased as I am!

ShopProject -- A New Series

ShopProject 1 -- The "Bear Chair"

This is the first in a series of blog entries I'm calling "ShopProject."  Each will focus on a single project that I've completed and describe in detail how I went about accomplishing the job.  This first one is a woodworking project - the building of a child's rocking chair in the shape of an embracing teddy bear.

I built the first of these chairs around 30 years ago.  The plans were published by Rockler Woodworking, a company that provides tools and supplies for woodworkers.  They have around fifty stores nationwide as well as a robust Web-based retail presence.  When I decided a couple years ago to build another rocking chair, I was disappointed to find that Rockler no longer listed these plans in their catalog.  I called the company and they confirmed that these plans were no longer available.  Not to be deterred, I went on line to search for an available set of plans and located the set shown here.

In this first pictorial drawing, you can see the overall assembly of this project.  Note that the arms are double thickness; all other major pieces are of 3/4 inch thickness, although I have made this chair using 1" thick stock.  Below the assembly drawing is the Bill of Materials.

Over the years, I have built this project using ash, cherry, and maple.  The most recent version, the one I'm describing here, is made using 1" thick curly maple.  The 1" thick stock requires a few accommodations in the plan, and the curly maple demanded some special finishing to bring out its most spectacular appearance.

The next page of the plan describes the individual components of the chair, along with the recommended procedure for crafting each piece.  These instructions are well thought out and should be heeded.  For example, the underside of the seat has 3/8" deep routed dadoes into which the rockers and cross brace are fastened.  The instructions have you rout these channels while you still have enough stock to attach a guide for your router.  Only after you cut these dadoes do you cut out the seat.  If you cut out the seat prematurely, guiding the router becomes much more of a challenge.

The step-by-step instructions are carefully planned and meant to be followed.

 The remaining pages of the plan provide scaled images of the pieces drawn to 1/2 scale.  To enlarge these to full scale, you may either redraw them on a 1" square grid or enlarge them to the point at which the grid lines in the plan are 1" apart.

Preparing the Templates

Whenever I plan to use a design more than once, I begin by creating rigid templates of the individual pieces.  I do this by blowing up the plan to full size.  Then I glue or paste the paper plan to a piece of thin plywood or Masonite™.  I cut this out on a band saw, being extremely careful to follow the edge line as closely as possible.  Once this is done, I have a pattern I can use multiple times by merely tracing the outline onto a piece of stock that I intend to build with.  I also drill all the pre-positioned holes with a drill large enough to permit a pencil or scribe to be inserted to mark its position on the stock I'm working with.

The templates I use to mark the lumber I'm working with

Marking the Construction Material

I carefully lay out the templates on my stock attempting to use the material in the most efficient manner.  In the case of large pieces, I may have to glue multiple smaller pieces together before tracing the pattern.  In these cases, I select my stock to ensure that the grain and color are similar in adjacent pieces.  Then I use a jointer to get perfectly square and straight edges to be glued.  I apply and spread the glue on both surfaces, lay the boards on a piece of waxed paper on a perfectly flat surface (such as the bed of a table saw), and clamp the boards together (and to the flat surface to ensure the individual pieces are lying flat as they are glued).  The waxed paper keeps any squeezed-out glue off my table saw and prevents gluing the boards to the flat surface.

It's important during this tracing process to keep in mind the best direction for the grain to run in each component.  If two components will be complementary by virtue of their relative position, make sure they have a complementary grain orientation.  An example in this project is the two arms.  The top surface of each arm should have a similar grain orientation.  When all the parts are traced onto the construction stock, begin cutting out the components, being very careful to cut "close to the line."

Crafting the Individual Components

Cut each piece out on the band saw, exercising great care.  For parts that require a rounded edge, go ahead and smooth the sides before you apply a 1/4" round over bit on a router table to soften the rounded edges.  You will be sanding these pieces to smooth their surfaces, but it's much easier to take care in the cutting out of parts than to try to sand them to the correct shape after cutting them incorrectly.  On curved edges, I like to use a drum sander and for straight edges, a flat belt sander works well.  I typically use progressive grits of sandpaper, progressing from 80 grit to 320 grit in the sequence 80-100-150-220-320.  Don't forget to hand sand the "square" edges of the components to soften them slightly.

