STORY BEHIND THE PLAQUE
Service Reflections of SMSgt John Ridlehoover, U.S. Air Force (1957-1983)

When I graduated from high school, I knew I did not want to go to work at the main source of employment in my then, hometown. Namely one of the 5 or more “Cotton Mills” that employed a large percent of the population of the town. I had an uncle who had gone to West Point for a period of time, did not graduate, but did go into the Army as a 2nd Lt. He would come home on leave in a nice car from places like Texas and other locations and I said to myself “The military will be my ticket out of here”.

Plus the draft was still in effect. I did not think I wanted to get drafted into the army, so I enlisted in the Air Force. When I enlisted I did not necessarily do so with the intention of making a career of it but after Tech School, I was sent to Scotland where I met my future wife. After my tour there, I had five years invested so I thought why not just stay for the long haul!

As I stated in the last section, I invested five years so decided to stay for the duration. So instead of giving my reason for leaving, let me tell you why I came to stay.

After about a year and a half into my tour in Scotland, I was sent involuntarily to Wheelus AB in Tripoli, Libya. I absolutely hated the place from the day before I got there. I could not wait to get out of there. And I wasn’t alone. I could tell you a lot of stories about other guys and some of the ploys they tried to get out of there, mostly unsuccessfully.

In my case, after about 5 months there, the Air Force came out with an offer, that if you would take a “short” and re-enlist, they would give you your choice of a base within the 6900th Security Wing. I was probably the first in line to take advantage of that offer. I re-enlisted and asked to go back to the 6952nd in Scotland. However there were no vacancies there but they offered me to go to the 6950 Radio Group Mobile at RAF Chicksands, England. Since it was on the same island as Scotland, I did not hesitate to take the offer. That was a 3-year tour so I made many trips with my buddies up to Scotland to see our girlfriends. On a cold but sunny day in January 1960, I married my Scottish Lassie and brought her down to England where we lived until rotating back to the States in June 1962. By then, I not only had a wife but two kids also! Needless to say, I was in for life!

Other than a couple of Joint Service Exercises, I did not participate in any military operations, per se.

I did do two tours in Thailand in support of the Vietnam War. We provided aerial reconnaissance intelligence to the Army Hq. in Saigon.

Thank God I was never in an incident of that nature! Except for the time I had to jump off the Parachute Tower in Basic Training!

I would have to say that my best assignment was my first overseas assignment at RAF Kirknewton, Scotland which was just outside Edinburgh. When I was sent to Tripoli, Libya and went back to Edinburgh on a 30-day leave, it was just like I was going back home. The people there were very friendly and made you feel welcome, And best of all, that is where I met my first wife and we are in our 59th year of wedded bliss!

My least favorite was a toss-up between Tripoli, Libya, and Shaw AFB, SC!

While I don’t want to offend anyone, I have to say the memories that have impacted me most were from my experiences in Thailand. First, it was the lack of human dignity. While at RTAFB Takhli, I witnessed several incidents where one or more people were killed, one in a traffic accident and another where several people were shot by the police. In both cases, the bodies lay right where the incident occurred for several days until the families could come and get them.

The other, which believe it or not, has had a more lasting effect on me was when I toured a series of butcher stalls on the outskirts of Bangkok. They were located underground in a cave-like place where it was cooler than above ground. Various types of meats were displayed on tables. There were Blow Flies swarming all over the place but the worst part was when I saw the maggots crawling all over the meat. When someone bought a piece, they would just brush them off and put the meat in a plastic bag and send them on their way! That incident combined with the stench of low-grade charcoal burning in a hibachi pot on the sidewalk with an open sewer running alongside, left me with such a turned stomach that to this day I cannot face any kind of Oriental food. For years, I could not even walk past an Oriental restaurant without getting the dry heaves. On the rare occasion that I have told someone about this experience, they said they could never eat Oriental food again either.

Consequently, I never relate this story in detail to anyone anymore.

My first award in the Air Force came when I was the Honor Graduate in my NCO Preparatory School Class at Shaw AFB, SC. I was very proud when my classmates picked me to march them in the Parade Drills and Contests.

Afterward, I was honored to receive several Meritorious Service Medals and Air Force Commendation Awards.

I am not sure I can single out any one honor. I was equally humbled and honored by receiving all of them.

The one person I owe a lot to is CMSgt James A. Norwood. Jim rescued me from the Admin Field where I was stuck when I returned from my first overseas assignment because there was no call for my AFSC stateside. I had been a Ground Intercept Radio Operator while overseas. He helped me get retrained into the 205, Electronic Intelligence Field. He and I served together in various assignments beginning at Shaw AFB, SC, then Eglin AFB FL, Takhli RTAFB, Thailand, and Offutt AFB, NE. Our families became very close friends and shared many activities together.

After I retired, regretfully I lost contact with him. I did visit him on one occasion back in Bellevue, NE. At that time, Jeanne, his wife was not doing well and later passed away. I didn’t know Jim passed until I accidentally ran across his obituary online. I was very saddened by the news. He was a True Patriot and a very good friend.

