"This is I, Jim Alexander, not long before I left Middleton. I was the Chief of Radar Maintenance at the time. After I left Middleton, I was assigned to Tonopah, Neveda for the rest of my enlistment. We only had an FPS-3 there and no balloon to cover it. Doing a PM MDS in the cold weather was rough. Before Middleton, I had been stationed at Havre, Montana. T/Sgt Roberts, the medic at Middleton was stationed at Havre AFS at the same time that I was. He was the only person at Middleton that I had seen before, except those that I had met at the Elmendorf transit barracks waiting to go to Middleton. I was fortunate enough, on my year at Middleton, to get off the island two times. The first was to go to Fairbanks to the basketball tounament December '57' and another was the tounament in February at Anchorage. When I left the island rotating out of there was five others with me. Of the six, only two of us had been off the island during the year tour. Middleton Island, as isolated as it was, was not a bad tour of duty, however I consider it one of those experiences that a person would not take a million dollars for, nor, go through again for ten million. I met a lot of good, interesting people there. I continued to communicate with Bill Ditillio. the bendix Tech Rep, for many years after my tour at Middleton. The last I heard Bill was stationed at Elephant Butt, New Mexico on a radar site. |