“I was born and raised in Gary, Indiana, joined the Navy on April 9, 1951 and was discharged on April 6, 1955. Came into VP-21 in January 1952 from AD school in Memphis, TN. Worked in a check crew for a couple of months and there soon became a shortage of flight crew members. I was assigned to HC-6, P4M-1’s under George (Red) Ruch as Plane Captain. The P4M’s became old and were sent to major overhaul. We received P2V-6’s as replacements and I then became a 2nd mechanic under Bob Goodie as Plane Captain on HC-5. In the early spring of 1954 the squadron received three additional planes and I then became Plane Captain of HC-11 until my discharge in April 1955. I had a wonderful experience during my tour of duty, and made two tours of duty to Malta in 1953 and 1954.

My first tour of Malta was at Luqa Air Field in 1953 as a crew member of HC 5, with Herb Edelman as PPC and Bob Goodie as Plane Captain. We stayed in a three story building next to the British barracks. We ate in the British mess hall, eating mutton, lamb, stewed tomatoes, and potatoes and drank their tea, with and without milk. We made frequent trips to Naples, Italy to pick up and deliver mail and during our short stay, spent some time in Naples gouging ourselves on Italian Foods. We often went to Wheelus Air Force Base in Tripoli for pilots to practice touch and go landings and then stop for a few hours to buy necessary items from the PX including booze.

My fondest memories are the familiarization flights, (sight seeing trips) we made visiting many countries around the Mediterranean, British Isles and into Western Europe. Also the July 4th fireworks display that was tossed at the British barracks while they were sleeping.

We were on an Operation in 1953 that placed us on the Island of Crete, slept in tents and ate on an LST that was beached on shore and shared this remote airfield with VP 11. One day one of our planes blew out a tire on landing and the plane was left on the runway because there were no spare tires available to get the plane off the runway. In the mean time, a VP11 plane was coming in with one engine out, could not land on the main runway and attempted a landing on the auxiliary runway, ran out of runway and ditched the plane in water about 50 yards from shore. The plan sank in shallow water, and the water level was midway across the fuselage. A rescue crew from the LST came to retrieve the waiting aviators. There were no serious injuries and our squadron was chewed our royally for not removing the ailing plane that was blocking the main runway.

My parents came to the United States from Bivona, Sicily and when I found out I was going to Malta, I took leave in 1953 to visit relatives in Sicily. One of my Aunts tried her best to get me to marry one of her daughters. Because of that incident, I stayed away from visiting Sicily in 1954 and married a home town girl in 1959.

In 1954, we were back in Malta at Halfar Air Field. I was plane captain of HC 11, with DK Smith as PPC. That year we stayed in Quonset huts. We were in an air, sea rescue training seminar that was hosted by the British. Our training was to swim to various life rafts that were placed in the water. Once you were in the life raft, a British Helicopter made by Sikorski, came to our rescue and hoisted us out of the raft. After the exercise, our whole crew including officers went to one of our Quonset huts to relax sipping a few beers.

After about four months there the squadron was transferred to Port Lyautey, in French Morroco for the balance of our tour. I believe the British were making major repairs to the main runway at Halfar. At Port Lyautey, our squadron had a tag football team that won the base football tournament. While at Port Lyautey, our crew was involved in an air – sea rescue mission of an American airliner that went down near the Azores Islands. We had engine problems one day during the search and landed at Lajes Field in the Azores. We needed a new cylinder and were stranded in the Azores for a week while waiting for the part that was coming in from the States.

After my discharge I attended USF&G’s School of Insurance. I worked for various Independent Insurance Agencies and Insurance Companies as a sales representative. I retired from managing the Shipshewana Insurance Agency in Shipshewana, Indiana.

In 1959, I married Arlene a hometown girl and we produced four daughters, Laura, Karen, Janice and Brenda. The girls have produced nine grandchildren for us and have only one daughter living locally, along with four grandchildren
Occupation changes moved me back and forth across northern Indiana and in 1972 we moved to the small town of Shipshewana, Indiana, with a population of 419 people, was quite a change of scenery. Moving into an Amish community was quite a contrast from big city environment. I became involved in many out side activities and was an Emergency Medical Technician for seven years.

Our little town of 525 people has grown in a huge tourist attraction. We have a large Flea Market that brings in from 20,000 to 30,000 tourists from May through October and supports four motels.”