BALUSEK, William
C., (Bill), DOB: 1940,
RA18687431, E3-E4, 058, Det 4, (Martha), SE64-OC65, 3799 Summer
Ln, Huntsville, TX 77340, 936-435-9412, wcb3799@aol.com. Name remembered by Brian Alpert who was a
roommate with Bill Balusek and Wayne Inman at Det 4. Found on www.switchboard.com and called him on 5 December 2003. Said
that he has only kept in touch with Brian Alpert. Enlisted for
the ASA and a 4 year enlistment in October 1963. Said that the
recruiter guaranteed him to attend language school in California.
Took basic at Fort Leonard Wood, MO and was sent to Fort Devens
for what he thought was a delay in-route to DLI in California.
But, no they told him that there was a waiting list for attending
language school and that he would be trained as a morse code
interceptor. Was very tired when he finally arrived in Ankara,
Turkey for onward transport to Det 4 at Sinop. Said that he was
one of the lucky or unlucky ones to fly to Sinop. His flight was
marked with a memory that he has not forgotten. The pilot (name
unknown) was a crazy SOB who flew low over the beach area of the
Black Sea and that he can still see the frightened faces of the
Turks on the beach as they flew over them and that when landed on
the make-shift airfield missed his mark on the first pass. Said
that this same pilot had the reputation of putting tire marks on
the Det 4 water tower! Remembers the Post commander as being the
Silver Fox Fletchman who did not like DOGS and don't remember any
DOGS on the main post. Said that when the Silver Fox was out at
the DF Point site during a regular inspection, one of the point
dogs reared up and got Silver Fox uniform dirty. Needless to say,
that was the end of the point site dogs. Said that Turkey was a
fascinating country and wished that he would have had the
opportunity to visit the historical sites during his ASA tour in
Turkey. While at Det 4 there was very little to do - no library,
etc. Once he and Brian Alpert walked out near the DF point site
for a picnic type excursion. On their way back to the main site,
a Turk, in a 1962 M151-A1 jeep, picked them up and was driving
them back to post at a high rate of speed - when one of the tires
on the NEW jeep blew out and all the occupants were thrown from
the jeep. Everyone in the jeep was battered, but I suffered a
broken ankle that still has not properly healed. I remember being
picked up by the Det 4 ambulance and later being flown to the
USAF hosp in Ankara for treatment. I remember Cpt Novarro, the
Operations officer, visiting me in the Ankara hospital several
times as he was the officer in charge of investigating the jeep
accident. He told me that the Turk who was driving the jeep was
not authorized to take the jeep from the Motor Pool that day and
that he had been terminated. I spent 12 weeks in a long cast and
it did not heal properly and then 6 weeks in a low cast and it
still did not heal properly at Ankara. They med-evacuated me to
the Landstuhl hosp in West Germany. The Kaiserslautern area of
which Landstuhl is a part, encompasses one of the largest
concentration of Americans living outside the United States.
LARMC provides comprehensive health care services to the
approximately 100,000 people in the K-Town military community and
also serves as a referral center for an additional half million
eligible personnel throughout USAREUR, the Mediterranean and the
Middle East.