By Lew McDaniel My duty station was at Site 3, Teufelsberg, in West Berlin. Initially, I was an “operator” in the Pit. The Pit was the central area under an inflatable dome covering our antennae. During my “trick” (rotating 8-hour shift), I listened to frequencies assigned by the CHOP (Chief Operator) or scanned to
By Todd DePastino As I circulated at our Veterans Breakfast at the Town and Country Diner in Bordentown, New Jersey, Dimitry Olhovsky caught my eye. White hair, piercing blue eyes, a Slavic accent, and “U.S. Air Force” on his name badge. That combination told me he had a story to tell. Dimitry was born
By Todd DePastino Gil Ferrey became a minor Cold War cause célèbre in 1961 when he got caught, along with fellow college student Victor Pankey, trying to smuggle a young woman out of East Berlin in the trunk of a Volkswagen Beetle. Gil, who would later serve as a helicopter pilot in Vietnam, told
By Todd DePastino West Berlin native Bibi LeBlanc is collecting firsthand memories of the Berlin Airlift—one of the Cold War’s defining humanitarian missions. In this VBC conversation, she explains her Voices of the Berlin Airlift oral history project and invites anyone with Airlift stories to share them before they’re lost. 👉 To share your
By Colonel (Ret.) Dr. Peter M. Tan We are pleased to announce that Army Colonel and VBC Member, Dr. Peter Tan was inducted into the United States Veterans Hall of Fame, on November 8, just two days after receiving a similar honor from the Florida Veterans Hall of Fame. Dr. Peter M. Tan, a
By Bob Smith with Barb Smith In August 1960, The carrier USS Franklin D Roosevelt (CVA-42), pulled into Livorno (“Leghorn”), Italy, one of the largest and main seaports in the Mediterranean Sea. Three liberty launches left the ship for fleet landing. A storm was approaching. The ship began listing heavily. The winds were ferocious.
