William E. Smith Interview, 25 August 2001(b)
‹‹ Interview Index
1 /
2 /
3 /
4 /
5 /
6 /
7 /
8 /
9 /
10 /
11 /
12 /
13 /
14 /
15 /
16 /
17 /
18 /
19 /
20 /
21 /
22 /
23 /
24
| TT: | You go by Bill Smith? | |
| WS: | I go by Bill. Yes, but my full name is William E Smith Jr. | |
| TT: | So your father's name was William Smith as well? | |
| WS: | Yes, and my son, of course, was the third. | |
| TT: | OK, going to keep them going? | |
| WS: | Oh we hope! | |
| TT: | How about if we start out walk us through your career, where you did your training and how you arrived at Minot. | |
| WS: | OK. Well, I was born in Middletown, Ohio and we lived most of my young years, up till about 13, my father died, we went to Toledo, Ohio and I graduated from Scott High School in 1959 at 17 years old. I went into the military. My mother had to sign me into the military of course at that time if you were under eighteen. Went to Lackland AFB , and spent a little more than three months there. I had some oral surgery so they had to keep me in training for a while. I remained a few days in the hospital so I had to go from training to training and finally by the time I left there it was late October I think it was. I went to Bunker Hill Air Force Base, I think they've changed the name to Grissom Indiana. Spent a year there. I went from there to Glasgow, Montana , and I spent three years at Glasgow, got out of the military and went to college for a year, university of Toledo. I went back in the military, of course, and I first went to Maine, Loring Air Force Base, Maine , so I've spent a lot of time in the cold climates [laughs]. | |
| TT: | Yeah, along the Northern Tier. | |
| WS: | Yes, the Northern Tier. Well, being in Strategic Air Command that's what happened. Once I got in the Strategic Air Command that was it. So I
went from Maine overseas. I went to Ankara Turkey as a custodial agent, and spent a year there, a short tour, came back and was assigned to Minot, North Dakota.
I'd gotten married when I was in Maine. I came back to pick up my wife... she was from northern Ohio where I had been raised, and we then went on to my station at Minot. I arrived at Minot mid to late September 1967. I was in missiles all the time I was there. | |
| TT: | Were you an Air Policeman? | |
| WS: | Yes, as a security policeman, yes. I'd had four years nine months in the Air Force in my first tour, and I had a year in Maine and had another year overseas, so by the time I arrived there I had considerable experience. | |
| TT: | Was it a SAC facility in Turkey? |
‹‹ Previous Page — Next Page ››
2