Alumni Sandstorm ~ 04/23/15
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5 Bombers sent stuff:
Derrith PERSONS ('60), David DOUGLAS ('62)
Arlas KLUCAS ('63), Dennis HAMMER ('64)
David RIVERS ('65)
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BOMBER BIRTHDAY Today: Mike BRADLEY ('56)
BOMBER BIRTHDAY Today: Rita ECKERT ('61)
BOMBER BIRTHDAY Today: Ken DAME ('68)
BOMBER CALENDAR: Richland Bombers Calendar
Click the event you want to know more about.
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>>From: Derrith PERSONS Dean ('60)
To: Larry MATTINGLY ('60)
Your knee is looking good... Jackie must be taking good care
of you... keep up the good work.
-Derrith PERSONS Dean ('60)
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>>From: David DOUGLAS ('62)
I can't recall who suggested the thread about life-changing
decisions, but I thought I'd try my hand at relating some of
mine. I joined a writers' group a year ago and have been
writing memoirs about some of them.
My first one happened at the beginning of eighth grade at
Carmichael in 1957. My family had just returned from a vacation
to visit relatives in Arkansas, just at the time Central High
School in Little Rock was being integrated. While we were there
I angrily walked out on a lunch with an aunt and uncle who were
defending their segregationist governor. When my parents came
out to the car I said, "I'm never coming back here again."
(Actually, I did go back for the first time last July for a
family reunion with several of my cousins and their families.)
At school I tried to think of what I could do to get rid of
racial prejudice. I decided to smile at the one black girl
in the school. I didn't know her, but every time I saw her I
smiled at her. At the end of the school year we were in the
cafeteria signing yearbooks and she brought me hers to sign.
I don't know what I wrote in hers, but I still treasure her
words: "Thank you for your smile, Sandy." (My classmates told
me later her last name was Savare.)
My other idea was that the world would only be rid of racial
prejudice when everyone was the same color. I decided to do my
part and marry a person of another race. I always thought she'd
be black, since that was the only other race I was acquainted
with then, but the summer of 1964 I went to Hawaii to help with
church summer camps and vacation Bible schools. One of the
families I stayed with took me to a Japanese Buddhist temple
one evening to watch a Bon Dance, celebrating departed
ancestors. The celebrants were dressed in traditional kimonos,
and I especially loved the beautiful little children. I
couldn't help thinking, "It'd be nice to have a couple of
kids like that some day."
I met a young Japanese lady, a student at the University of
Hawaii, who took me sightseeing and to dinner one evening. When
I got back to Whitman College I sent her a thank you note, in
which I happened to mention how much I missed guava nectar.
A week later a case of guava nectar arrived in the mail. We
corresponded for two years, and three months before graduating
I called her and asked her to marry me. It took her 17 seconds
to say yes; I had to watch the time, since calls were $10 for
3 minutes, and that was station-to-station. (Have you ever put
$10 worth of quarters in a pay phone?) We were married June 18,
1966 – almost 49 years ago. After finishing graduate school in
California to get my MEd degree, we moved to Hawaii, where we
lived for the next 32 years. We had two beautiful children,
Rodger Yoshio and Emiko Sharilyn.
http://AlumniSandstorm.com/Xtra/Dou/150423-kids.jpg
My decision as an 8th grader and the casual mention of guava
nectar in a thank you note changed my life. There are a few
other life-altering decisions, but I'll save those for later.
-David DOUGLAS ('62) ~ Mesa, AZ where I'm recovering from
cataract surgery on my right eye, so now I have blurry
vision with or without my glasses until I get a new lens.
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>>From: Arlas KLUCAS Nemnich ('63)
Re: FBI in Richland
The entries on the FBI presence in Richland are very
interesting. My dad, Alton Klucas, taught school and knew a
lot of people. He was questioned by the FBI several times on
the character of people.
The agents never came into the house, but stood on the porch.
We were always told that the houses on each side of the street
were positioned so that the neighbors' front door was not
visible, for privacy with this type of questioning. Obviously,
you could see the front door across the street. But visibility
was limited on each side of the street. I know from our porch
we could not see anyone's front door on our side of the street.
Does anyone know if this is true, or another urban myth?
One of our neighbors was an FBI agent I babysat their 3 boys
in the late '50s or early '60s.
-Arlas KLUCAS Nemnich ('63) ~ Vancouver, USA
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>>From: Dennis HAMMER ('64)
To: Dick WIGHT ('52), Gary BEHYMER ('64)
Re: Security clearances
I did leave something out. My clearance was for Top Secret with
no "crypto" after it. On the next ship all radiomen had "Secret
crypto." My clearance was reduced to Secret, there never was a
"crypto" designation on it. I did check my service record and
all they did is black out the "Top," never added the "crypto."
Still I was working with the KW-7 (Orestes) plugging in the
codes and the KWR-37 (Jason) putting in the code cards.
The KW-7 was used in sending and receiving messages from one
station/ship to another.
http://www.jproc.ca/crypto/kw7.html
The KWR-37 was used for broadcasting messages to the whole
fleet, or whichever ships were on the particular circuit it was
being used for.
http://www.jproc.ca/crypto/kwr37.html
That is the one made famous/infamous by the Walker spies. Both
pieces if equipment were captured by North Korea with the USS
Pueblo and Walker was selling the code cards (looked like IBM
cards) for the KWR-37 to the Soviets for years. I don't know
too much about the Walkers, but those cards are all that is
mentioned. I have wondered if he was also selling codes for the
KW-7. The KWR-37 also has a medal card reader or something like
that which the card sits on. That was changed every six months,
I think; only did it once. I think that makes it double
encrypted, one changed every day and one every six months.
Anyway, without changing that it just prints garbage. He must
have been passing those on to the Soviets, too, but it is never
mentioned, probably because it would mean nothing to almost
everyone hearing about it.
Shortly before getting out of the Navy I did look at a list of
all the radio personnel and their clearances. It had me listed
as "Secret Crypto." I think that whoever was typing the list
just thought that everyone else had secret crypto so I must
have crypto also. If I ever had "crypto" they must have figured
I did not have a "need to know" about it.
-Dennis HAMMER ('64) ~ In Kennewick. Got the cement pond open,
but the water is still too cold to use... unless you are
a duck.
http://AlumniSandstorm.com/Xtra/Ham/150423-CementPondDuck.jpg
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>>From: David RIVERS ('65)
Re: nuther long time bud
Long time buds are so great to have... tho sometimes they can
be a curse if they know everything about you cuz then ya gotta
be nice to them even if you get mad or something... to tell
the truth I don't recall ever being mad at this guy... wouldn't
have no reason to... specially considering he has great taste
in sisters and wives... I mean great taste... corse not sure
how bright he is given the fact that he sent his new wife to
Hawaii without him, but then I guess that just goes to show
what a great guy he is... sure hope he's in town for CDNs [Cool
Desert Nights] this year and the '65er's 50 year, too cuz I
sure enjoy havin' him around when I'm home... but sometimes he
and his sweetie head off on the ol' Harley and I miss the time
together... HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Kenny (Ken) DAME ('68) on your
special day, April 23, 2015!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
-David RIVERS ('65)
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That's it for today. Please send more.
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