Getting To Know You
Bob Spiwak
Return to Bob Spiwak's USAFSS Website
I was born on
November 29th 1931 in a very small town in Connecticut called Moodus. The name
Moodus derives from Machemoodus, a Wangunk Indian name meaning "place of
noises." The Wangunk created a religion around the noises, believing that
the area was the dwelling place of Hobbamock, a vengeful god angered that the
Europeans had come to Connecticut. Colonial settlers attributed the noises to
fights between the black magic witches of Haddam and the white magic witches of
Moodus. The noises are heard frequently and come from the local caves. I quit
high school at age 16 and started working in a lampshade factory. After about
three years, in April 1951, I joined the Air Force took basic training at
Sampson AFB in New York, and went to Scott AFB as a private first class to
study radio repair. I was then assigned to Brooks AFB, San Antonio, Texas as a
corporal to await a clearance and assignment to a radio security squadron. At
this time the Army Air Force was becoming the United States Air Force and
while waiting for my clearance I, like many others, was "demoted"
from corporal (which was an NCO rank) to A2C (which wasn't) and I started
taking turns at KP. We were provided with olive drab uniforms during Basic
Training and later got Air Force blue uniforms, I still had my old Army uniform
when I was discharged in 1955. I finally got assigned to the 136th
CSS Detachment 12. Here are a couple of pictures from that time.
May 1951 Sampson
AFB, NY.
Olive drab Ike
Jacket Army uniform. Before the blue
Air Force uniforms
were issued.
Local newspaper. May 1951
Back Row: Chuck Edson (Instructor), Percy Roberts, Robinson, Barrett, Bobby Minaert, John Kroph.
Middle Row: Bob Spiwak, Burns, Joe Foelker, Ben Davis, Meyer Weiss.
Front Row: J. P. Hanson, Frede, Monk Hanson, Dawson.
3334th Student SQDN. Radio Repair School. Nov. 1951
Scott AFB, Illinois
Bob Spiwak
Beer party behind
Detachment 12 Dec. 12 1952
Same beer party
Major Krula, S/Sgt.
Bohac, S/Sgt. Pierce, S/Sgt. Lemons, Lt. Wilson
Kneeling: S/Sgt.
Fletcher, T/Sgt. Burns
Guys in the back
left corner are unknown
For about the next
six months I was responsible for radio repair and taught a class in basic
electronics. At the end of 1952 I was assigned to the 136th CSS Det.
6 in Moriyama-cho, outside of Nagoya, Japan. I "shipped" (I thought I
had joined the Air Force) out of California at the end of January 1953. In
Yokohama, Japan I met Ed Harrop (coming for his second tour). We left for
Nagoya but due to bad weather we flew to Taegu, Korea then Miho, Japan and
finally took a train to Nagoya. Here are a couple of reminders of Moriyama:
Entrance to
Moriyama-cho Compound, 18 March 1953
Billets at Moriyama
Det 6 136 CSS, 18 March 1953
By April 1 1953 I
was at K55 Osan, Korea replacing Iving Moody at Det. 6. We lived in tents and
the radios were in huts on the backs of 6Xs until our Quonset huts were built.
T/Sgt. Hayes and later T/Sgt. Brown was in command of Detachment 6. We shared Hill
170 with C Battery of the 398th AAA, which had 40mm and 50 cal.
antiaircraft guns. We also ate in their mess.
K55 Osan, Korea
April 1953
New Quonset and
Guard tower May 1953
We had some great
vehicles in Korea. Our personal carrier would only go up our hill backwards due
to a pinhole in the fuel line. The fuel tank had to be above the carburetor.
Our jeep lost a front left wheel so John Fox, Emil Wilson and I took a bottle
of booze to the motor pool sergeant and we swapped hoods (they had the serial
numbers) with a working jeep.
Brown taking over
from Hayes July 4, 1953
We also had a bit
of fun at K55, such as this Hot Dog Roast.
Rhodes, Boyle
(standing), Kon (houseboy), Norbert J. Prylinski (Ski) and Kendall Ropp
Who remembers the night
that our fifty kilowatt diesel generator ran away? We were playing cards when
the lights started to get brighter and brighter and then went out. We all ran
outside to watch the generator run faster and faster until the engine head
began to glow red. The fuel injectors failed. No one wanted to get close to it
for fear it would blow up. Finally T/Sgt. Hayes, using a long stick was able to
pull the fuel hose from the diesel barrel. A few minutes later the generator
gave out a loud shriek and died. It boiled out all 20 something gallons of
water from the radiator.
During my stay in
Korea word came that our billets had burned to the ground. Lucky for me all of
my civilian clothes and most of my dress uniforms were in storage. Click on
""136th CSS "Det 12", "Det 6" & "Det 6
Sec 1" 1952-1954"" on my home page to see more photos of the
fire.
I made A1/c and
after my return to Japan in November I started working with these guys:
Anderson, Kobuchi,
Me, Orval Krul, Irving Moody
In December 1953 we
flew to Yokoda Air Base on a mission to monitor some Air Force nets. The plane
was flown by "Rapid" Robert Reckner our CO. Rapid was his MARS
amateur radio handle. On our way we flew past Mount Fugi in our C-47.
Unfortunately we recorded everything using 60 cycle recorders not knowing the
power at Yokoda, Japan was at 50 cycles. Upon our return to Moriyama we found
the tapes unreadable. But it was a fun trip.
The above photo was
taken at Yokoda showing a WWII Japanese Kamikaze plane.
Photo of Wayne
Hamel with Japanese Kamikaze plane. Yokoda, Japan Dec. 1953
Japanese WW2
"Tony" a copy of our P51 at Yokoda, Japan Dec. 1953.
My next job was to
run the Moriyama club, which served steak dinners, hamburgers, beer, free
coffee etc. I ran the club until I went stateside in late summer of 1954. A lot
of beer was consumed in that club. These were about the best nine months in my
Air Force career.
Sato and I behind
the bar.
The Nagoya Airmans Club had darkroom facilities so I got interested in developing my own photos. The following few pictutes show the results.
John Charles
Cameron, Denis Houston, Bob Spiwak and Raymond Fuchs 1954.
Virgil Ashford 1954
Joe Gifford
Clerk/Typist, Moriyama 1954
Left Japan in
September of 1954
First sight of the
Golden Gate Bridge, California. About 6:00 AM 1954
East side of the
Golden Gate Bridge after passing under it. 1954
Barracks and
operations of the 26th RSM March AB Riverside, California
I spend my last six
months in the Air Force at the 26th Radio Squadron Mobile at March
Air Force Base, California. I was discharged on April 5th 1955.
Using the GI Bill I
attended the Ward School of Electronics at the University of Hartford. In 1957,
after graduation I joined Bell Telephone Laboratories in New Jersey as a
technical aide. In September 1957 I married Carol Anderson and we began a
family, which after 49 years consists of four children and twelve
grandchildren. I retired from Bell Labs in 1995 as a Member of the Technical
Staff. Since retirement we spend our time in Basking Ridge, NJ. Carol is
involved in the St. James choir and I am a volunteer driver for the church. I
play a little golf, fish and ski and like going to watch the NJ Devils hockey
team. We attend the NJ Symphony several times a year. We bought a lake front
lot in Maine about 30 years ago and in 1995 built a small cabin on it. So we
try to spend as much time there as we can.
Our wedding day
September 21, 1957
Bob Spiwak
bobspiwak@verizon.net