So here we were; it was February, 1958, and we were now back home in Connecticut, after eight years on the run, so to speak. But, with no job, no home and three kids.
The job I was looking forward to when I had first applied for a discharge was now filled by someone else, and there were no other openings available at the time. We stayed in Oakville with the Hevey's, Therese's parents. Of course the country was in a recession at the time so jobs were scarce. I applied to the CT Unemployment Office for unemployment compensation, but was turned down. I had not worked in CT and therefore I was not eligible. I applied to a veteran's assistance office and was granted 50 dollars.
Then one day in April I was informed by the Ordnance Corps that there was anopening for a mechanic at the Milford, CT Ordnance facility and that I should go there for an interview. On April 23, the day I was to go for the interview, I received a telegram from the Preventive Maintenance Agency of the Ordnance Corps that a vacancy for my primary job had opened up. Naturally, I jumped at the chance and reported to Raritan Arsenal in Metuchen NJ for indoctrination and personnel actions. I was there for a week and stayed with my brother Larry and family in Morristown. While there, I was told that the opening was in the Pittsburgh area, where I was originally scheduled to work.
In early May, 1958, I left for Pittsburgh PA and a new career. When I got there, I picked up a newspaper and scanned the want-ads for a room to rent. I found one in Bethel Park. When I interviewed with the owner, I learned that the previous renter had a similar job to the one I was getting, and that he was also an ex-paratrooper. I soon learned that I was his replacement, and furthermore, I knew who he was because we had been in the same basic electronics class back at Fort Bliss some 5 years before. Small world that I was not only replacing my replacement, but was also taking over his room. It seems that he and his wife separated and he was now selling encyclopedias.
The job involved mostly in doing what I did while I was a Warrant Officer, except that I was now an civilian advisor to the Guided Missile Battalion, in the Launching area, in the southern sector of Pittsburgh. The job carried a GS-12 level, that compares to a Major in the Army, and paid $7,500 a year; big bucks in those days. There were six of us G-12s, two advosors for each of the three battalions in the Pittsburgh area. One each in the Radar (IFC) Area and one each in the Launching Area. We worked out of the Ordnance facility on Neville Island, in the Ohio River.
The following month, May 22, 1958 to be exact, while working at one of the Ajax missile sites in the Pittsburgh area, we got word that there had been an explosion at one of the sites of the 526th at Sandy Hook, New jersey, my old outfit that I had left in 1956.While upgrading the warhead detonating system on one of the missiles, an accidental explosion occurred, killing 6 soldiers and four civilians. We were beginning to do the same work in Pittsburgh, but that project was put on hold until the results of the investigations were over. The accident actually happened in Middletown, away from Sandy Hook, just west of Highlands.After the blast
Eventually I found a house near the Pittsburgh airport and the rest of the family finally moved to Pittsburgh. The picture of the kids, on the right, below, was taken about that time. While living in that house, I had to attend a Nike Hercules school at Port Clinton Ohio for a two month period. Port Clinton is on Lake Erie near Sandusky.We rented a summer cottage by the lake. for $100 a month. This was early November, the weather was mild and we were quite comfortable by the lake. But soon it turned extremely cold and our little cottage struggled to keep us warm. At thanksgiving, the school had a break, so we returned to Pittsburgh for a week. We had bought a new refrigerator before we left for Port Clinton. Sometime while we were gone, the thermostat failed and everything in the fridge spoiled. When we opened the door to our house, the stench drove us back.Raymond, Claire and Roger about 1959
In the freezer we had ice cream, fish, meat , etc all were melted together in a foul smelling soup for who knows how long. The fridge went back to the dealer, they lent us an older one and it took about two months before we got a replacement.
Later we moved to Library, PA, a much nicer house. It was there that we got the scare of our lives. I was sitting in the living room, Therese was preparing dinner and Claire was in the kitchen near her mother when suddenly there was an explosion, and loud screaming. I jumped from the couch and ran into the kitchen. Therese was covered in red and there was red on the floor, the walls, etc. I thought it was blood. A can of Campbell's tomato soup had gotten into the broiler of our stove. The broiler was below the oven. Therese had been preheating the broiler. Inside the broiler, the can of soup had gotten hot. When the door was opened, the cold air caused the can to burst the seam, sending hot soup all over the kitchen area. Therese caught some of it, the door of the broiler deflected the contents upward and away from Claire. Luckily, no one was really hurt. We just had a scare and had a big mess to clean up.
While living in Library, we answered an ad from someone who was looking for a home for a dog, a Collie. We answered the ad and got the dog. A beautiful collie that really got along well with the kids.We struck-up a friendship with the couple who gave us the dog and I was invited to go to a baseball game. My first pro game was at Forbes field and we (Therese was a fan too) became Pirate fans. Back then, admission to a ball game was reasonable and just a trolley ride away. So I went to quite a few games. This was the team that in 1960 beat the New York Yankees in the World Series.
Our next move, (we never stayed in one place too long), was to a strange looking house in 84 PA. That was and still is the name of the town, 84, PA. We would receive our mailaddressed either 84, PA or Eighty Four, PA. either one worked. The first problem we encountered at this house was the water. It was hard, rusty, unwashable and undrinkable. so we had to get a water conditioner. The other problem was HORNETS. There were hornets all over the place. In the yard, in cinder blocks laying around the yard. Around the picnic table, above the door in the eaves. In the overlap between the foundation and the siding, they were everywhere.84 PA
I declared war on the hornets. Dressed up in a missile fueling suit that I borrowed, I went at them with a torch. Luckily I didn't burn the house down. They were even in nests in the grass. When I mowed, they came at me. I doused the grass with gasoline (small areas at a time) then lit a match and blew them away. I got stung only once, and that was when I was just sitting at the picnic table, minding my own business. I eventually won the war.
This was the last time and place we ever experienced a doctor's house call. Two of the kids (Claire and Roger, I believe) were very sick with colds and tonsillitis and were keeping us both awake at night. We called the doctor, who said he would come over. Therese and I stayed up until 2 AM, at about which time, exhausted, we both fell asleep. The next morning, we found a note on the door from the doctor, saying that he knocked (about 3 or 4 AM) but no one answered. You won't find that commitment today, I'm sure. Claire and Roger eventually had their tonsils removed at Pittsburgh's University Hospital.
At the end of 1960, I was transferred to a new facility in the Cincinnati Ohio area. This was at the King's Mills Ordnance facility. So it was time to pack up and move, again.
