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Happy Veteran’s Day to all you wonderful vets and troops out
there! I hope you have a few good
stories to tell about your military days.
I salute each of you for your sacrifice, and wish you all the best.
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| Charlie Dee Melton |
Dad used to talk fondly about his time in the U.S. Air
Force, especially in his later years. As
I remember his stories, he was 19 years old when he enlisted. He was mad at his dad—again—and decided he
wasn’t going to live at home anymore.
Those were his party years…black and white photos show him standing
proudly with fellow servicemen, or holding up a bottle of liquor trudging
through snow with a big grin on his face.
There were also photos of him standing near a prized car. He was known as “Tex”
or “Reb” (short for Rebel), because he had grown up in Texas,
in and near a small town called Savoy
where Grandpa was a carpenter and built several houses from ground up.
He talked mostly about being in Alaska.
He loved it there, and wanted to drive up and see the country one more
time. He also spoke about being in the Philippines,
and how you’d know when the noobs came in:
they’d get sunburned hanging out on the beach too long and smelled like
vinegar which took the sting out of the burn.
It sounded like a rite of passage there!
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| Betty Ann Rassbach Melton |
Mom also had a story to tell about his time in the
military. She was graduating from high
school and sent her senior picture to her brother, who was stationed with
Dad. Dad saw the photo and asked who she
was. Mom’s brother grinned and said it
was his girlfriend. Dad replied, “not
for long!” and started writing. Mom used
to have a stack of letters bound up with a ribbon that were from him, during
the next six years he was in service. In
one letter—which I had only got to steel a read from after Mom had passed away,
he asked her what she thought about a house full of little brats running
around. After leaving the Air Force, he
traded in his party days, settled down and married the love of his life in her
hometown of Menomonie, Wisconsin, bought a house, and he worked at the local
Ford Motor Company dealership, up till in the 70’s when we moved to Texas
during the gas shortage. Oh, and he got
that wish about a houseful of brats…there’s six of us kids!
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| 1960 - Betty and Chuck Melton |
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