From: "Jim Bailey" <BEETLEB@goldsboro.net>
Subject: Sinop 1960-1961
Date: Thu, 30 Sep 1999

Greetings Former Hill People,

My name is Jim Bailey, some times known as Beetle Bailey. Probably one of the shortest people on the Hill. I was stationed at Sinop from August. 1960 until August. 1961. I left on the L-10 to Ankara on emergency leave and flew to Frankfurt, Germany. From Germany I flew on an aircraft full of dependents who were leaving Europe because of the Berlin Crisis(only two sites, Sinop and Schema were not extended). I returned to the US and was stationed at Arlington Hall Station, assigned to work at NSG, Nebraska Ave in Washington, DC but actually worked at NSA, Ft. Meade. I left the Army in July, 1962 and went to work for Lockheed Electronics as a tech. rep at SAC HQ. in Omaha, NE. After that I worked for Mincom, 3M who supplied most of the wideband recorders for this type operation. Spent a lot of time at Ft. Meade, Vint Hill Farms Station and Kelly AFB. Worked on a system at E-Systems in Greenville, TX that was later to be installed at BS Island. The engineers could not tell me where the equipment was going but were asking many questions after they realized where I had been.

Have crossed paths with Col. John Stevens who is working as a consultant in the Washington, DC area. Also met Capt. Mock at the AOC conference several times. His unit at Ft. Hood, TX received a special recognition award. Went to Capt. Dirks funeral several years ago who was buried at the military cemetery in Manassas, VA.
While on the Hill I was a SP-5 in charge of maintenance of the EW equipment. MOS 283.3. Electronic Warfare Equipment Repair. Before going to Sinop I was stationed at NSA for 4 months for special training on tape recorders. Three people from the EW school at Ft. Monmouth were sent to Ft. Meade for this training. Two of us were sent to Sinop. The other was sent to Shame, Alaska. Other class members from Ft. Monmouth had been assigned to Ft. Hauchica, AZ after school. Funny, they were in Sinop when we arrived. The laugh was on us, they got to leave before we did. At Sinop we kept the Ampex FR-100 data recorders running. We also installed the first log-periodic antenna developed by U. of Ill on a tall tower. We worked in the operations building on the left where the big phased array experimental antenna was installed for telemetry work. We received a group of about 8 Navy people to work on a special system. There was one ESL(Sylvania) engineer working as a consultant from Ft. Meade. He was just out of engineering college and was not too sharp. We later had another engineer come up to work with us who was killed in a crash of THY Airlines. I believe his name was Jim Welch. (Remember: "Fly THY and Die"). The first radomes were being installed by RCA when I left. I worked with one of the RCA people years later at Mincom, 3M recorders in the DC area named Bill Kelly. We also had a couple of our EW people transfer to Adana to fly as crew members of the A3 aircraft. They had a chance to return to the states occasionally for aircraft updates and got to see their family.

I was there on the 4th of July when the First Sargent's Jamesway hut was burned. This was when a USO show that had ever been on the Hill was performing (one that would not be permitted anywhere else) luckily I was standing beside the Chaplain.

I went fishing with the mayor of Sinop who was also the barber on the Hill; he had a boat and motor with the crossed hands of care decal. We first lived in Jamesway huts and them moved to the wood buildings. Permanent buildings were being built and we had to walk through the mud. Our houseboy was named Sami. When I was there a Turk soldier was killed at the gate and we were held hostage for three days by the locals before being a hostage was fashionable. I was on the board of the NCO club when we were trying to get a new and better club established. I still have a few souvenirs from the Hill. (lighter with a picture of a soldier asking for leave and a curved blade knife made by the blacksmith in Sinop. I did have a boat that was sold as a souvenir in town. I still have a camel saddle and Phillips radio that I sent home from Sinop.)

The only dog that I remember on the hill was named "Igor".
Wonder if anyone else remembers this one.

International events that took place while I was on the Hill were:
Launch of Sputnik 5 with the dog Belka aboard. (8/19/60)
Launch of Vostok with Yuri Gagarin aboard. (4/12/61)

I have been trying to find some of my old friends;
Melvin Wilcox....from Michigan
LeRoy Vanorder...from NY, last heard of working for Loral in San Diego and member of Old Crows.
Capt. Richard Mock...Assigned to Ft. Hood TX after Sinop and later to NSA. His family ran a music store in the Washington, DC area.
Any others who were on the Hill during this period.
I have been working with Ft. Meade people for the last 30 years and have crossed paths with many X-Det. 4 people. It would be great to hear from others who were there during this period.

Any suggestion on how I might obtain a patch or crest (shield) from Det-4?
Thanks,
Jim Bailey
P. O. Box 1820
Kenly, NC 27542
beetleb@goldsboro.net
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Bill Simons replies:
HJ Saunders Military Insignia, Inc. has the following ASA patches and crests.

Crests
C8725Y ASA School (Griffin Rampant) $6.50 ea
C8487S Tuslog Det4 (Diogenes Station Lantern w/lightening and star) $6.75 ea
C8511Y Official ASA Crest (Always Vigilant) $12.50 ea
PC937B Patch type Crest (Crest of Official ASA shoulder Patch) $5.50

Patches
937B Official ASA Shoulder Patch $3.00
S937B Official ASA Shoulder Patch (Subdued) $3.00

Items may be ordered from Saunders at 1-800-442-3133 or
on their web site www.saundersinsignia.com .
Thanks to Roger Habeck for this information about crests and patches.
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Click HERE to Email Jim Bailey

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