And in ‘61 they decided to post me to the Congo.
I had never ever refused a posting of any kind.
I always looked at it this way,
if I joined the military if they sent me
somewhere I would go.
As it happened I was posted to the Congo and
it was a bit of a culture shock,
bit of a difference from being here.
A lot of people at that time,
I looked at Africa as being like,
how do I describe this, Tarzan or the jungles.
When we flew over Leopoldville,
I couldn't believe it, there's this beautiful
city sitting in a sea of green and
we circled the city, come in and
landed at Leopold airport.
When we landed and opened it,
we got out of the plane,
I could hardly hear because we were on a
four-engine aircraft, the temperature was
100 degrees when we got out of the aircraft,
and a captain who I knew was
welcoming me to the Congo and
handed me a nice fresh orange.