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Stories Shared by our Alumni
Dianne Icard ('65), Jon Dorrough ('65), Bob (Pinky) Nielsen ('65)
Dianne Icard ( Class of '65)- (debicard32073@aol.com): I can tell you that I arrived in B’da in July ’58, my father was AF civil service and worked at CES (the big bldg across the street from Gate 2) and later it became Public Works when the Navy took over the base. We lived in about 7 houses in all those years-mostly right up the street from Ken Glanister. The first grade I attended on the base was 6th grade (which was in the Teen Town bldg.). Then the new school was built, so I spent 7th & 8th grade in the new bldg-it was NOT a high school until ’61 when I was in the 9th grade. Did you know that the class of ’65 was the first graduating class to have gone thru all 4 years of high school in that bldg? After school, I had a couple of odd jobs-one as a receptionist at the beauty shop and the other as a lunch and dinner cashier at the Officers Club. Then I went to work as a research assistant at Navy SOFAR Station in St. Davids. In ’69 I moved back to St. Louis, Mo, but I stayed sick the entire time-a year. Went back to the island, got a civil service job with the Supply Dept. as a stenographer. Met my husband there in Feb. ’72. Still have my husband around! The only “funny” story I have is not in school, but after-I passed out during the wedding ceremony. Ike and I were facing each other repeating our vows, and smiling so big, and I whispered to him-while smiling-that I was going to pass out, and I did I locked my knees, so Ike caught me, because I fell towards him. The chaplain, Chaplain Trapp, grabbed one of the straight backed chairs from the choir section, hit the back of my knees with the chair and it took Ike, my father and the chaplain to push me down in the chair-I was really STIFF I don’t remember too much about the school years. I haven’t figured out why I’ve lost some of those memories. But, I do remember the people!
Jon Dorrough (Class of ‘65) I Was in China Lake when in early diapers..almost got bit by a sidewinder in our sandy backyard. Then to Liverpool England during the Berlin Airlift..Remember fog and swans and a Sun that never appeared. Lived in coldwater walkups where ice was delivered each day by a Iceman. Then to Kadena, Okinawa during the Korean war. Two typhoons there and lived in a Quonset hut with bamboo furniture and blacked out windows. Remember playing in bombed out WW2 aircraft we found in the jungle. Also swung through the jungle using real vines and played chicken with Hobu's ( a viper ). Then on to Lackland AFB, Vance AFB, Hamilton AFB and then Kindley. Pinky .. you and I traded places as you know. I was in Hamilton while you were at Kindley and then we traded. (Pinky notes: I was in B’da from summer ‘61 to end of junior year, ‘64, transferred to Hamilton AFB and graduated that next year, ‘65) Jon continues: Remember the C118 flight over to B’da with the seats facing backward? Cool. Once a week flight for dependants from McGuire to Bermuda, everyone on standby and hoping for room on the plane. Remember coming back to Bermuda after I was in the Army…and I took that same flight only this time I was Military and got to board first before any of the dependants…several were former classmates going home from college and one was a former teacher - Mrs Worland - who didn't recognize me in my uniform. Guess we 19 year old privates all look the same.
New Subject from Jon Dorrough: “SGRA-Saint George’s Rummies Association” When I lived on St. George’s, a bunch of us guys formed the Saint George’s Rummies Association. We even had jackets, some of us, with SGRA on them. If parents or teachers asked, SGRA stood for “St. George Religious Association.” We would spend our Saturday nights camped out in the moats of Fort Victoria which is located up the hill from Gunpowder Cavern and looks down on Fort St. Catherine. There is an outer moat and an inner moat (or ditch) which protected the inner “keep.” The Fort was built in 1888 to guard Murray’s anchorage and the land approaches to Fort St. Catherine and Retreat Hill. Eight 64 pound Cannons were originally placed at the Fort and were still there at the time we “occupied” the fort (1964-1965). Anyway, I would join guys such as Ken Hassenflug, Mike Keast, Fred Johnson, Bob Burke, Gary Thrower and a lot of others at the fort on Friday and Saturday nights. We would ride our bikes (Cyrus, Zundapps) into the moat bringing with us forties of Bacardi, vodka or whatever and we would sit around a campfire all night looking up at the walls of the moat, the stars and the growing shadows. I remember someone brought a vile substance which was billed as “orange-flavored Vodka.” As we all liked screwdrivers, it sounded pretty good at first but it didn’t taste anything like it. We ended up throwing the bottle into the fire just to see what color flame it caused. That soon became the thing to do and we would dispose of our unused or unwanted booze, just to see what color the flame would be. We drank Rum most of the time as befitted our club's name. At night, we would take flashlights and explore the tunnels that led below the moat, which at the time was the only way you could get into the “inner keep” because the drawbridge was rotted and impassable. The doors to the tunnels led right off the outer moat, next to our campfire. I remember the guys following me who had the flashlights suddenly turned and ran away, laughing, which left me deep in a dark tunnel listening to imagined rats and monsters creeping up on me. The guys eventually returned and rescued me which I thought was a good thing. We found a floor to ceiling rock wall deep inside one of the tunnels which was apparently there to keep people like us from getting into the “inner keep” but we quickly took it down. ( Nothing like a challenge to American resolve). The "keep" was rotted and dangerous inside so we never actually spent much time in “the Keep.” Back at the campfire, we got bored so someone started feeding a rather large Bermuda frog sips from a bottle of RonRico 151 getting it