|
|
 |
|
1944 |
1999 |
|
|
|
|
1944 |
1999 |
Email ibrown@snip.net
/*******************/
I left Iowa City and, with many others, went back to Camp Crowder, then to Camp Gordon, GA, for infantry training.
I went overseas as a plain rifleman, but my radio operator's training (pre-ASTP) landed me in a combat engineer
battalion and I went through what was left of the war laying telephone lines and operating a radio. The big experience
over there was participating in the liberation of Dachau. I stayed in the army of occupation for an additional
nine months and then was discharged in April of '46.
I went back to Iowa for the summer term in June of 46 and then got my degree in '47 along with many other ex-ASTP-ers.
After graduation, I got a summer job, followed by a year at the U of PA (Moore School, at that time) for an MS
(doing that in one year almost killed me), and then went to work for the Sun Oil Co. in their Physical Research
Lab in Newtown Square, PA. I stayed there for 5 years and when it looked like I was to be moved to Beaumont Texas
to get closer to the oil fields I respectfully declined and ultimately wound up with RCA in Camden, NJ. In the
meantime I had gotten married (Esther) and we had a baby so I was in no mood to move. The job with RCA lasted 35
years in various assignments. The last 25 years was the most interesting, doing design and system engineering in
communication satellites, which has extended into my retirement years as well.
As the years went by, we had three children, who we raised in a split level in Cherry Hill, NJ. They have all done
well, the oldest boy is now the CEO of a hospital associated with Yale, Son #2 is an architect and has his own
company. Our daughter was a bio-statistician (I have only a faint idea what that is) but she's now the mother of
3 and is a full time mom living near Boston. Altogether there are seven grandchildren which keeps us busy visiting.
Of course, I am now retired, but I still do consulting work for the comsat industry and teach a few seminars now
and then at NASA. (Have viewgraphs, will travel) In the past couple of years I have been an expert witness for
two legal cases, both of which ended up getting settled, before the lawyers could make a mess of it in court. Sometimes
it's painful, often hilarious, watching lawyers grapple with engineering concepts.
In the last 10 years, I have run across several of our former ASTP classmates. Ralph Miller (remember him from
the first nine-month group?) consulted some VA records to locate Sam Gomelinsky (now Lynne) in Florida a few years
back. I telephoned him after that first contact, but that's about as far as it went. Ralph also promoted a mini-reunion
at Joe Linsk's house (Joe was another first-nine-monther, who wound up going to med school and now still practices
in Atlantic City). The people who showed up were from the New Jersey, south-east Pennsylvania area. With the exception
of me, all were from the first nine-month group.
Esther and I went back to Iowa City for the 25th reunion in 1972. As it happens, she's from DesMoines, so we visited
there, too. The reunion was something of a disappointment for no one from our class was there. Still, it was pleasant
to visit the campus, recalling old memories, even though some parts of it had a different look due to all the new
construction. I wonder if it would be possible for our surviving group to someday come together there.
