I was in Hopedale from November 1955 to September 1956 doing radar maintenance. I have recently communicated with Paul Coutu from Chicopee, MA. He was one of the pioneers at Hopedale (his tour was from October 1953 to October 1954). I often thought about how it might have been in the beginning. Now I am hoping to hear more about that from Paul.
It was said, "There was absolutely nothing to do there." We did a lot of nothing to pass the time such as pounding the edges of a half dollar with a hammer to flatten it, then drilling a hole in the half dollar and smoothing it off with a piece of emery cloth to produce a ring. This would usually take a few weeks.
The cigarettes we got out of the old C-rations (8-10 years old as I recall) were very dry. You could blow in one end and the dust would come out the other end. To remedy this we secured a sponge or a cork or ... (I forget what) inside a coffee can. Then we kept the cigarettes in the can to reduce the dryness.
I realized I had to keep busy so in addition to working extra hours on the job, I worked as a bartender in the NCO Club (a room designated as "The NCO Club"), pulled KP for $ (usually from the winners at the evening poker games or craps), took a correspondence course, .... Also took a lot of pictures, made up picture packets and sold them (we had an equipped dark room).
We had 2 guys from the village working at the site, a kid who did some cleaning (I think it was in the officers quarters) and a guy, Henry Gear, in the power plant.
One day when I was working in the NCO Club, Henry came in feeling bad, he said that he had a tooth ache. After drinking a couple shots he left. When he came back an hour later, he said that he was feeling better. Then he went on explain that he had pulled out his bad tooth with a pair of pliers!
Recreational facilities - Our "movie theater" was a room with some benches. In bad weather we would go a long time with no new movies coming in. So after we had seen the current movie too many times, we would run film backwards for entertainment. I remember a Ping-Pong table and a pool table and read somewhere that a gymnasium and a bowling alley had been added.
The beer, Ballentine, had rust in the cans and we weren't supposed to drink it - but we did anyway that was all there was.
If you weren't on flying status, an officer or very sick, there weren't any trips back to Goose - you were at the site for 12 months. I had 3 months at the 642nd AC&W in Newfoundland before coming to Hopedale, so I got half credit for that time.
While waiting in the terminal at Goose for a flight back to the states, with a good buddy who had come to Hopedale the same time I did, a girl walked by (hadn't seen one on those in a long time). I stood up and said, "George, I know her!" He thought I had gone off the deep end and tried to make me calm down. It was a girl I and gone to high school with ! Her husband was in the Air Force and stationed at Goose. (There were some dependents at Goose.).
Hopedale was a GREAT experience and education for me. I went in the Air Force as a very green naive 19 year old kid and the time in Hopedale helped me realize that what I did with my life depended on me so I better get my act together. It made me think about a purpose in life.
Thanks again, Ren, for stirring up memories of one of the peak experiences of my life.
Brooks Hill
16513 Baederwood Lane
Rockville MD 20855
(301) 840-5730 BrooksHill@AOL.com