Recollections Revealed - April 2011

I came across an old photo taken during my tenure in the Singing Sergeants when the group travelled to Alaska for performances in Anchorage and Fairbanks. This particular photo was taken at "North Pole, AK" and shows (from left): Capt. Robert Kuzminski (director), Tech Sgts. Marvin Finnley, Wally Watson, and Josue Bustos. I'm the only one without a hat--as my hat always hurt my forehead! It was probably taken around 1971. On that particular trip, we were by ourselves and performed at the University of Alaska and Elmendorf AFB in Anchorage as well as at Eielson AFB in Fairbanks.

That trip was a very interesting trip. We flew to Alaska in President Franklin Roosevelt's former Air Force One, or so I was told. At the time, it was the prime transport for the commander of the Alaska Air Command and had wood paneled interior walls. There was a chef on board who cooked us steaks during the trip up. That was about as plush as we ever had on our flights which were, for the most part, on board prop aircraft. This made for very long flights. The trip to Alaska was composed of two segments: one from Andrews to Washington State, on a regular C131 prop, and then the leg from Washington State to Anchorage on the General's C131.