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TWO STORIES: Dalene's original story is first, below;
and following it, a very interesting follow-up as they
return to Turkey 46 years later!
Roger Henry
© 2009-2011 by Author
I was originally stationed at a Tropo site inland (south) of Samsun TUSLOG Det. 63-2 until it was taken over by a civilian contractor. I finished up my tour at Buyuk Camlar Tepse near Izmir (TUSLOG Det. 11-3). I arrived in Turkey in December, 1969 and did 13 months total there.
I found my old paperwork with assignments and dates: I was assigned to Tuslog 63-2 (Tropo) from Dec. 1969 until May 1970. I was in Power Production (543X0) diesel driven generators as my first duty out of Technical School. I was to be on an 18 month tour.
We did not live on the site full time as it did not have the facilities to support it. We lived in the barracks at the Samsun base and went up to the site for our duty shifts. We went up by military bus when the Turkish guards were going, or by 4X4 Dodge crew cab when it was just us. We took turns driving the 4x4, and the guys said I never missed a pothole!
The site was inland and up a mostly-dirt road into the hills. I remember Wednesdays being market day and the farmers coming down the road bringing bales of tobacco leaves to market. There was a bus we would meet with more people and livestock in it than you could imagine, and going way too fast for the road it was on!
We went by the airport on the way up the hill and early on in my time there, a Turkish airlines turbo prop - the kind most of us came up from Ankara on - was sitting off the end of the runway at the tower end. I think it was still there when I left!
When the military's decision was made to close the base at Samsun, and the site could not support our needs full time, they contracted a civilian company to operate the site, since the site still did radio relay for Sinop and Trabzon.
I was reassigned to Tuslog 11-3 Buyuk Camlar Tepese a hill that overlooks Izmir bay. That was in May 1970. (Below)
TUSLOG DET 11-3 IZMIR AREA
At left are a few pictures of the Tuslog 11-3 site north of Izmir.
The site could be seen from Izmir's waterfront, as in picture number two (framed by the red rectangle).
I was assigned to this Detachment from May 1970 until January 1971. We had barracks (the building on right in the bottom picture), and the mess hall and recreation room are on the left in that same picture.
On our days off we would generally go down to Izmir for the day. Because NATO southeast was in town there was a nice Base Exchange and NCO club in the city. I remember the day I joined the club: When I told the girl that I had just gotten there and want to join, she said, "Are you from Maine?" She had spent a summer in Maine as a child, and picked up on my accent right away!
I also joined the audio club and set up a nice stereo system that I had for many years. Vinyl LPs were in style for a long time back then. I also bought a Pentax camera that I used until I went to digital. The pictures on this page are from slides that I scanned a few years ago.
I did managed to get to the ruins of Ephesus a few time and will be sending some of those pictures. It was very interesting to see how evolved the country and its society was that many years ago.
I left Turkey in Jan.1971 and was stationed at RAF Croughton, England, in Hamptonshire, until I got out of the Air Force in May 1973. Some of the other guys at Croughton also were in Turkey at different TUSLOG sites. If you're in Power Production you likely will end up on top of a hill somewere, and Turkey had a lot of them!
EPHESUS
I went online recently to see what Ephesus looks like today. There is a lot more to see today and a lot more tourists. The excavation started in 1921 and was only estimated to be 20% done at the time I was there.
CLICK PHOTOS
TO ENLARGE |
 Memmius Memorial |
Looking down Curetiae Street |
Looking up Curetiae Street Hadrian Temple on left (arch way) |
Part of the Ephesian Harbor wall ( the harbor is around 7 kilometer inland from the the Aegean Sea today) |
the Grand Theater (seating for 24,500) |
Hadrian Temple |
Library of Celsus |
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