He spent many years serving his country, first on active duty and later as a civil servant. He taught me a lot and he always looked out for me for which I shall always be grateful. Rest In Peace, my good friend.

MSgt (Ret.) George “Red” Thomas. When we were stationed at RAF Chicksands, England, Red burned the barracks down. It was on the 13th of the month, at 1300 hours and there were 13 men living in the barracks. It was a careless accident and his career suffered greatly because of it. I lost touch with Red and would love to hear from him.

Capt Robert “Bob” Assonakis (sp). Capt. Assonakis had his desk directly behind mine while stationed with the 9th Reconnaissance Squadron at Beale AFB, CA in the late 1960s & early 1970s. He was an Electronic Warfare Officer, who because of his frequent TDY deployments while on flight duty, received a bad Efficiency Report because his superior did not understand the nature of his work and decided that he was just going off on boondoggles. Therefore, while most of Capt. Assonakis” contemporaries had advanced in rank, Bob was stuck at the 0-3 level because of the negative ER rating. He spent many hours contacting former service mates (at least one who was a General Officer) to write letters of explanation for him. I left the organization but I think that later he was somewhat successful at getting some kind of reconsideration for his unjustified rating but I am not sure what it was. I do remember his wife was English. I also remember in 1970, he had a 1955 Pontiac Bonneville that he had cosmetically restored to “just like new”. I would like to hear from Bob about how his situation was resolved.

Major James Grossman. Major Grossman was my OIC at RAF Mildenhall, England. A great guy who was very down to earth. He collected Iron Banks and I used to look for them everywhere I went and would occasionally find one that he wanted & would get it for him. His wife was a Captain in the Nurse Corps at the time. I signed his name to many reports and no one could tell my signing from his! Wonder how he is doing now?

Major Robb Hoover. Another of my OICs at Det. 1, 98th Strategic Wing, RAF Mildenhall, England. A super guy with a great sense of humor. Once at a Christmas Party, we exchanged gag gifts and Major Hoover gave me a cassette tape recording of British Prime Minister Wilson’s address to Parliament. I sure hope I can find his address so I can send it back to him one Christmas. I would love to see his face when he got it!

MSgt (Ret.) Robert Ramsdell. I knew Bob from my first overseas assignment at RAF Kirknewton. He & his wife Thelma became good friends with my wife & myself. Bob has been retired for a good while and lives in Bellevue, Ne. Sadly he has severe complications from Type II Diabetes.

Major Grossman had a West Highland Terrier. One night we were processing a Recon Mission and the dog peed on my shoe! Wasn’t funny then but now I can laugh about it.

On a lighter note, when I was just a young a\Airman assigned to the 6952nd Radio Squadron Mobile at RAF Kirknewton, Scotland, we worked shift work. When on the Midnight Shift we would often catch one of our buddies dozing off at his station. We would cut a strip from a waxed paper cup, slide it in the crack between the sole of his shoe and the upper shoe. Then we would light a match to it and it heated the leather of his shoe and he would wake up and couldn’t get his shoe off fast enough! The hot leather would really burn your foot if you didn’t get it off very quickly. No one ever got seriously burned but it wasn’t funny when it happened to you but everyone else got a big kick out of it.

Immediately after I retired, I was hired by GE Aerospace as a Systems Engineer. We basically were consultants to a Government Agency and while my office was in Valley Forge, PA, I spent most of my time at the “Program Office” in the Washington DC Suburbs. It was a very interesting job, completely different from anything I had done in the military. They hired a lot of ex-military, primarily for our security clearances. It saved the government a lot of money not to have to do a complete background check on us. It required a lot of travel out to Silicon Valley and down to Florida where the government contractors were located.

Eventually, the company rented an apartment for me in Reston, VA and I would spend the week there and come home on the weekends. Sometimes my wife would come down and we would spend the weekend touring the various museums, etc in DC. All-in-all, it worked out pretty well. During my 16 years there, I worked for 3 different companies and never changed my desk. GE Aerospace was acquired by Martin Marietta who later merged with Lockheed so when I retired, it was from Lockheed-Martin.

The military has greatly influenced my life and career. By the discipline they instill in you and the acceptance of responsibility they teach you along with leadership skills, etc. it stays with you. Consequently, civilian companies can be fairly certain that by hiring a veteran, they will be getting a responsible individual with high integrity and dedication to the job. These characteristics are in addition to the skilled job experience and education you get while in the military.

Take pride in serving your country and always be loyal to your organization. Give it your best and you will reap the rewards.

When I discovered TogetherWeServed, there had been so much water under the bridge that most of my military experiences were just a faint distant memory. Upon joining TWS, it brought back memories that I had completely forgotten. It has given me an opportunity to reflect upon some very pleasant times and people and I am extremely glad to have become associated with the organization. I look forward to reconnecting with some old acquaintances.