Remembering Georgia
by John Pardee (Veradale, Washington)

This comes from my memory so please forgive any memory loss.

I first saw Georgia in the fall of 1966. I was in a military airplane landing in the Augusta area. It was a Sunday afternoon; and looking down on the airport, I saw a large group of civilians standing just outside the fence, waiting to welcome us.

They shuffled us off the plane and onto military buses for the trip to Fort Gordon. The humidity hit us as we exited the plane. Us west coast boys weren't used to it at all.

Well, the base we had come from, Fort Ord, California, didn't have new housing but I think the barracks at Fort Gordon made Fort Ord look like Camelot. Coal furnaces? Yes, coal! I for one had never before seen coal burning heat. This was new. The interior of the barracks had a constant covering of coal dust.

It was getting towards winter so the coal was going full time and then the rains came. I grew up in Seattle, Washington, but I think Georgia rain could give Seattle some competition.

The army,in its wisdom,had us troops roll our ponchos and put them on our belts,but no one gave the OK to wear the things. So we marched in the rain.. Quack, Quack, we felt like ducks.

The soil down in Georgia was not what I was used to either. Red clay. I later saw similar soil in the jungles of Viet Nam.

There was a lake on base as I recall, muddy brown. This Northwest boy was sure out of his element.

Going into the big city of Augusta was fun. They had a Whiskey-A-Go-Go, with a couple of singers who sounded just like the Righteous Brothers.

One night three of us didn't make it back to town at all. We got some wine and spent the night on the banks of the Savannah River. Another time we came back to base slightly intoxicated and got off the bus on the wrong side. It was a long walk across that base at night!

The cold was another thing that I remember. What happened to the sunny South? The winter of 1966 was cold. Those old coal-fired furnaces couldn't burn fast enough to keep us warm that winter.

Christmas in Georgia? Nope! Trailways bus system had a $99 round-trip fare for anywhere in the USA. I took the challenge and hopped aboard. Three days each way to cross the country on a bus. Wouldn't do it again, but then I was young and homesick.

I saw tobacco road, Augusta, Fort Gordon, the Savannah River and took a bus ride across the South for Christmas. Did I get a true picture of the South? Probably not, but it did create some memories.

Tell John what Georgia is really like. Invite him to come again and build new memories of Georgia.

Gail