entry alarms ?
Larry wrote:
"MMC" wrote in
:
Now that's a coincidence! My next door neighbor's father was with the
Embassy, packed up the family and scooted right about the time the
Shah left!
I don't know the neighbor's maiden name but could find out if you'd be
interested.
I was on the USS Harold E. Holt (FF 1074) Gonzo Station during the
blockade. MMC
I may have met him, but not at the Embassy, unless it was the Australian,
New Zealand or British Embassies. As just a plain American, I wasn't
allowed inside the US Embassy. You had to be retired military with an ID
card before you were allowed almost anywhere beyond the front desk.
Nothing like being treated by your own government bureaucrats like some
kind of illegal alien traitor. Even the US Embassy people listened to
the British Embassy's telephone recorded messages as to what buildings
and theatres to stay away from. British Intelligence was more than just
a job title and pension in Tehran.
Hmm...Holt. That rings some bells. Was she ever in Charleston for
tender service from USS Everglades (AD-24) at Pier Papa? I worked in AD-
24's calibration lab from '66 to '69 before getting shore duty at
Minelant's Mineforce Support Group, where I built the predecessor to SIMA
Charleston's cal lab from '69 to '71. I collect Navy ball caps, lots of
them. I may have an FF-1074 ballcap, but it's not in my display that ran
out of room long ago. I'll have to dig through the cabinets and look...
(c;
I worked for Pan American (Airlines) Technical Services under the primary
Rockwell contract with the Iranian Air Force at Doshen-Tappeh AFB in
Tehran. I built Iran its first calibration lab in '78 from a little
trailer lab I inherited from someone who didn't appreciate "unlimited
funding" from our esteemed IAF general. It was frustrating as hell to
get anything done in the 4 hours you actually worked each day, the other
4 hours spent waiting for the SAME soldiers to check the SAME roster from
the SAME building just inside the front gate waiting for the SAME Air
Force people to get to the SAME building to go to work....unless there
was some "exercise" going on. We called it "The Breakfast Club",
bringing food, gourmet coffee and English teas, the daily English
newspapers with us to work to pass the first four hours we were being
handsomely paid for each morning.
Once you got used to the "procedures" and stopped letting it bother you
like any American worker with a long history of sanity would, it was a
great job. Noone much pressured you and CERTAINLY wouldn't ask you
anything technical beyond their comprehension that would make them look a
fool!
I used to eat lunch with the Iranian conscript soldiers in their little
tent out back, rather than with the rest of the contractor uglies in the
main dining hall with the officer corp. Guess whos lab got the best
cleaning job and whos head was kept spotless all the time....(c;
I'd love to swap stories with any expats who were in Iran just before
Shahanshah was deposed. I'd go back to Iran, under friendly conditions
again, in a heartbeat. Beautiful place after you got over the culture
shock and learned Farsi. Bank Markazi Iran tellers used to get all
excited at me for signing my checks in Farsi. "NO, NO, You sign in
English! They think I signed that check in Farsi!", they'd exclaim...hee
hee. Funny, Intercontinental Hotel would take my Farsi-signed checks,
but my Iranian bank wouldn't!
Let me know if you find them. We better take it to email if so...(c;
My favorite question to Westerners:
"Compared to something in the United States, How BIG do you think Iran
is? (in area)" No fair peeking at Google Earth or searching the web....
Alaska or Texas??
|