On the pieces that require routed dadoes, I clamp the piece to a work surface, surrounded by stock (usually scraps) of the same thickness as the piece to be routed.  I then carefully measure and place a guide for the edge of the router and clamp that in place.  After triple checking all clamps and positions, I set the router depth to match the depth of cut on the end of the piece that will be inserted into this specific dado.  This is the small offset that will cover the rounded end of the dado groove.  Only when I am certain of my positioning and clamps do I finally insert the cutter and initiate the dado.  If this dado is incorrectly cut, it will require the making of a completely new piece.

Similarly, I locate, mark, re-measure, and drill and countersink all the holes where I plan to screw the parts together as I glue them.

Assembling the Chair

I assemble the chair several times during its construction before I glue it together.  Only after I'm

The arm is made of two layers,
glued together.

positive the parts are properly crafted do I commit to final assembly.  First, I glue the two pieces of each individual arm together.  You will want to make sure both gluing surfaces are perfectly flat.  Any little gap in this glue joint will be visible.  This step is done before the final shaping, sanding and drilling of the arms.

The sequence I use to assemble the chair is to first assemble the two sides (rockers) with their cross brace.  I glue and screw these parts together while holding them in place (not gluing them yet) in the dadoes they are to occupy on the underside of the seat.  Next, I glue and screw them to the underside of the seat.  I do this in two steps because it simplifies the holding and clamping of pieces during this time-sensitive process.  Of course, whenever we are gluing pieces that we plan to apply finish to, we use a moderate amount of glue, spread it thoroughly on the surface being glued, and remove any squeeze-out promptly.  I keep a wet rag handy just in case I get some glue on an area where I don't want it.

The underside of the seat, with rockers
and cross brace installed

After the seat assembly is completed, I install the back with glue and screws.  I follow this, once everything is completely dry, with the arms.  When installing the arms, it is really important that the attachment surface of the arm is tight and flush against the back.  That means the large 1-1/4" dowel supporting the front of the arm must be very precisely placed.  Both ends of that dowel are glued into 1/4" deep drilled recesses -- one on the underside of the arm and one on the top surface of the seat.  The dowel that is used in final assembly is 3-3/4" long.  I keep a piece of dowel only 3-1/2" long as a "marker" dowel.  I don't drill the recess in the seat until I dry assemble the arm to the glued back with the short dowel installed temporarily in the arm.  This dowel will be flush against the seat when the arm is snugged up to the back (I use two screws rather than one to hold the arm to the back).  I now trace around the bottom of the marker dowel to establish the position where I want to drill my recessed socket in the seat that will receive the final dowel.  I glue, but do not screw, the bottom of the support dowels during final assembly.  This sequence ensures that the very visible joint where the arm meets the back is tight with no gaps.

The assembled chair, before plugging screw recesses,
applying the nose and eyes, or finishing.

Adding the Nose and Eyes

Any contrasting wood looks good, either light on a dark background or dark on a light background.  You can siply cut the shape out of a thin sheet of wood, or, as I sometimes do, use a book matched glued sheet, with the seam centered vertically on the face of the bear.  For the nose, I round off the end of a piece of 1" dowel using a belt sander.  I then use wood sealer on this rounded end, and finally a couple of coats of semi-gloss black enamel.  Then, I slice the nose off the dowel at a length that leaves the rounded nose slightly proud of the surrounding surface when it's glued in its recessed hole.

For the eyes, I prefer to paint the ends of the dowel stock using black and white enamel before I assemble the two dowel sections that make up each eye.  After I have glued the smaller dowel into the hole in the larger dowel, I simply slice off the thickness that will be flush when installed in its recess on the back of the chair.

Finishing the Rocker

The finish you use is your personal choice.  I want the rocker to last, since it's the kind of object that gets passed from child to child within a family.  It will probably sustain a lot of abuse.  The last rocker I built, shown below, was finished as follows:

• Three coats of a 50-50 mix of boiled linseed oil and mineral spirits, applied with a cotton rag, then wiped dry, with 0000 steel wool between coats.
• Three coats shellac, progressively thinner -- 2-lb. cut, then 1-1/2 lb. cut, then 1 lb. cut -- applied with a cotton rag very quickly to minimize streaking, then steel wooled between coats.
• One coat of Seal-A-Cell clear finish from General Finishes, applied with a rag and then wiped with a dry, lint-free cloth.

Please feel free to submit questions or suggestions in the comments section.  And enjoy building a little chair for that special child.

The finished chair