Insight: A Summer and Fall to Recall

By Ed Pierce
Managing Editor

The year 1977 was pivotal in my life as I moved from chasing career dreams to the reality of serving overseas in the military. It significantly helped to shape my future while at the same time, I stayed grounded tackling the responsibilities we all face in our daily lives.

Ed Pierce is shown on his next to last day of U.S. Air Force
technical school at Sheppard Air Force Base in Texas in
October 1977.  COURTESY PHOTO 

Back in June 1977, I had enlisted in the U.S Air Force at the age of 23 and spent a large chunk of the summer in basic military training at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas. Upon graduation from basic training, I boarded a bus along with my friend Keith Gilstrap and we rode north to Wichita Falls, Texas, the site of our tech school training at Sheppard Air Force Base.

I had become friends with Keith when we were both assigned to the same squadron in basic training. We were both married and looking to rent apartments and bring our wives to Wichita Falls after spending the summer in basic training.

By then it was mid-August. Gasoline was 65 cents a gallon and the “Son of Sam” killer had just been arrested. Keith had found some furnished one-bedroom apartments across the road from the Air Force base that were renting for $175 a month with all utilities included. I took the one situated at the end of the building and Keith rented the one right next to me. Our wives drove there and we settled in for several months of technical training for our Air Force jobs.

My wife and I went with Keith and his wife to the movies not long after arriving in Wichita Falls to see a new film called “Star Wars.” I couldn’t see what all the fuss was about and never thought that many sequels would be made afterward to that one movie.

Wichita Falls itself was an interesting place to live. It was in a dry county, so very little alcohol was permitted. All beer sold there was 3/2 consisting of three parts water and two parts beer. It also was smack dab in the middle of what is known as Tornado Alley, a stretch of land prone to tornado formation. One of the extra duties that Keith and I were assigned to was to watch the overnight skies around the base from the roof of a tall building on the base and report immediately if we spotted tornados moving in our direction.

We had brought some sandwiches, potato chips and soda pop with us on the night of Aug. 16, 1977 for that tornado watch duty. I also had a small portable transistor radio with me so we could listen to music during our eight-hour shift on top of the building that evening. While listening to that radio, we heard the news that Elvis Presley had been found dead at his Graceland mansion in Memphis, Tennessee.

A few days later, I watched a space launch on television of a NASA spacecraft called Voyager 2 on a mission to explore the outer reaches of the solar system. Several weeks later NASA also launched Voyager 1 for a similar mission.

Not long after Labor Day in September, I received military orders that upon completion of tech school and time on leave at home, I would be assigned to an Air Force unit in Bonames, Germany near Frankfurt. Keith was going to be assigned to an Air Force base stateside in Georgia.

I had never lived outside of the United States before, so I had no idea what to expect. It was exciting to think of the possibilities and to open a new chapter in my life. Because military housing was based upon rank, my wife and I knew that as I was an E-1 Airman Basic, we would have to rent an apartment and saving up my military pay for that would take some time. It would be tough to be apart for months but eventually it would all work out.

By mid-October, our tech school studies were wrapping up and Keith and I said our goodbyes. My wife and I drove my 1974 Mercury Capri loaded with our belongings from Wichita Falls back to Los Lunas, New Mexico where I would enjoy the next 30 days on leave getting ready to spend the next two years overseas.

About 17 months after we left Wichita Falls in April 1979, a tornado classified as an F-4 with winds reaching an estimated 250 mph destroyed those one-bedroom apartments that we had once rented. After flying by planets in our solar system, the spacecraft Voyager 1 crossed the heliopause into interstellar space in 2012, followed by Voyager 2 in 2018 and they’re still going today. That first Star Wars movie is now known as Star Wars Episode IV – A New Hope and boosted the careers of Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, and Harrison Ford.

When I look back now at the late summer and fall months of 1977, what stands out for me is the determination I showed in forging a new life in the U.S Air Force. It was beneficial in the long run for my career and instilled a sense of personal responsibility that I carry with me to this very day. <