Friends on Okinawa
While stationed on Okinawa I was fortunate to make a number of friends who remained friends for many years thereafter.  My two roommates, Norm and Larry, and I shared our Quonset hut for over a year and had a generally great time.  In the fall of 1967 we acquired neighbors in the Quonset hut next door.  Mary, Jeannie, and Sue Ann were school teachers who had accepted a DOD contract to teach on Okinawa for one year. The six of us became good friends for the duration of the school year and kept in contact for a number of years afterward.

On the right is the official shoulder patch of our Quonset Hut (#346).  Several times a year (I don't remember exactly when or in what conditions)  large snails would take over the road leading to our hut.  Norm, Larry and I would keep score on how many snails we crushed each day with our cars.  The girls decided this gross behavior should be commemorated by this patch and had it made in one of the Ryukyan tailor shops that served the base.

In the Far East there was a large cottage industry of tailors around virtually every U. S. Military installation (even those in Vietnam).  Everyone had custom tailored uniforms embroidered insignia (even fatigues).
The pictures on the left and below were taken at our 1966 pre-Christmas dinner in our Quonset Hut.  From left to right in the picture on the far left is Norm, Jeannie, Mary, Henry, Larry, Sue Ann, myself, and Norm's girl friend - whose name I can't remember. 

 
In the back row of the picture on  the left are Jeannie and Sue Ann with Mary and the nameless girl friend in front.  The picture on the right is the entire group except myself.  I was held up giving a weather briefing to the Air Defense Wing Commander and caused the dinner to be delayed by a couple of hours.  The pictures provide evidence that Mary hit the martinis during the wait a little harder than anyone else.
We had our Christmas dinner several weeks before Christmas because the girls were leaving shortly on tours of Asia over their Christmas break.  We invited Henry to the dinner because he was in the process of being re-assigned to the states and getting married.  This was our farewell dinner for Henry, although we usually told people we showed these pictures that we were just promoting democracy helping destroy class-consciousness on Okinawa by inviting our gardener to dinner.
     
The final picture of Jeannie, Mary and Sue Ann in the center, flanked by other friends whose names I can no longer remember.
Unfortunately, although we managed to keep in touch into the 1970s I have lost contact with all five friends for the past 25 years.  It would be great if one of them were to find this web page and get back in touch.