drunk. It soon became quite a job keeping the frog from hopping sideways or backwards into the fire. In the morning, as the sun was coming up, we would leave the fort, ride our bikes to Kindley and have breakfast at the air terminal canteen which was located across from the movie theater. A large hotel, built originally as a Club Med which failed and later became a Holiday Inn, currently stands right on top of the ruins of Fort Victoria. The hotel is abandoned now and the government has been forced to hire a security guard to keep out local squatters. Fort Victoria is fenced off, but it’s easy to bypass that and explore the fort as it is today. A swimming pool stands where the inside “Keep” once stood. The entrance off the outer moat to the tunnels is now sadly blocked with concrete so the current generations of wild teenagers cannot explore the lower levels. One lone cannon still stands-the others having been moved in the late 60's to Ft. Saint Catherine's for the tourists to enjoy. I have pictures on my website, www.jdorrough.us of Fort Victoria and its moats as they were then and are now. The photos are also on www.kindley.us. There’s a photo posted of my little brother David straddling one of the cannons at Fort Victoria which at the time faced the ocean and offered one of the most spectacular ocean views I ever recall. I took a photo of myself on that same cannon in 2002 and again in 2007. It’s also posted on one or both of the websites. The cannon now faces the lobby and front door of the Holiday Inn which now blocks the view. Time changes things. The Fort has changed. The view is gone. Despite all that, my memories of the guys and our times as teenagers hanging out at Fort Victoria remains one of my fondest memories of Bermuda. Thanks for the memories guys. - Jon Dorrough '65
Bob (Pinky) Nielsen (class of ‘65): I recall my first motorbike I got when shortly after arriving in B’da. I was just about 14 and acquired a Zundap which I would ride around the house and down into the base Chapel parking lot, hoping that neither dad nor the AP‘s would catch me. We lived on the hill at Kindley just above the Chapel from ‘61-’64, then returned stateside. I later acquired a Cyrus and enjoyed touring the Island, especially going to the hotel beaches during Spring Break when all the college girls would come to B’da. Haha. I remember one evening at a dance at Teen Town a few of us getting carried away in teenage venturism. It was dark, we took the stopsign at the corner outside, in the shape of a police officer with a cement base, tipped it over and rolled it down the hill towards Clearwater Beach. The Air Police spotted us, we all high-tailed it in too many different directions for all of us to be caught. I was one of the unfortunate ones which dad’s military belt was later to attest to. Ouch! I remember, thinking it was in ‘62 or ‘63, when a terrible hurricane struck the Island. We secured the shutters protecting the windows of our home and waited for the storm’s arrival. As I mentioned, we lived on the hill above the base Chapel and one could view across the rooftop of the Base Chapel, down upon the flight line and runway, seeing the water’s edge from our backyard. The hurricane appeared to be one massive wall of water from sky to sea! When the eye passed over, I climbed up on the roof (of course Mom had a fit my doing that) and could see the carnage left by the opening salvo of the storm. Cars had been found turned over and laying in yards, dogs barking… what a mess. Then the tail end of the storm closed in and I hastily beat it back into the house. I also recall Rick and Larry Jacobs living just outside of Gate #3 (?) near the high school. They lived down a dirt road, as I remember it, near the water’s edge of a cove. Not far off shore was a barge (?) that was partially jutting above the water line, I don’t remember whether it was the bow or stern. Anyway, Larry and I were good friends those days and I recall at least once he and I going for a swim out in the waters near his home. We would find our way up on that barge, dive into those refreshing waters, swim around for awhile and climb back aboard that small vessel to dive once again. Then there was the time I ran away from home! Can you imagine running away on that small Island? How far could one get? Anyway, at this time, I had a job as a “pearl diver” at the NCO Club at Kindley. For those who aren’t familiar with the term “pearl diver,“ that is a dishwasher. The pay was alright for those times, it provided me the means for gas for my bike, any repairs and of course, going bowling at the Base. Anyway, for one reason or another, I had gotten upset with Mom and Dad, I don’t recall the reason, and there was a chef at the NCO Club, a Bermudian gentleman, who I had become friends with. He lived near the lighthouse on St. David’s and I decided that I would stay with him. I don’t recall his name, but I made contact with him and moved in with only the clothes on my back. What planning! Oh well, I was really upset at the time. I went to school and afterwards, I would head back over to his place…this lasted for about two (2) days…then I returned home. Mom and Dad never made an issue of my being gone, giving me the impression that I hadn’t been missed, although thinking back over those days, I’m sure they were aware of what was going on. As I had mentioned, I didn’t miss school and I made sure that I showed up at work at the NCO Club when I was scheduled to be there. I remember feeling disappointed when I returned home, feeling that they hadn’t even missed me. Do any of you recall, those who lived “On Base,“ at Kindley and the lights we had to keep on in our bedroom closets? That took awhile for me to get used to, dad had said it was necessary to protect our shoes and clothing from mildewing. We arrived in B’da via military transport, I don’t recall the type of aircraft, maybe a DC2 or DC3, it was sooo long ago, we had caught a flight out of Charleston, S.C. Our return trip to The States was much more comfortable, aboard “The Queen of Bermuda!” Pinky
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